https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Tue, 07 Apr 2026 00:26:21 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/5-year-old-still-wakes-up-in-middle-of-the-night#post-2838739 Thu, 09 Aug 2018 08:56:52 +0000 looch 2838739@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Foodnerd81: Woot! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/5-year-old-still-wakes-up-in-middle-of-the-night#post-2838721 Thu, 09 Aug 2018 08:02:05 +0000 Foodnerd81 2838721@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@looch: I didn’t turn out her lights and say goodnight until 8 last night and she slept all the way through until her clock lit up! Maybe it was a coincidence, maybe it was the extra ten minutes or so. Who knows but yay! I also read a few chapters from her new book after I put little sister to bed which probably helped her wind down more. Too bad a thunderstorm kept ME up but still. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/5-year-old-still-wakes-up-in-middle-of-the-night#post-2838625 Wed, 08 Aug 2018 14:15:22 +0000 Foodnerd81 2838625@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I should have mentioned she has her 5 year appt next week so I’m definitely going to ask her pediatrician then. It’s a new doctor/ practice, so she will probably think I’m nuts but whatever. </p> <p>@luckygirl: we do have a sticker chart, and she gets a sticker for staying in bed at bedtime, then another for not coming out until her clock lights up. She hasn’t gotten two stickers for one night in a while but sometimes. </p> <p>@Mrs. Smoothie: she has a light on her nightstand that she can turn on. I’ve definitely found her asleep with the light on and books around her. And the hall and bathroom have nightlights. She actually will use the bathroom and go back to bed by herself (her bathroom is near our room and I always hear her when she goes). But more often than not ten minutes later she comes in and wakes us anyway. </p> <p>I’m definitely going to ask the doctor but I guess this isn’t that unusual. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/5-year-old-still-wakes-up-in-middle-of-the-night#post-2838608 Wed, 08 Aug 2018 12:42:18 +0000 travellingbee 2838608@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>My LO is five and still wakes a lot. Nightmares. I woke up every night from 5-7 years old with nightmares too. I had a lot of anxieties and I feel DS does too. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/5-year-old-still-wakes-up-in-middle-of-the-night#post-2838606 Wed, 08 Aug 2018 12:18:48 +0000 KT326 2838606@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@HappyBaker: That looks really neat! I might have to try that. He does have a really hard time winding down to sleep unless he is exhausted. I think that is what is happening too, his sheet falls off, he wakes up and just can't put himself back to sleep. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/5-year-old-still-wakes-up-in-middle-of-the-night#post-2838602 Wed, 08 Aug 2018 12:08:29 +0000 HappyBaker 2838602@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@KT326: It's basically a giant Lyrca sock that goes all the way around the mattress, and they sleep at the top so it provides consistent pressure to their body all night long. This is the site we bought from that was recommended by our OT, but you can probably find them other places online too -- It looks totally weird but it has really made a big difference for my DD!<br /> <a href="https://www.laceandfabric.com/Lycra-Bed-Sheet-Twin-Full-or-Queen-size-Autistic-Sensory-lycrabedsheet.htm" rel="nofollow">https://www.laceandfabric.com/Lycra-Bed-Sheet-Twin-Full-or-Queen-size-Autistic-Sensory-lycrabedsheet.htm</a></p> <p>Basically we realized her night wakings were all related to temperature / pressure - like her blankets would fall off or move and she would wake up, but not be able to put herself back to sleep because for her that type of stuff is harder to regulate for some reason. Once she was awake from something small like that she was just AWAKE and couldn't go back to sleep easily. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/5-year-old-still-wakes-up-in-middle-of-the-night#post-2838600 Wed, 08 Aug 2018 12:01:02 +0000 KT326 2838600@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@HappyBaker: what is a lycra sheet? My son doesn't have sensory issues but he has been waking up every night for as long as I can remember. He is 6 and he's only had a few stretches where he has slept all night. </p> <p>@Foodnerd81: no advice, just commiseration. My 6 year old has always had a hard time sleeping. He's gone through short stretches of sleeping all night but he wakes up at least once a night now. I can't remember the last time he slept all night. Luckily his little brother sleeps all night! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/5-year-old-still-wakes-up-in-middle-of-the-night#post-2838599 Wed, 08 Aug 2018 12:00:37 +0000 Baby Boy Mom 2838599@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>One of my LOs is like this as well- so just to throw another idea out there- you might want to try a food diary and see if you can find any patterns. I have recently come to realize that SO MANY of our issues- sensory/behavioral have improved by really cleaning up our diet. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/5-year-old-still-wakes-up-in-middle-of-the-night#post-2838597 Wed, 08 Aug 2018 11:44:21 +0000 HappyBaker 2838597@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Ugh my post got eaten! My DD was like this at 5 and now at almost 6 she’s stopped completely - hers was related to sensory stuff, her OT put it together for us that the night wakings were related, so we got a Lycra sheet which basically hugs her all night long and she has slept through the night ever since! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/5-year-old-still-wakes-up-in-middle-of-the-night#post-2838545 Wed, 08 Aug 2018 09:10:54 +0000 luckygirl 2838545@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Our 4.5 year old sounds similar in that he'll have a few good weeks where he sleeps through the night without a peep, then a few difficult weeks where he cries or calls for us throughout the night.<br /> During the bad periods, when we go in he usually says he had a nightmare. Sometimes he'll just say he's having trouble sleeping. If he gets a cold that can mess with his sleep a lot, and it takes him a few weeks to get back on track. On the particularly bad nights, where he is up multiple times, my husband or I will go sleep on the trundle bed in his room. We are fine with it as a temporary solution to help us all get better sleep, as we only have to do it for a night or two. If his bad sleep phase lasts for longer than a couple weeks we have tried doing a sticker reward chart, which can help get him back on track.<br /> For the sticker chart, we tell him that if he doesn't cry or call out for us at night (unless its an emergency, like there is a fire), then he gets a sticker in the morning. The first night he is successful we give him a reward that next morning (a treat, tablet or tv time, etc). Then we extend it to him needing to get 2 or 3 stickers/good nights to earn the reward, and continue that for a few rounds. It has definitely helped us a lot. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/5-year-old-still-wakes-up-in-middle-of-the-night#post-2838516 Wed, 08 Aug 2018 07:36:58 +0000 Mrs. Smoothie 2838516@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>My kiddo is 7 and still has some sleep issues. This is what has worked for us and we started this around kindergarten. We put a small lamp in her room that she could turn on herself. Then explained if she woke up and couldn't fall asleep to look at a few of her picture books, read, or even draw on the plain paper and a few crayons I left out. She was old enough to understand mommy and daddy needed sleep.</p> <p>Most of the time she will do this. Some morning I find her with the light on and books in her bed with her asleep. Only if she is really sick or scared does she wake us up now. I also leave a lighted path to the bathroom which helped. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/5-year-old-still-wakes-up-in-middle-of-the-night#post-2838515 Wed, 08 Aug 2018 07:36:35 +0000 Silva 2838515@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Foodnerd81: it absolutely is behavioral. consistent response will change it. but in the middle of the night, my consistent response would have to be locking her in her room (something I"m not comfortable with) or sitting outside her room and repeatedly putting her back in bed for hours. I'm not up for that.<br /> I'm trying to find the research I read indicating how common it was, but haven't found the article.<br /> The onset for us was over the winter when she was experiencing increased anxiety at school. During that time, we knew there was a lot going on for her so we felt it best to support her through it. At this point its absolutely behavioral, in the sense that we haven't enforced her staying in bed/falling asleep alone, so of course she isn't going to. She gets rewarded by getting up. But I don't have a good alternative, so I'm just not going to fight it. I don't think my kid is being intentionally "bad" or trying to be manipulative, I think she wakes up, its hard to fall back asleep for whatever reason (she does tend to have nightmares on occasion and some general anxiety, so I believe this is true for her), and knows that if she comes to get us we will help.</p> <p>ETA: we talked about it with her pediatrician and he agreed with our assessment and our response. If you are concerned something else is going on it might be worth bringing up there. The other reason I think its pretty common is that my husband said he pretty regularly sees patients with this complaint in ages 4-6 or so....but maybe he just said that to make me feel better ;) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/5-year-old-still-wakes-up-in-middle-of-the-night#post-2838513 Wed, 08 Aug 2018 07:31:15 +0000 Foodnerd81 2838513@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@gotkimchi: hmm she saw an ENT when she just turned 3 since we were looking into tubes- though we ended up not getting them because she outgrew the recurring ear infections right after that. </p> <p>@Silva: falling asleep at night, or rather, resisting falling asleep, is annoying and frustrating but I assume behavioral. Considering I was researching oppositional defiance disorder this summer, it’s not out of character for her to resist something easy like going to bed, unfortunately. It’s more that she is waking up so often overnight- I feel like kids should be able to sleep through if everything else is fine. But maybe it’s not that uncommon... </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/5-year-old-still-wakes-up-in-middle-of-the-night#post-2838511 Wed, 08 Aug 2018 07:24:10 +0000 Silva 2838511@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>For what its worth, I'm pretty sure this is a common problem. My daughter is 5.5 and needs help falling back asleep at night when she wakes up. There aren't a lot of great solutions. We've decided to wait it out. If we haven't gone to bed yet we tell her to go back up and we will check on in her a few minutes- 80% of the time she's asleep by the time we go check. If its after we've gone to bed, her dad sleeps with her.<br /> Its not ideal but when we considered other sleep training options we didn't feel comfortable with them, and are instead waiting it out. Could be a month, could be a year.<br /> We go through bad stretches where its every night, and then it sometimes gets better. Its been going on since this past winter.<br /> Her 2 year old brother sleeps through the night without issue. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/5-year-old-still-wakes-up-in-middle-of-the-night#post-2838510 Wed, 08 Aug 2018 07:23:39 +0000 gotkimchi 2838510@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Foodnerd81: it came and go, we saw an ent and she was having tubes put in so they removed her adenoid which was blocking 70% of her airway. Afterwards i looked into it and it’s totally a thing, sleep apnea all of it and they wake during the night and it’s often mistakes for night terrors.</p> <p>But if you don’t think there’s any underlying medical reason then it’s behavioral so you either super nanny that shit or give in and let her sleep in your room right? I’m not sure there’s many other options outside of locking her door or putting up a baby gate or something </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/5-year-old-still-wakes-up-in-middle-of-the-night#post-2838509 Wed, 08 Aug 2018 07:23:37 +0000 looch 2838509@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Foodnerd81: My son is the same, he's really unable to get to sleep before 8. </p> <p>My husband is a terrible sleeper in that he never sleeps through the night, he's constantly waking, so I do think there is something to the idea that in some cases, sleep traits are inherited (or maybe there is a similar underlying cause like apnea). </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/5-year-old-still-wakes-up-in-middle-of-the-night#post-2838507 Wed, 08 Aug 2018 07:21:09 +0000 Foodnerd81 2838507@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@looch: she rarely falls asleep before 8 anyway. Sometimes we just start bedtime a little later for whatever reason, sometimes it just takes longer because of the kids fooling around, or she is wound up and can’t settle down. So being asleep before 8 doesn’t happen to often. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/5-year-old-still-wakes-up-in-middle-of-the-night#post-2838506 Wed, 08 Aug 2018 07:19:45 +0000 Foodnerd81 2838506@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@gotkimchi: also, was sleep always a problem or did it come and go? Sometimes she sleeps through the night, for weeks at a time, then she has a week or two of getting up every night. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/5-year-old-still-wakes-up-in-middle-of-the-night#post-2838505 Wed, 08 Aug 2018 07:19:38 +0000 looch 2838505@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Have you tried moving her bedtime a little later? As much as I resisted that, moving my son's bedtime to 8 solved his night wakings once he got to be around 6. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/5-year-old-still-wakes-up-in-middle-of-the-night#post-2838501 Wed, 08 Aug 2018 07:11:27 +0000 Foodnerd81 2838501@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@gotkimchi: no I haven’t. How did you go about looking into that? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/5-year-old-still-wakes-up-in-middle-of-the-night#post-2838499 Wed, 08 Aug 2018 07:08:50 +0000 gotkimchi 2838499@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Have you looked into sleep apnea or her adenoid blocking her airway? That was my lo problem and adenoid removal fixed it </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/5-year-old-still-wakes-up-in-middle-of-the-night#post-2838494 Wed, 08 Aug 2018 06:46:29 +0000 Foodnerd81 2838494@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I never thought I would have a five year old who still woke me up in the middle of the night, but here I am. Hoping someone has some insight or suggestions I haven’t thought of because mama needs sleep. </p> <p>My daughter just turned five. She has never been a great sleeper- we had to sleep train at 3.5 months because it was so awful. She goes through phases where it’s fine for a while, then phases where she wakes up every night, from a bad dream, supposedly- I think usually once she actually wakes up from a bad dream then she realizes it’s a good excuse so she keeps saying it for days. She resists going back to bed but will, reluctantly, but usually doesn’t fall all the way back to sleep and will get up to go potty, or ask to come snuggle, or whatever. Then when her clock lights up at 7 she comes in happy and expecting us to hop right out of bed because it’s finally morning! We generally won’t let her sleep in our bed because once we let her one time, she will ask again and again and again. </p> <p>Schedule wise- she is supposed to get up at 7 (if she wakes up before her clock lights up she can “read” books in her room or play quietly with her toys in her room). Her sister naps at 1:30 and she has quiet time, when she plays quietly in her room or the playroom, for an hour and a half. Bedtime is around 7:30, she often resists bedtime. She frequently seems tired and irritable. </p> <p>My thoughts- partly I think she lacks impulse control, which is why she can’t help getting out of bed and waking DH or me when she wakes up at night, even though she knows she should stay in bed. But also, why does she wake up so many nights? Right now she has a runny nose and that seems like it. I may try benedryl tonight to see if that helps with the nose and also the sleep. My own sleep sucks so I feel bad I seem to have passed that on to her. To me she seems to act more overtired than like she’s getting too much sleep, but I guess I could be wrong. </p> <p>And her 2.5 year old sister sleeps through the night consistently unless she is actually sick, so I feel like it’s not all just bad parenting :bummed: </p> <p>Oh and activity level doesn’t seem to make a difference. She could have had camp all morning and been swimming all afternoon or watched tv all day and it’s the same. </p>