my 4 year old doesnt sleep

[caralocks]

my 4 year old does not nap in the afternoon,  I give him warm baths  around 2 hours before bed, I read to him, I also tried without,, I put him to bed earlier ive put him to bed later,  nothing works, he plays and sings as well,,
something I noticed is he grindes his teeth allot,  dont know if that means anything because I do this aswell.
My four year old, is active but not overly,  up until a few months ago he used to wake up in the middle of the night  and he would talk to us or want to sleep with us , its very tireing for me ,  I have waken him up earlier  it still doesnt work,, he goes to bed at around 8:30, he falls asleep around 10:30 11 and wakes up  every morning at 7:30 sometimes 8  .
I just dont know what to do, and I make sure he gets no sugar after 5 at least, I try not to give him sugar at all!!!
please help me...please :)


This discussion is related to My son has a very hard time to fall asleep at night.

[margypops]

Does he sleep during the day? this will disturb his nightime sleep if it is for too long, Dont go into him if he awakes let him play in his own bed unless he is wondering round the house leave him books to read and if you dont feed into it he may just from the habit of dropping off again,

[margypops]

Sorry i reread and you do say he doesnt nap during the day ,

[ifsogirl]

My 4 year old daughter doesn't sleep much either.  She gave up her morning nap at 9 mos and her afternoon nap before 18 mos.  I was really stressed about it because all you here is how important sleep is and that's when their brain's grow.  Now at 4 she goes to sleep around 9:30 and wakes up around 7:30.  Sometimes she wakes up in the night and ends up in our bed.  I just put her back when she's asleep or I take her back to hers and tell her I have to go to the washroom and usually by the time I'm done she's asleep.

I think some kids just don't need as much sleep as others.  I was the same as a child.  I would stay up in bed till 11 or 12 and had to be up by 5:30 to go the the sitters.  I am a life long insomniac and though it is mild you just learn to deal with it.  If he is awake and alert all day and doesn't mind staying in bed untill he falls asleep he is fine.  It's the lack of sleep for you that is hard.

I don't know what to tell you about that but keep on keeping on.  

[asolomon2005]

My son, too had sleep problems.  I went to see a Neurologist and he prescribed Clonidine. It is actually a blood pressure medicine in Adults but it just helps children relax to fall asleep and stay asleep.  

He took it from 2 years till last week (he is 5 now) I could have stopped it sooner, but was afraid.  It helped him to learn how to relax his body at bedtime.

Now he is falling asleep on his own.