Toddler Bedtime Woes
I’ve been obsessed with my older son’s sleep habits for awhile now. He woke up to eat at night for over two years, with a few ‘sleep through the night” breaks in between. He’s moved to the Big Boy Bed and does just fine. He’s now sleeping through the night, thankfully, but I’ve got a new issue – he takes over an hour to fall asleep at night.
I have serious help on my side. Weissbluth’s Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child is my guidebook to sleep. We are slaves to naps and for almost two years had no problems with early bedtimes. Jake is still taking a three hour afternoon nap, but his nights have gotten a bit rougher.
Toddler Bedtimes
I have the toddler bedtime facts according to my expert:
- Toddlers should be going to bed between 6pm and 8pm every night.
- A toddler’s bedtime should be somewhat flexible, but he should be in bed within 30 minutes of the same time every night.
- It’s perfectly normal for him to take up to thirty minutes to fall asleep.
- He should be sleeping through the night.
- He should be sleeping until around 7am-8am in the morning.
Here’s what we have:
- Jake is in bed every night between 7:30 and 8.
- He’s sleeping all night in his Big Boy Bed.
- He is waking up every morning between 6:45 and 7:15.
- He’s taking over an hour to fall asleep with many repeat calls to Mom.
I think you can see where the problem is.
I’ve tried all kinds of things.
- We’ve put him to bed earlier, as suggested, but he still can’t fall asleep for an hour.
- We’ve turned off the TV and had a very low-key hour before bed.
- We’ve read stories endlessly.
- Mommy has lain down with him.
- We’ve rocked.
- We’ve snuggled.
- We’ve cried.
- We’re not getting anywhere.
I think this is just one of those unfixable toddler things.
Until Weissbluth offers a new solution or Jake outgrows this, I’m going to put him to bed between 7:15 and 7:45, go back in there when called for the necessary hour to help him relax, enjoy my sleep as much as possible with a newborn, and greet his smiling face every morning. What else is the mother of a toddler to do?
