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DS is 4. He's always had nights where he just lies there awake for hours, or he'll get up and watch TV with me until 2 in the morning, when he finally crashes. Lately, it's every night. It's 12:15am now and he's awake. He's been alternating between yelling "MOMMY!" to tell me he's having trouble sleeping or he's thirsty and crying because I won't give him one more glass of water or let him get up to watch TV. He was up till after 11 last night and didn't wake up till almost 11 this morning.
We do a bedtime routine (bath, teeth, story/cuddle, prayer, song, bed), but it doesn't seem to work anymore. He'll just lay there in bed for HOURS. He used to get up five or six times to pee until we limited him to once. Now he insists he's thirsty or he heard a siren outside or the dog needs him. He's also been known to tense his shoulders or wiggle his feet to keep himself awake. I feel like he's never getting enough sleep because he's up ALL NIGHT and he's usually up by 9 or 10. So he's only getting 7-9 hours of sleep. This can not be enough for a 4yo.
There's got to be something I can do to help this kid sleep, besides sending him back to bed for the millionth time and saying "Just lay down, close your eyes, relax, and think of happy things."
We do a bedtime routine (bath, teeth, story/cuddle, prayer, song, bed), but it doesn't seem to work anymore. He'll just lay there in bed for HOURS. He used to get up five or six times to pee until we limited him to once. Now he insists he's thirsty or he heard a siren outside or the dog needs him. He's also been known to tense his shoulders or wiggle his feet to keep himself awake. I feel like he's never getting enough sleep because he's up ALL NIGHT and he's usually up by 9 or 10. So he's only getting 7-9 hours of sleep. This can not be enough for a 4yo.
There's got to be something I can do to help this kid sleep, besides sending him back to bed for the millionth time and saying "Just lay down, close your eyes, relax, and think of happy things."
