Teaching Self-Soothing

[boigrrrlwonder]

I have an almost three year old daughter who still frequently wakes at night and needs help to go to sleep. I want to teach her ways to soothe herself back to sleep. So far, I've been talking to her about how before she starts calling for me (unless she has to go potty; she insists upon wearing pjs that she can't get back on herself), I would like it if she tried taking a sip of water (we keep a water bottle right next to the bed where she can easily reach it), adjusting her blanket, and snuggling with her doll. If she still can't sleep, then she may call me. These things haven't been too successful in helping her fall back asleep. I was wondering if anyone had other ideas of things I could suggest she do to try to soothe herself back to sleep without me, or any other advice about teaching preschoolers how to soothe themselves back to sleep when they awake at night.

[Kiwiontheloose]

I don't have a 3yr old yet so feel free to dismiss my advice!
But from my nannying experience..

I would maybe think its a proximity to Mum thing...ie not waking cos needs water/blanket etc, but just wants hug/reassurance, and the only real response you can give to that is to keep going in to soothe her.
2 things you could maybe try...LOTS of attention/1-on-1 during the day and/ or move her mattress/bed into your room. Or just ride it out...it won't last forever..

The No-Cry-Sleep Solution has quite a few suggestions for this scenario also, involving slowly/gently weaning her off whatever it is she is waking for.

[boigrrrlwonder]

I guess I should add: she still sleeps in the same room as me; I just don't like to go to bed at 7:30PM and go to bed a couple hours later. She still wakes frequently at night even when I am in bed with her, but I figure the same skills she would use to self-soothe when I'm not there might carry over when I am there. Plus, I have the energy in the evening to calmly ask her if she's tried other things before she woke me; after I go to sleep I just want to get back to sleep ASAP.

[mom2emnbec]

we find a stuffed animal will sometimes keep our 4 yr old from completely waking and she can adjust covers in her sleep but if she gets up to potty or get water she is completely awake so needs help.

I think the key is more to find a way to keep her from fully awaking. Even for adults this is better b/c you get more quality sleep if you dont have to fall back to sleep. However I dont have an answer for how to do that. We try to make sure they are dressed comfy, comfy temp, appropriate blanket, stuffed animal and sound machine. But beyond that we havent figured out anything else except getting them used to not waking (which means being there when they wake to get them back to sleep with minimal help but as quickly as possible, for us that usually is a quick pat on the back or bottom) fully to get them out of the waking habit.