Sleep issues

[jen6163]

Hello!

I'd first like to thank anyone who can give me suggestions on sleep issues... I've come here to post bc my friends/family & other "online" friends have heard enough about my sleep issues and have tried to help with no great help :

My daughter is almost 4 and she is the typical highly "spiritied" toddler... our much more challenging of our 2 girls.  She's basically been a horrible sleeper since she first climbed out of her crib around 3.  She wakes CONSTANTLY... here has been our sleep road over the past year...

In the beginning, she would come down and sleep with us, but my husband was not comfortable and wasn't getting adequate sleep.  She tosses and turns a lot and is very sweaty when she sleeps.  So we then started keeping her in her room by taking her up constantly, rewards charts, etc, but we were getting no sleep and she never got 1 reward :(

From here, she began waking crying hysterically (not night terror crying or so it seemed) and we could not leave her room without her being hysterical.  She has a queen bed so then I began sleeping with her (I was in my 1st trimester of our 3rd preg and exhausted!)

Her bed is not super comfortable compared to mine so we recently decided to put her old crib mattress next to our bed so she can sleep in our room... I THOUGHT this was going to be our answer.

I was wrong :(  She comes down every night around midnight and wakes throughout the night at least 3x and bothers me.  I'm TIRED and starting to get very frustrated. 

Through all of this we have tried rewards, taking away things, night lights, the wakeup clock, music, etc etc.....

I've just ordered Hyland's Calm Forte for toddlers so I'm holding out hope here!!!!!  

What else can we do here.... I'm at my wits end.  I know that sounds silly, but I just really want her sleeping again and don't know what to do :(  

Thanks!!!!

[mkksmom]

My first thought is her diet. Not sure why. However, I am wondering if she is sensitive to sugar at all. My dd couldn't have any sweet treats after 4 or 5 pm or she would be up in the middle of the night. Even just 1 cookie would throw her off.

One thing I did was let my dd know that we couldn't do X Y or Z because I didn't have the energy. I was just too tired.

[sunnygir1]

Oh, I wish I had advice for you!  My dd woke frequently for several hours at a time until she was 3 or 4.  When it was really bad, I would let her watch tv while I slept on the couch -- I am really not into tv, so I must have been desperate!  She grew out of it, but it was really hard, and I never found any way to keep her from waking or make her go back to sleep when she did.  I think it is normal for people to wake during the night, and I think it is normal for young children to wake their parents when they wake in the night.  That doesn't make it any easier, I know.  We have used noise, like a fan, and we have used audio books or music in the night to give her something to "do" while she was not sleeping.

[jen6163]

UPDATE----

I received my Hyland's Calms Forte for kids yesterday (I'm VERY into homeopathy) and last night she slept from 8pm-5am and then came into our room.... that's the latest she has slept on her own for MONTHS!  I'm thrilled and hoping it continues!!!!