3 year old daughter continually wakes

Sounds like me and I'm 47. I've had sleep issues all my life. I have no advice and trust me I have tried everything. My youngest daughter is going through the same so my poor husband has us both to deal with. On a plus, it makes good conversation and good laughs even if we are so massively shattered.

As for grinding teeth, maybe going to the dentist and getting a gum shield might help. 

Masking or social interactions prove to be more problematic through sleep. A day of boredom and chilling out, I sleep much better and so does my daughter. 

Interesting :) 

I might suggest having him tested for Gluten allergies as there are a load of correlations between grain/gluten allergies and dairy milk, especially if noticed in stools. Many individuals with gluten/grain/galacto- allergies will have problems with diary until the other is cut out. It can slowly get worse over the years so worth keeping an eye on!

My son is 25 now, I wish I'd had a community like this when he was younger!

Totally agree with what your saying however he has LOTS of water and diluted juice up to half hr before bed so he is very hydrated. I haven't cut dairy out of his diet as I think it's important for his gut to still be exposed to it and he can get the necessary calcium he needs, but there was a correlation between the cow's milk and sleep. Perhaps an intolerance as his poo is much better now too. 

Perhaps there's more to this than I'm reading but -If all you've changed is not giving him cows milk before bed you won't actually know if he has an allergy to milk.  Not drinking before bed (wine, milk, water, etc.) can produce a desired result of not needing a wee during the night.  

However, balanced nutrition is far superior to any dietary fad which can rob children of nutrients they actually need. I would be careful with 'nut' milks and soya, if they have Carrageenan added and aren't pure 'nuts' (there is still debate on if it's a carcinogenic or causes cancer in the bowels). Also, an almond is a seed, not a true botanical nut, so take care not to add too many other botanical seeds to his diet like walnuts, pecans and pistachios. A peanut is a bean. Hazelnut is a true nut.

If you make sure they're properly hydrated during the day and have a 'last call' a half hour or so before bedtime, they won't wake up and need a wee. 

If you haven't it's always good to be tested for allergies. Cows milk contains calcium, magnesium, proteins, Vit D&K, and Omega 3's. There are nutrients in certain things like eggs, fish, red meat, honey and dairy which one will not be able to get elsewhere. 

Hi, 

My son is almost 3 and is on the ASD pathway, he has always been a really bad sleeper, waking anywhere between 2 and 6 times a night. I cut out all cows milk and he immediately started sleeping better. I now only give him almond milk in his cereals and no milk before bedtime. For him, I think it was the sensation of wetting his nappy at night which kept waking him. He still wakes in the morning with a very full nappy so he must be weeing through the night but something about cutting out cows milk has helped us. 

My child who has autism would have trouble sleeping and would wake up alot or have trouble dropping off usually talking to himself or having a good giggle. I changed his curtains to heavy blackout curtains and invested in a weighted blanket. His preference is an extremely heavy one but I have to say his sleep is 90% better with this. I know it's just practical advice but it is worth a go. My son loves deep pressure and finds it soothing. You could try a compression sheet if the weather is warmer. It may work for you it definitely worked for us... Hope this helps a little x

Not sure if this helps. My son used to have night terrors. At the time we could not see any particular reason. However when he started school we noticed he often had them when he had a different teacher making us think they were related to something he found difficult during the day. Are there any links to a change in routine either with the night terrors or disturbed nights?

My son at that age tended to wake between 430 and 5 in the morning due to it being lighter. We had blackout curtains to help and Velcro on the wall to help prevent gaps at the side.

The other thing I wonder is it to do with the temperature in the room? I don't sleep so well when it is warm and have a window open most of the year. I sometimes talk in my sleep, usually related to something during the day that was difficult.

Minding a diet is useful for biology, but it's more important she's healthy. In order to stay hydrated properly, one needs a certain amount of natural sugars. Honey, Maple Syrup and fruit are all good unless she has an allergy, and won't typically affect our sub(merged) conscious. 

My brother who majored in Physics and Maths had severe Night Terrors and trouble sleeping. My son and I have similar nightmares (he composes, I work in sound) and when our brain is running at a hyper-speed have extreme trouble with sleeping. I think my father too who's an engineer and majored in physics. There is something it seems to a brain wired toward a level of intellect that can send the Occipital Lobe into a hyper-drive. The best resource for me was soothing music at night. For my son it was reading fiction in a physical book. For all of us we needed to exhaust our thinking for the day and sometimes I just need to read Kant or someone working at a level I can just reach, but it intensive. If I don't dive into metaphysics and logic and all kinds of explorations, it can cause problems. But I have also noticed Spiritual practice helped as did reading the bible for myself.

Jung was fascinated by dreams and it's often said what we don't work through in the day will then be bothering us in our sleep. Perhaps it's important to find any unresolved issues, complexities, theorems, etc. I know she's 3. But when I was 3 I was asking about matters of the infinite universe, past lives, and other really deep & complex inquisitions. I'm not sure if it helps, but I used to read my son classic stories, like the old Paddington, Chronicles of Narnia, The Little Prince, etc. before bed. These are books with very few pictures and much better to engage small brains with big concepts. They seemed to help.