Parents strip three-year-old son's room of bright coloured toys in an effort to help him sleep Freddy Taylor wakes up and plays loudly for more than two hours a night His parents, Kathryn and Ryan Taylor, took him to see sleep specialists Told to take colourful objects from his room so imagination isn't stimulated Also told to put him to bed and get him up at the same time every day Given food like bananas before bed to encourage release of sleep chemical When Freddy Taylor started waking up and playing loudly during the early hours, his parents hoped it was a phase he would grow out of. Unfortunately that didn't happen. The three-year-old's nightly play sessions lasting two hours or more became so exhausting that his sleep-deprived parents resorted to drastic action. After taking expert advice they stripped his bedroom of toys and all colourful objects so his imagination wouldn't be stimulated when he woke up. Freddy Taylor, 3, wakes up so much in the night that his exhausted parents, Kathryn (pictured) and Ryan, took him to see sleep specialists The tips his mother Kathryn Taylor, 33, received during recent "sleep therapy" sessions did improve the youngster's sleeping - especially on the two nights a week after attending pre-school . Mother-of-two Mrs Taylor and her husband Ryan, 36, a computer technician, were at their "wits" end" after enduring two years of sleep deprivation which started when Freddy was one. She said: "He will pretend he's playing with his friends. He uses the same name as his friends at school, and tells me sometimes that he's been "in a film" with his friends. It sounds like a dream, but we've taken him to a sleep clinic where they observed his patterns and said he is definitely awake when he's playing. I call it sleep parties because he is really having a great time. He isn't attention-seeking, in fact if you go in, he doesn't want to be disturbed in his games. Freddy goes to bed at 7pm each night and never has a problem nodding off. He can stay awake for up to four hours a night - although it is usually two or three - and is woken at 7am regardless of what happened at night. They were advised to remove anything colourful from his room as it could stimulate his imagination when he wakes up in the night As a result his parents get about five hours sleep and luckily his one-year-old brother Morgan is in a separate room and manages to sleep through the noise. Freddy has a very vivid imagination. He can be incredibly loud, so much so that I actually went round next door to apologise when our new neighbours moved in," said Mrs Taylor, from Sheffield. The sleep practitioner advised them to remove anything with colour that may catch his eye. We've taken down his posters, taken out his toys, that sort of thing. His bedroom is painted a calming green colour already so we haven't had to redecorate. They also now given Freddy an extra evening meal of foods such as bananas, peanut butter and oats which help release the brain's sleep-inducing chemical melatonin. His parents were also told to put him to bed at 7pm and wake him up at 7am regardless of how much of the night he spends awake But despite these tactics the battle continues. And the Easter break from school caused the "parties" between 1 and 3am to start again every night. "It's utterly exhausting because Ryan and I are obviously not getting much sleep," said Mrs Taylor. And because he's been up all night, Freddy is often difficult during the day, he's grumpy or wants to go to sleep, so it's been really challenging dealing with him. The parents hope the situation will improve when Freddy starts school full-time. They were also told to give him foods - such as bananas and oats - before bed because these encourage the brain to release sleep chemicals Vicki Dawson, Founder of The Children's Sleep Charity, said: "We take a behavioural approach to children with sleep problems like Freddy's, any medical problems we refer them to experts. Structure is essential, parents have to implement the guidance we give them for the therapy to work. We offer dietary advice, recommend setting strict bed times and pre-bedtime activity to calm children down. We also recommend taking items out of bedrooms which will catch a child's attention when they wake up. In the vast majority of cases, parents see improvements. We've collected figures which say 89 per cent of children have improved. The other 11 per cent might be parents who haven't implemented what we've recommended, or a child with a medical issue.