insomniac toddler

My 3.5 year old has been a terrible sleeper since birth. As a baby she
never slept more than 15 min during the day. Her sleep has always been
an issue for us. For a long time she slept either in our bed or in her
own bed in our room. Few weeks ago she decided she will sleep in the
same room as her little sister (she's 2, doesn't have any sleep issues.
she's been sleeping by herself all night in her own room since she was
8 months old.)

She and her sister go to bed around 8pm and after few calls to us and
complaints like the sheets are not covering her completely, the teddy
bear is cold etc, they go to sleep around 8:30. Then DD1 gets up around
12 or 1 or whenever and comes to our bed. Most of the nights she does
NOT sleep quietly. She cries or kicks us and is generally quite awake.
DH and I are quite tired by then and want to sleep in peace and don't
have patience to deal with tantrums at that hour. This has been going
on ever since I can remember.

She's a sweet child and very sensitive, caring etc. Things like
tiredness, boredom etc manifest very weirdly in her. For example, if
she is tired she goes into crying mode, can't settle herself. If she
doesn't take a nap in the afternoon, she can't sleep at night. She
screams and cries most of the night. We make it a point to put her to
nap for couple of hours in the afternoon. She doesn't like to go to bed
and doesn't like to wake up in the morning. Here's another thing, any
time during the day or night you make the slightest sound, she'll wake
up. She doesn't go into deep sleep. I don't know if there's such a
thing as an insomniac toddler. I don't know if this is a cause to be
concerned or it corrects itself.

She's a very bright child. Goes to preschool 5 days a week. She behaves
quite normally for her age otherwise.

Thanks for listening :)

dragonlady...

Having difficulty with the wake/sleep and sleep/wake transition can be
one sign of ADD -- it might be worth checking out. (Since I have a
daughter whose ADD went undiagnosed for WAYYYYY too long, I may be a
little extra sensitive to any signs that might indicate it -- so take
this with a grain of salt.)

Some things you might try include knocking out the afternoon nap
completely, seeing if there is a time of day that being more (and less)
physically active matters (some kids seem to need a large amount of
physical activity late in the afternoon but very little late in the
evening to sleep well, for example), double checking her diet to see if
there is any hidden caffiene (one of my kids was extremely sensitive to
that, and wouldn't sleep well if she'd had chocolate in the evening) ,
eating a bit earlier or later, a glass of warm milk before bed,
elimination or severe curtailing of square screens (TV, computer),
especially in the evening (it appears to disturb sleep cycles for at
least some people). making sure the room she's in is VERY dark, and
putting a "white noise" maker wherever she's sleeping so small noises
get smoothed out and don't disturb her (doesn't have to be expensive --
a radio set to static and turned on works well, though I rather enjoy my
"envirnmental sounds" noise maker when I have to sleep when others are
up in the house).

tedneeley...

If she doesn't take a nap in the afternoon, it's going to be a long
night for us. she goes into ultra meltdown mode.

Phoebe & Allyson...

Overtired, maybe? Caterpillar turned 3 in May, and she goes to bed
around 7pm - 6:30 some nights. She gets up between 6:30 and 7 most
mornings. And on preschool days, she naps between 45 minutes and 1.5
hours at school. On non-preschool days, she tends to skip the nap /
take a shorter nap and stay up a little later, but gets up at the same
time. By Tuesday night (she's in W-F preschool), she's a bear to put
down, due to accumulated sleep deficit.

Phoebe :)

She does have a ceiling fan in her room to take care of the white noise
thing. She does drink "chocolate milk" which is a quarter teaspoon of

dragonlady...

I understand about still needing the afternoon nap -- it was one
suggestion.

At least for me, the ceiling fan isn't nearly loud enough to smooth out
other sounds and let me continue to sleep. I started sleeping better
when DH started sleeping with a C-PAP (for his sleep issues), which is
pretty loud. I thought it was just because it kept his apnea under
control, but when he started travelling, I discovered that I sleep
better if there is a pretty loud white noise going on in the room while
I'm asleep. Think more along the lines of the volume of a vacuum
cleaner, or the noise while you are sitting on a train or bus (or even
airplane.

tedneeley...

She's a bit scared of vacuum cleaner type noises. I'll try the
enviornmental sounds thingy. Thanks again.

nestle chocolate powder in 8 ounces of milk just for the color. I'll
try to eliminate that.

At a minimum, since her problem is diturbing YOUR sleep, I would try to
insist that she make a "next" on the floor beside your bed instead of
climbing into your bed to sleep; At least with my kids, that satisfied
them.

tedneeley...

I'll try this. Thanks for your comments.

Yes, there can be problems with insomnia even in small children -- it is
worth mentioning to her doctor.