Reply to 4yo overnight screaming and early waking. We're so tired!

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Reply to "4yo overnight screaming and early waking. We're so tired!"

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[quote=Anonymous]Almost 4 year old used to be a great sleeper. Bedtime is still a breeze in that he follows the routine and passes right out. But for the better part of a year now there has been some combination of overnight waking, screaming in his sleep (I only mention in case it's related), and early morning wakings between 4:45-6. He'll get out of bed, turn his light on, and come to our room, start going downstairs, or play and look at books in his room (he has very few toys in there). The ok to wake light has NEVER worked, he doesn't care at all and we've had no consistent way to enforce it. When we escort him back to his room and tuck him in, he typically gets right back up and turns the light back on, insisting he's not tired and can't sleep anymore. This happens over and over in the early morning hours, sometimes with kicking and screaming, waking his younger brother, until we practically beg him to play quietly in his room until the ok to wake light goes on.

We've tried short term rewards, long term rewards, sticker charts, etc. It's like nothing disincentivizes or incentivizes him to follow directions. We transitioned out of the crib last fall after things were seemingly improving and needless to say they got worse again. He also dropped his nap in the past six weeks or so.

His bedtime had been 8 p.m., and my hunch was overtiredness so we've tried an earlier bedtime (7ish) for the past week but no change. He seems to just wake up early, have no idea what time it is (beyond that his ok to wake light is still red and not green), but is ready to play and be entertained. Physically it's become nearly impossible to contain him. Do we have no choice but to put the crib back on and/or a lock on his door? What would you do?[/quote]

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