My 5 year old keeps waking up in the night. Any ideas how to stop this?

Question

She wakes up 2 -3 times a night and comes into my room. She falls back to sleep immediately in my bed, and I pick her up and take her back to her own room. Im a single parent, and this nightly waking is killing me! Does anyone have any advice?

I forgot to add..she is special needs, and as a result has the mental capacity of a 3 year old.

Answer 1

It is not unusal for a special needs child to have erratic, indeed horrid, sleep habits. My son who is autistic woke every night, sometimes staying awake for three or four hours at a time, at least once a night from the age of two until the age of 8.

One thing to figure out is what is causing her to wake up. Is there a sound that changes during the night (heat kicks on, AC kicks off, neighbor works nights and comes home setting off the dogs). If you can figure it out, you can probably find a way to minimize it's effects...sound machines, a fan, heavier drapes. As for her waking because she is simply missing the feel of you, we finally got our son a HUGE body pillow and wrapped it in one of the nightshirts I slept in. We made sure he was up against the pillow when we went to bed. If he woke up, I took him back to his bed, had him cuddle the pillow and, as soon as he was asleep, went back to my bed. The hardest part is to stop letting her fall asleep in your bed once she comes in and that is more to do with you. YOu're tired and want to sleep, but the best thing to do is immediately take her back to her room, get her settled, wait til she is asleep and then leave. Eventaully, start leaving just as she falls asleep and then, with luck, you'll able to tuck her in and leave. The hard part is that for her to be able to adapt, it means you'll still end up with nights of interrupted sleep, If possible, have a friend or relative watch her on a day off and use the afternoon to catch up on sleep. Also, be sure that as soon as she goes to bed, you do to. It is tempting to try and use those few hours to catch up on housework, but if at all possible skip the dishes and get the sleep! In the long run, you'll be ready to stick it out until you achieve your goal of a full night of sleep!

Answer 2

Do not let your daughter get excited or play for about an hour before bed time, this gets them anxious and restless sleep is almost a guaranteed also do not let her eat anything 2 hours before bed. And keep the drinking to a very minimal a sip or two before bed at that is it.
Also when you give her bath at night make the water warm and put in lavender shower gel (Johnson and Johnson makes one for babies use that). The lavender is a natural sleep aid. Try this and when she gets out of bed simply tell her no and put her back in her bed. (do not yell at her because that will do nothing but make her stay awake).
Good Luck.
Also tell her before going to sleep that if she stays in BIG GIRL bed all night she will get a surprise. Give her a time amount like 2 days 1 week or something like that. At 5 the surprise does not have to be big a simple toy from the dollar store will work.

Answer 3

When she comes to your room get out of bed and walk her BACK to her bedroom, telling her this is her room where she sleeps. Put her back into bed, a kiss and a hug and leave the bedroom. You may have to do this SEVERAL nights in a row but eventually she will be sleeping in her own bed. You might want to implement what I used to call "slumber party night". Where the two of you rent videos she likes, consume mass quantites of junk food, read silly kid books, tell silly jokes, in otherwords mom becomes kid for the evening. My daughter and I did this twice a month when she was little, it continued on until she was a Jr. in highschool. Consequently we are extremely close and it has manifested itself into her being able to talk to me about ANYTHING...which is sometimes now that she is 20, not always a good thing as far as I'm concerned...LOL

Answer 4

ok, my 3 year old used to do that.. he is five now. I explained to him he needed to stay in bed, he's a big boy now. I put a night light in his room and said he can have the night light if he stays in his bed. Another idea is to take her shopping for a special night light or lamp. Then you have to tell her that you are tired and need to sleep and you will be here for her when she wakes up in the morning when the sun comes up or when her clock says a certain time. Everynight say this until she understands. This worked for me. I hope it works for you. Have a great day. Peace be with you

Answer 5

Put her to sleep in her own bed then have her embrace you while doing so. When she is asleep, replace yourself with a pillow. It would be better if you could spray that pillow with your perfume that way your child may know you are there just by the smell of your perfume. You may also want to place an item of clothing you have just used, preferably not stinking but rather something that is made of cotton and has your scent. This works with babies especially when parents are working or are away during child's sleeping time.

Answer 6

she comes to ur bed for 1 of 2 reasons. she wakes up and is scared of the dark or she wakes up and wants to make sure u r there. u just have to keep taking her back to bed and hopefully she will loose this fear that she's carrying inside her.I assume u can't afford a child shrink, so u have to find the patience and maybe go to bed an hour earlier so u can have enough sleep. Chances r she will eventually outgrow it and then u can resume ur life.

Answer 7

you said she is a special needs child but see if you can modify her day time sleeping so she can do most of it at night what I do with my daughter who is very hyper and active and will keep going and going if you let her.......... an hour or two hours before my daughter is going to sleep I light a candle it is high so she can't reach it but it's a calming scent lavender,chamomile, vanilla, peppermint this scent fills the room at night I also bathe her in a bubble bath containing one of those scents also I believe johnson and johnson has a nighttime babywash called calming scents you might want to try that after bath put her right in the bed after you have put her lotion on giving her a lite message as she begans to sleep she will also breathe in the relaxing smell causing her to sleep deeper

Answer 8

is it actuall night walking or are you trying to break her from sleeping with you. night walking might require a trip to the doctor. if she is awake while doing this my only advice is to not allow her to nap during the day so she will be tired and not wake up in the night to crawl in your bed. otherwise just have to keep packing back to her room until the habit is broke..good luck

Answer 9

If she has spacial needs maybe you could ask for some outside help for her,as i feel sure that someone will help you through this very difficult time,with much needed advice that only the people who know her can help you,i wish you good luck

Answer 10

Before you pick her up to put her back in her bed, wake her up and tell her no more getting up. Before she goes to bed every night tell her "You stay in YOUR bed tonight okay?"