Psst! Scroll to the very bottom to see my screen grabs for easy reference!

 

Parents tend to get very stressed out about Daylight Saving Time each year. But the good news is that springing forward is much easier on families than falling back! Yay!

In this quick blog (or episode if you prefer to listen) I walk you through the basics with 3 different approaches you can chose from depending on your unique situation. Don't forget to head to the blog link below and get your screen grabs for easy referencing!

*This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my privacy and disclosure statement for more information.

 

Option #1 for time change

Who should use this option?

• If morning life for you is pretty laid back and you don't have morning appointments that you need to get up and ready for
• OR if you have a child who is waking earlier than you'd like

 

This one is real simple. Don't change anything and just let them sleep in on Sunday! I'd still wake them by 8am but otherwise, let them sleep in! (Keep in mind, sleeping until 8am on Sunday will actually feel like 7am to their bodies)

Then go on with your day from there. If you use wake windows, continue to use them like usual. If you have set nap times, you'll need to shift them later according to how late your child slept in the morning. But that's it! Easy breezy!

 

 

Option #2 for time change

Who should use this option?

• If you have places to be in the mornings so you can't just let your child sleep in
• Also, if your child doesn't seem to be sensitive to schedule changes
• Or if your child is 18 months or older

 

This one requires little to no prep. Do everything normally with their schedule leading up to Sunday and the time change. On Sunday, you will wake them up at the usual time (according to the clock). So if morning wake up is usually 7am, you will wake them up at that time- even though to their body, that will really feel like 6am.

Then go about your day like usual. No fuss! Use your usual wake windows or your usual set nap times. *This is what me and my family do!*

 

 

Option #3 for time change

Who should use this option?

• If you prefer a more gradual approach to time changes
• If your child is younger
• Or if your child is more sensitive to schedule changes

 

This is the slightly more gradual approach. We still aren't going to spend a ton of time and energy shifting the schedule because that's honestly just making it more complicated than it needs to be! But we are going to spend 2 days adjusting the schedule to be a bit more gradual.

On Sunday, let your child sleep until 30 minutes later according to the clock. So if your child usually wakes at 6:30am, you will let them sleep until 7am on Sunday. This will make everything on Sunday feel like it's shifted roughly 30 minutes later as well- including bedtime.

Then on Monday, wake your child up at their old, usual wake up time. From my example above, that would be 6:30am. Then the rest of your day will fall into place like your typical daily schedule.

 

Important Reminder

With the clocks changing, it is going to be light in the evenings at bedtime. You need to ensure your child's room is plenty dark at bedtime. I highly recommend BlackoutEZ Window Covers if you need a better window solution. If you need a cheap, quick fix then aluminum foil works wonders! Tape it up over the windows and it completely blocks out all the light!

Bottom line, we need to block the sun from coming into their room at bedtime or else they may have a harder time falling asleep in the evening.

If you have a toddler or preschooler, you will want to start talking to the now about the time change to prep them. This doesn't need to be a high level conversation but something simple: "Winter is almost over and it's almost spring! Yay! That means the sun will stay out later too."

Then you can have the conversation that even though the sun is out later, it is still bedtime according to the clock. Then hold firm with your boundaries if they struggle to adjust. They will get there!

Perhaps you've heard this sleep tip before: "Pull bedtime earlier if you are dealing with early morning wakings." I know, I know. It sounds crazy but in many cases, an earlier bedtime can actually *help* with early morning wakings. If you feel skeptical, you’re not alone. Let’s walk through this piece of sleep advice below and see if it’s the right solution for your situation!

 

How can an early bedtime help?

Baby & toddler sleep can feel sooo counterintuitive sometimes. And if you have an early riser, you’ve probably had at least one person tell you to just keep them up later and not to let them nap much in order to solve early wakings. On the surface it makes sense, right? Less day sleep and a later bedtime should equal more night sleep and a later wake up. However, this advice is not going to get you far in most cases. 

 

The main reason is overtiredness. This is a state that your child will be in if they are kept up too long or not allowed to get adequate sleep. So what does this mean for your child if they are overtired?

 

Essentially, sleep begets sleep. The more well-rested your child is, the more likely they are to be able to get the sleep they need. When they become overtired, their body can start to resist sleep. This may look like difficulty falling asleep when it’s bedtime or naptime, sleeping more restlessly and waking more frequently. It will look like they don’t need or want sleep when it’s actually the very thing their body is craving.

 

On a biological level, overtiredness causes an increase in our stress hormone, cortisol, and that is what can disrupt sleep when cortisol levels are higher than normal. 

 

At night, it’s normal for our baseline cortisol levels to drop as our melatonin (sleepy hormone) levels rise. Then in the early morning, our melatonin levels naturally start dropping and our cortisol levels start rising. When our cortisol levels reach a certain threshold, it’s our brain’s signal to wake up for the day!

 

So you can see how starting the night with a slightly elevated cortisol level (from overtiredness and a late bedtime)  can lead to an earlier start the next day instead of a later one!

 

What’s the right bedtime to avoid overtiredness?

Depending on your child’s age, they can tolerate being awake for different amounts of time before they’ll need to go to bed. A wake window is what we call that period of time. Below are some loose guidelines I use based on your little one’s age. Ideally you don’t want your wake window before bed to be greater than the numbers below:

 

4-6 months: 2-2.5 hours

7-9 months: 2.5-3.5 hours

10-14 months: 3.5-4 hours

15+ months: 5-6 hours

For no nappers (3+ years of age): Aim for 12-13 hours of total night sleep and plan your bedtime accordingly.

For more help with understanding age appropriate wake windows for your baby, check out this freebie with my wake window chart.

 

If you are currently struggling with early wakings AND your wake window before bed is longer than I suggest above, give it a tweak and see if it helps!

 

When does an early bedtime not work to solve early morning wakings?

While I love an early bedtime, it’s not *always* the solution to early wakings. I know “12 hour nights” is the gold standard of sleep on the internet but it’s not always possible for babies and toddlers. Some children won’t ever sleep more than 10-11 hours overnight and that’s okay. With this information in mind, you can see how an early bedtime of 6 or even 6:30pm could still lead to 5am wake ups. So it’s important to keep the whole picture of your child’s schedule and sleep needs in mind as you navigate early wakings.

 

Why are early wakings so challenging?

Early wakings can be among the most frustrating of sleep issues when you’re a parent. You feel like you would do almost anything just to get an extra hour of sleep in the morning. Your baby’s sleep pressure is lowest around 4-6am and that’s part of the reason why early wakings can feel so prevalent.

 

Habits can play a big role as well and therefore, when you are making tweaks to solve early wakings, you can’t expect to see instance progress. Oftentimes it will take weeks of consistency on your end before you will see your baby or toddler starting to wake later.

 

That’s why I’ve created my Early Waking Mini Course! It walks tired moms through simple steps they can take to improve early wakings. This way you know what changes need to be addressed and you can have the confidence to stay consistent with them for the long haul- so you can actually see your hard work pay off!

You want a little sneak peek insight into a few habits that I’ve implemented as a mom (and sleep consultant) that are SO important to me? Because these pieces of gold have changed my life and my kids lives and are TOO valuable not to share with you!

These habits have all been intentional (except the last one which was a silly quirk that turned into an accidental habit) and as a sleep consultant who deals with behaviors, habits, and routines on a daily basis, I fully believe in the power of using such things to our advantage as we parent and decide what is important in our lives.

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Like most things that I share, this what worked well for our family but I fully acknowledge there are many good ways to parent. Here’s your disclaimer not to compare or feel like your intentional parenting choices are better than or less than anyone else's.

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So here are the habits I'm grateful that I've implemented over the last 10 years of parenting...

 

1. Teaching independent sleep (aka sleep training)

This one probably goes without saying but, independent sleep has truly been an integral part of my parenting journey. My sons know how to regulate their own sleep and they feel safe and comfortable doing so. This is something we had to work at by sleep training around  4 months of age with both of my boys and then it became a boundary we had to continue holding over the years (particularly years 3-5 when they were testing lots of boundaries). Just because I'm a sleep consultant and my boys have been sleeping independently since their baby days, that doesn't mean we never have sleep issues pop up. However, our consistency is what keeps us on track every time. Read a little more about why I recommend laying down fully awake for each sleep here.

2. Frequent trips to the library

We often head to the library on a weekly basis to get new books to keep us occupied the next week. It’s not uncommon for us to have 30-40 books checked out at one time. This habit has truly shaped them into avid readers. When my boys were smaller, we would go and play in the place at the library and sit and read together or participate in the free baby and toddler reading times they offered. As they got older we started participating in the summer reading program each year. And now when we go to the library they head off and know exactly where to find the various books they're looking for!

 

3. Set morning wake up times

This time may change depending on if it’s the weekday, weekend, summer, or school year but we are very clear about when the boys can leave their rooms and expect to start their days. We have been intentional about this since they were babies and they didn’t always like this rule but now it’s so ingrained they don’t even think twice about it. We're big fans of the Kidstible lamps to help little ones know when it's time to wake up.

 

4. Daily quiet time

Since my boys stopped napping around 3-5 years, we’ve implemented a daily quiet time when home. This is their time to play, create, read, and rest in their rooms while my husband and I are able to work or rest. This time has been invaluable to my sanity and I recommend it to every family when they are out of the napping stage. Read more about developing a quiet time here.

 

 

5. No tablet use for the boys

We have tried off and on to incorporate tablet time but it always caused an issue and it always became an unquenchable need for more. So on the whole, we don’t do tablet time. We are TV watchers and will watch several hours of TV throughout the week but we are all much happier with that less addictive screen option. My boys never have the expectation to be on the tablet when they are bored, when we are at restaurants, or really anytime we are doing things they aren't big fans of. If this is something you want to learn more about, I highly recommend checking out Dr. Alison Yeung's content on Instagram.

 

6. Bible reading and prayers before bed

Bible reading and prayers before bed. This is a simple routine that we started with them as toddlers. As part of our bedtime routine we read a Bible story and then go around and all say a prayer. My hope is that this will help them to learn how to make Jesus a part of their everyday life- even when they are older.

 

7. Getting a treat for myself without the expectation that they will automatically get one too

This last one will probably seem the weirdest, but I am an ice cream lover so it ended up being a great motto for us. Just because I’m getting a treat, that doesn’t mean the boys get a treat. It also goes the other way. Just because they are getting a treat, it doesn’t mean I get a treat. Because of this understanding we’ve built over the years since they were babies, I am able to go to the drive thru and grab ice cream for myself and they don’t bat an eye!

 

I’d love to hear about a habit you’ve intentionally tried to teach your little ones?

 

 

Ready to tackle your current sleep issues? I'm here to offer a solution. 

Look no further than my affordable Classic Consultation:

With the Classic Consultation you can get accessible sleep help to confidently sleep train without all the second guessing! Imagine doing your bedtime routine, kissing your baby goodnight, walking out of the room + knowing that your baby will sleep long stretches at night and both of you will wake up feeling refreshed!

 

So if you're ready to stop feeling stuck, it's time to own your hard, commit to change & better sleep, and head over to check out the Classic Consultation today: https://allthesleeps.com/sleep-plan

We've all heard this piece of advice before, "Never wake a sleeping baby!" and as a sleep consultant I've gotten appalled looks when I confess you actually SHOULD wake a sleeping baby sometimes. I thought it'd be helpful to lay out all the reasons and situations where waking a sleeping baby is the right move. Keep reading to find out 4 times you should wake a sleeping baby.

 

Time #1 you should wake a sleeping baby: When you have a newborn sleeping long stretches during the day but not at night

Maybe you have a newborn who is up hourly at night but then daytime comes and they will sleep these big long stretches. Yikes! That's the opposite of what we want!

With newborns, this is usually due to the fact that their circadian rhythm hasn't yet developed (this starts happening around 8-12 weeks) and therefore they really have no clue what's day and what's night. To help them figure this out, our biggest tool is... you guessed it- waking them up during the day!

Daytime naps should be limited to 2 hours during the newborn phase and then baby needs to be woken up, fed, and kept awake for at least a short period of time before you let them fall back asleep. This will be hard work at first but totally worth the extra effort in the end, I promise.

Really struggling with your newborn's sleep? Check out my newborn sleep resources here.

 

Time #2 you should wake a sleeping baby: When your baby is sleeping crappy at night and then making up for it during the day with long, luxurious naps

Similar to #1, but this also applies to babies and toddlers. If they aren't getting good quality night sleep, they may try to make up for it by sleeping A LOT during the day. And if we aren't willing to wake them from naps, it will be really hard to break out of this cycle.

So first order of business is to start capping some those daytime naps so that they can build sleep pressure to sleep more during the night. This will also help you fit in necessary daytime feedings so that nighttime isn't when the bulk of their calories is happening. Download my free nap guide for more details on age-appropriate wake windows and how much daytime sleep is actually necessary.

After you start to shorten their daytime sleep, if you are still struggling with crappy nights, it's time to get to the root issue. Are they sleeping poorly at night because they haven't learned how to regulate their own sleep yet? Is the help you provide to get them to sleep actually hindering their sleep because they can't recreate it?

If you're thinking sleep coaching is the next step, check out my Sleep Coaching Crash Course For Babies- the affordable sleep course for tired moms who just want to stop stressing about sleep!

 

Time #3 you should wake a sleeping baby: When you need to stabilize the schedule

If you have a child who will wake up super late in the morning (8am or later) and then it throws your whole day off, then waking them in the morning to start their day is necessary. 

Not only does have a consistent morning wake up time help you plan your day, it also helps their internal body clock to have that consistency day in and day out.

I always recommend having a 30 minute wake up range that you follow each and everyday. That could mean 6-6:30am or 6:30-7am, or 7:30-8am- you decide what works best for your family and your child. But then following that wake up range means you don't start your child's day before the early time and you wake them up if they are still sleeping at the later time.

If you have a child who is sleeping in late in the morning and it's making naps difficult and pushing bedtime way later than you'd like, then it absolutely makes sense to wake that sleeping baby!

 

Time #4 you should wake a sleeping baby: When you are close to a nap transition but not quite there yet

Over the course of your child's life you'll go through several nap transitions. These can be tricky but the key to making them successful is that you don't want to rush into them. The longer you can hold them off, the smoother they will go.

That's where waking a sleeping baby comes into play. Maybe you have a champion napper (which is great!) but now you're struggling to fit in that 3rd nap and it's really throwing a wrench in the schedule. You know that your child isn't really ready for a 2 nap schedule yet because they can't last 3 hours in between naps but you also can't seem to fit all three naps plus 4 wake windows in AND have bedtime not be ridiculously late.

It's okay to cap some of your baby's naps in order to make this 3 nap schedule work a little longer until they are more ready for the transition. Sit down and do some quick math. Count backward from your ideal bedtime and figure out what time you need to wake your child from each nap in order to fit everything in. Then take a deep breath and go for it!

Oh, I also get asked this question a lot when it comes to micromanaging a nap schedule like this: "Will this discourage my baby from taking longer naps when they do transition to less naps?" And the answer is no! You won't get your baby *stuck* at shorter naps by waking them now for a period of time.

Already stressing about future nap transition? Check out my Nap Transition Guide which walks you through everything you need to know for all the major nap transitions.

 

 

For more help with your child's sleep, Everything Page. Here I offer freebies, courses, and 1:1 services for each age group!

How early did your child wake up this morning? If it's anytime before 6am, we've got an early waking on hands! 🤮 BUT that doesn't mean it has to be this way forever! In this blog I walk you through the main 4 reasons your child is waking early and how you can fix them and teach your child to sleep until a more reasonable time.

 

What is considered an Early Waking for Babies and Toddlers?

Any waking between 4am and 6am is considered an early waking. Unfortunately, if your baby wakes at 6:15am, it may feel early but it's actually a natural biological time for them. We'd all love it if our babies slept until 8am but it's not something to expect. Your baby's internal clock naturally falls to a 7-8pm bedtime and 6-7am wake up time. Let's go over some of the major reasons why your baby might be waking earlier than 6am. You may find that several of these reasons are coming into play or even just one.

 

*This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my privacy and disclosure statement for more information.

Reason #1 Your baby is not motivated to keep sleeping.

Everyone's sleep cycles are shorter and lighter between 4 and 6 am. Our brains spend more time in REM sleep which is naturally lighter, making it easier to be woken up. Each sleep cycle gets shorter and shorter as well which means there are just more chances your baby will wake as they transition multiple times between sleep cycles. If you're baby is not an independent sleeper (meaning they don't know how to fall asleep without help), they will not be able to fall back asleep without intervention at these frequent, early wakings.

Even if your baby or toddler is an independent sleeper, they are not as motivated as adults who tend to work for every last drop of sleep in the morning. When we, as adults, wake briefly we are motivated to fall back asleep because we recognize that it's not yet time to wake up. Your baby doesn't realize that and they REALLY won't realize that if you start your day at whatever time they wake. The biggest thing you can do to motivate your sleeper to keep sleeping in the morning is to give them the gift of independent sleep. 

Reason #2 Light and YOU are signaling to your baby's brain that it's time to get up!

We've got to make sure that no signals are being sent to your baby that it's time to wake up. If any bit of light is creeping into your baby's room, it's sending a direct signal to your baby's brain that it's morning. Get that bedroom DARK. Go in at 5/6am and see how dark the room is. If you can see your hand in front of your face, it's not dark enough.

I like to use a scale of 1-10 with 1 being light and bright and 10 being pitch black. Your baby's room should fall at an 8-10 on that scale. This takes some maneuvering but is oftentimes a simple fix for sleep problems.

Also, make sure YOU aren't sending your baby signals that it's okay to be awake. If you get them up right away when they wake early, you are telling their internal clock that it's an okay time to wake for the morning. If you don't have one, set a designated wake time (DWT) for your baby and stick to it. It should be about 11-12 hours after bedtime.

If your DWT is 6:30am, then you should not get your child out of their dark room until that time. When they wake early, use your sleep coaching method until DWT. The least interaction and stimulation you can give during this time, the better.

Reason #3 Bedtime is too late.

A bedtime that is too late can actually cause your baby to wake too early. This truth goes against common sense and what you may hear given as advice, but it's true. Your child's natural biological clock is wired to go down between 7 and 8pm.

If bedtime is later than that and you are experiencing early wake ups, try shifting bedtime earlier by 15-30 minutes. You should aim for your baby or toddler to be getting 11-12 hours of sleep overnight and for them to have between 12 and 13 hours from wake up to bedtime. It's a myth that keeping your child up later will help them to sleep in in the morning.

Reason #4 Entire schedule is shifted too early.

I get it, your child wakes at 5am so their first nap has to be early because they are a tired mess by 7am. However, this causes all the other naps to occur early as well. This then leads to either a super early bedtime or an extra, crappy nap before a late bedtime. Neither are helpful to your baby's schedule. In fact, this just perpetuates the problem, leading to an tired baby and a vicious cycle of early wakings!

The best way to keep this from happening is to make the shift with nap 1. Hold it off until later, even if your baby is a tired mess. Use your DWT (yes, you MUST have one of these) to determine when nap 1 should occur. Do NOT use the actual time your baby is waking. This will take work and it won't be easy to keep a tired baby awake until their nap time but it's WORTH it!

If your baby is fussy, get creative. Sing songs, dance, play in the tub, go crawl around outside in the grass together! Like all things with sleep, the hard work will be worth it and that slight schedule shift might be just the what your baby needs to sleep until a decent time in the morning.

Got a toddler? 

Be sure to check out the Mella sleep trainer toddler clock (save 10% with code: allthesleeps10) and the Kidstible sleep lamp. These are both great tools to help your toddler understand when it's an acceptable time to wake up for the day. Like any other sleep tool, you'll need to put in work on the front end to enforce the clock but once your toddler catches on, it's a great visual!

 

Last piece of advice:

Early wake ups can take TIME to be resolved. You need to consistently stick to your plan for 2 weeks before you might see results. Because of this time commitment, some parents are quick to give up and resign themselves that their baby is just an "early riser." In most cases, this is not true!
 
If your child is waking early and is unhappy, obviously cranky, and a tired mess by the end of the day, these are all signs that they are not simply an "early riser." They do NEED that sleep they just don't know how to get it.

I get soooo many inquiries and questions about toddler sleep! At the same time, I notice a very prevalent attitude of resignation when it comes to toddler sleep. I want to help with that!!

Toddler sleep can be tricky and whether you’ve had a great little sleeper for the last year or so and now sleep is starting to fall apart OR if you’ve just never gotten into a good sleep rhythm, that’s okay! I promise, there is hope for your little one!

 

Let’s first talk about who is considered a ‘toddler.’ Technically, the toddler age is 12-36 months. For the purposes of this blog, I’m going to focus more on 15-36 months.

*This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my privacy and disclosure statement for more information.

 

Reason #1 why toddler sleep sucks: 2 ⇒ 1 nap transition

I find a lot of our sleep issues crop up right around that transition from 2 to 1 nap, which takes place between 15 and 18 months of age. The point of this blog isn’t to go over this nap transition specifically, but I do want to give you some pointers about this transition:

✩Hitting 15 months does not mean that you HAVE to transition. If sleep is going fine, then don’t rush it.

✩You’ll start by pushing nap 1 later and later.

✩Once nap 1 is ending late enough, that’s when you’ll cut out the second nap completely.

✩Again, bedtime will be on the later end right before the transition and then jump to early right after the transition. This gives them the chance to make up for the lost nap and to recover from the longer wake windows

 

For more help with this transition, check out my Nap Schedules & Transitions Bundle where I walk you step by step through each nap transition!

 

Reason #2 why toddler sleep sucks: 18-24 month sleep regression

Now, technically there is a regression at 18 months and another one at 24 months BUT I think it can feel like the regressions last the whole 6 months in between, especially when said regressions aren’t handled the best and we start reinforcing these sleep issues….

 

The 18 month regression is typically contributed to by separation anxiety, an explosion of language development, walking, first year molars, and your toddler learning they can say, “No.”

 

The 24 month regression is typically contributed to by nighttime fears cropping up. FOMO, boundary testing, nap refusals, climbing, potty training, second year molars, and a too early crib to bed transition.

 

 

Reason #3 why toddler sleep sucks: Teething

Those back molars come in during the toddler phase and they can cause some upset during this time. But it’s important not to let teething derail your good sleep progress!

 

Remember, during teething, the pain/discomfort should really only last 1-3 days as the tooth comes through. It shouldn’t be the cause of weeks of sleep disruption. Also, teething isn’t uncomfortable enough to wake your toddler up. It may mean that it’s a little harder for them to fall back asleep when they naturally have wakings but it’s not waking them up.

 

If you worry they are in pain, quietly go into their room when they wake, offer your pediatrician’s recommended dosage of pain relief, and then leave again. Avoid over helping at these times because it might come back to bite you both in the future.

 

Reason #4 why toddler sleep sucks: Language development

Did you know your toddler’s language explodes right around 18 months? Your baby goes from saying only a few words at 1 year to knowing 1,000-2,000 words at 3 years! That’s a LOT of learning and development and you better believe it affects sleep!

 

One way it can affect sleep is that your toddler just wants to lay in their crib and chatter away instead of sleep! This is an area where we have to just let it go. You obviously can’t control whether or not your toddler sleeps when in their crib but you can control the consistency with which you put them to bed each and every day.  

 

Reason #5 why toddler sleep sucks: Separation anxiety

I’m not going to go super in depth about separation anxiety because I actually have another post, Tips for Handling Separation Anxiety Without Compromising Sleep, that you should check out.

 

But I will say that separation is a completely normal part of your toddler’s development (however un-fun it may be) and that when it comes to sleep, we want to keep everything as consistent as possible. Toddlers thrive under routine and an ever changing bedtime routine is only going to make the problem persistent and long-term rather than short-term and acute.  

 

Reason #6 why toddler sleep sucks: Potty training

I see the need to night time potty train affect sleep as well. Again, I’ve written a more detailed blog about this exact topic of potty training, but here are some quick takeaways:

1. Day time potty training and nighttime potty training do NOT need to happen at the same time.
2. Night time potty training should be held off until your child is consistently waking up dry in the morning
3. The transition from crib to bed should not revolve around the decision to potty train, which leads to my next toddler sleep issue...

 

Reason #7 why toddler sleep sucks: Crib to bed transition

Ahhh! This one is my pet peeve. Sorry guys. I always, always, ALWAYS recommend you wait as long as you can to make this transition. You may think I’m crazy BUT I will tell you that a majority of the toddler and preschooler clients I help, need help in the first place because they made the transition too soon. Can’t argue with the facts, folks!

 

If you want more specifics about keeping your toddler in their crib, see this post with my crib hacks.

If you are ready to make the transition but need some more guidance, check out my Crib To Bed Transition Guide.

 

Here’s my brief takeaway about the crib to bed transition:

Your toddler cannot understand the invisible boundaries of a bed. With a crib, there are physical bars keeping them in, but with a bed, we are expecting them to understand something they cannot see. Transitioning them too early is just setting them up for failure.

 

If you must transition them early, make sure you are prepared with a visible boundary (baby gate or door) so that their brain can make the connection it needs to.

 

Reason #8 why toddler sleep sucks: Nap strikes

Even the best little sleepers can go through nap strikes. I see this most around the age of 2 but it can honestly happen anytime during toddlerhood. But here’s the deal, when it comes to toddlers, naptime is not optional. 

 

Naptime should happen everyday, regardless of whether or not they actually sleep. We need to keep the framework in place so that when their nap strike is over, they can seamlessly fall back into naps.

 

Don’t give up on napping and don’t cut it short. If you reach the end of nap time and your toddler has yet to nap, be sure to offer an early bedtime so that they aren’t a wreck that night.

 

Reason #9 why toddler sleep sucks: FOMO

Fear of missing out. Your toddler can totally understand now that just because they go to bed, it doesn’t mean that everyone else is going to bed. Understandably, they don’t want to miss out on all the fun!

 

This can cause those nap refusal and bedtime battles. Unfortunately, there’s not much we can do on this front. Your toddler still needs a nap, even if they don’t want to take one (and they’ll need one until at least 3 years so don’t give it up too soon!). Your toddler still needs an earlier bedtime than Mom and Dad, even though they will likely protest this. These pieces play into our next issue and I’ll talk about what you can do more...

 

Reason #10 why toddler sleep sucks: Limit testing

Your toddler is good at testing boundaries. And they should be! Boundary testing is an important part of their learning and development! But as parents, our job is to hold the important boundaries firm so that your child can figure out what you expect of them. This is a great article about testing limits by Janet Lansbury, parenting expert.

 

Think of it this way (and I apologize, this is a really weird analogy but go with it): Imagine you find yourself inside this big bubble. You push on the bubble walls with your hands and notice they stretch and move when you push them. You continue to push and push, seeing how flexible the walls really are. It’s not until the walls stop moving and you’ve reached their limit do you stop pushing, right? You figure, there’s no point in continuing to push the walls because they’re not going to move anymore.

 

That’s exactly how your toddler views limits. They will keep pushing and pushing until they understand exactly where that limit is. And they can’t know where the limit is if we, as parents, don’t show them. In Janet Lansbury’s article, she explains that they can get stuck in testing mode if we aren’t making our limits clear.

 

This, I believe, is the main reason why toddler sleep can get so out of hand.

We give a little here, we give a little there, and before we know it, our toddler is testing every single limit that we have around sleep. In the end we feel like we are constantly fighting them so we just give up and find ourselves in a sleep situation that we never wanted to be in: 

• Laying with your toddler until they fall asleep
• Letting your toddler dictate when bedtime is 
• Bringing your toddler into your bed
• Allowing 5am to become your new wake up time
• Letting your toddler quit napping
• And the list goes on...

 

 

Wowza! We covered a LOT but if you’re still reading, I’m guessing it’s because you are in the trenches of toddler sleep. I hope this was helpful in pointing out the why and what you can do moving forward.

 

Got a toddler who already struggles with early waking? Check out these 2 toddler clocks I recommend:

 

The Kidstible Toddler Lamp- This sleep trainer lamp is designed that a battery and gradually fills up as the night goes on. When it's wake up time the battery is fully charged- just like your child! To read more about my personal review of this product (I own 3 and use each one in my home) check out 5 reasons I love this toddler sleep trainer lamp.

 

The Mella toddler clock- This sleep trainer clocks alerts your child with a green light when they can wake up and start their day. Take 10% off your purchase with my code: allthesleeps10

 

Be sure to check out my Toddler & Preschooler Resource Page for all my free and paid offerings in this age group too!