Freaking out due to child awake situation? It jitters you when your little one has an annoying bedtime routine. Well! Every mom wants her baby to have a sound sleep. But, your baby may wake up due to fear of dark or hunger.
Do Toddlers Have Hard Time Sleep?
However, sometimes the baby cries when you leave him/ her alone in the room. Just go through the simple guide to the solutions of toddler bedtime issues with this handy sleep training reading.
👉Setting a bedtime routine
Almost every toddler has sleeping tantrums and maintaining a healthy night routine is a great fix for the sound sleep of toddlers. Giving them a companion like toys, pillow, colorful bed, etc., they will play with these things and fall asleep at night. Parent advisor, Jodi Mindell, says don’t let your child awake late, even if they are running in your room corner. Establish the bedtime wisely as the kids are more active when they are tired. Sticking to a schedule can make them realize that this is the time to sleep and when you take them in the crib, they will fall asleep immediately.
👉Treating Snoring immediately
When a toddler has a stuffed nose, enlarged tonsils, or allergies, they find it trouble in sleeping. Research says 3% of toddlers have disrupted sleeping due to blockage of airways which hinders the breathing of toddlers. If you suspect your toddler snoring, then it’s time to meet a pediatrician to fix his or her sleeping problems.
👉Visiting child at a fixed interval of time
Many times your baby cries out at night for your return to the bedroom, and his or her sleep might get disturbed. In this case, setting a timely visit to their bedroom could be a wise idea. You can meet the needs of your baby by doing that either it is a wet diaper problem or hunger pangs.
👉Solving separation anxiety problem
It is too common that toddlers don’t want to fall asleep alone. They need you at bedtime, to solve this issue, you can manage a quiet time of an hour for your toddler before saying good night. Playing, nuzzling, giving a bath, or making them feel relax before sleeping could make them fall asleep at night easily. Try to make them habitual of a bedtime pass to tackle the separation anxiety problem.
👉Sleep Deprivation
Lacking a consistent sleep routine or frequent late naps could sometimes be the reason for your baby not sleeping. This habit could cause sleep deprivation in which the baby feels lethargic and low energy level. You can set a morning nap of around 10 a.m. of about 45 minutes and one nap in the afternoon of around 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. And if your toddler is not taking a nap in the morning, try to fill that time with activities. Set the nap time after lunch for about 2 hours to increase the effectiveness of your toddler.
👉Fears and Nightmares
While your toddler is growing, it is common to imagine faces in the dark or monsters under the bed. Nightmares at the age of 1-3 are common in toddlers and these can disturb your child’s sleeping pattern. Avoiding scary movies and books with fiends themes at bedtime could be an amazing idea. Make their bedtime as cheerful as you can for your toddler to give them nice sleep. If a bad dream awakens her or him, then you have to deal like the dream has gone but never say that dream was not real because many dreams that preschoolers dream seems real. Don’t stress too much or give long explanations to embellish them. After they get calm, just say good night and make them asleep.
👉Waking up at Midnight
When a child reaches a sleep cycle, they awaken by a feeling of alone and search for you. They might be not able to fall asleep by themselves. A new learning skill or any new game could also be blamed for their disturbed sleeping. They may be focusing on the new milestone and practicing while sleeping. In this case, avoid entertaining them like the singing, story, or picking the on lap; these things will only stimulate them and make habitual of this. You can encourage your child to hug a soft toy or soft animal, blanket, or pillow to soothe himself or herself. Make them clear that it’s time to sleep and they have to sleep right back.
👉Waking up too early in the morning
While toddlers are in their early stage of growth, they start reducing their sleeping time. They wake up earlier than when he/she was a baby. Toddlers need 12 to 14 hours of daily sleep. If they wake too early, they don’t want it to be alone, they call you too to play with them. This situation can be tackled by moving them late to the bed or try to figure out which thing is disturbing their sleeping cycle. Is there are chirping birds, or it’s sunlight. Use room darkening shade or white noise machine for drawing out the noise. Avoid giving them milk or food early in the morning so they will become habitual of that and start waking up for food as early as possible. Each day, try to set up a sleep time for your toddler that best suits your family routine.
👉Dealing with refused for napping
When babies reach a stage of 12-18 months, they avoid napping at time and wants to awake to longer periods. Sometimes your toddler may be busy with playing his/her toys or learning new skills and could resist napping. You have to try alternating napping days till he/she settles into the new routine. Sometimes if your kid is down to one nap, he or she can avoid another napping. So, trying to set a habitual timing for napping and sleeping could help your toddler to deal with sleep problems. Try to make them fall asleep after six hours of or her wake up.
Toddlers need huge attention and care for falling asleep. Setting a habit and timing could work for them amazingly.
Amanda Wingfield is a certified Diabetes Management Specialist who also holds an MD in Endocrinology, with certifications from ABIM and AACE. She has a decade of experience serving thousands of patients through her independent practice and has been working in the capacity of an expert diabetes consultant for the past 4 years. Ms. Wingfield is revered by her regular readers for her in-depth research and evidence-based analysis of diabetes medications, supplements, and treatments, and her highly critical style of writing.