Is sleep a battle in your house? I know it was mine. Thankfully, I know longer experience the battle that is bedtime just like it is in so many households. If you want to know how I got my toddler to start going to bed peacefully, staying in bed all night AND staying in her room until 8am on her own keep reading!
Unfortunately, I know all too well what its like to have a toddler running the home. Toddlers are so much smarter than people give them credit for. My husband and I were working full time and then some at a job with crazy hours. Needless to say our household and daughter were struggling because of it.
It is SO easy to develop bad habits around sleep when you have kids. All you want them to do is sleep. My three year old definitely knew what she needed to accomplish to get her way. Working full time and being so exhausted, the last thing I wanted to do was fight my toddler on sleep. Once, I quit my job and came home it was time to face the lack of structure and discipline. For me that all had to start with getting a goods night rest!
Sticker charts revolutionized bedtime for her because it gave her goals and personal accountability. We use a lot of positive reinforcement in child training. Sticker charts have been a great way to facilitate training for us. Each time she was able to complete a step in her routine she received a sticker for her chart. It helped keep a positive flow in our home and get her excited for every step of bedtime. We decided to have a long term goal for her stick chart. If she can get all her stickers for the week or month theres a special reward at the end. Keep the long term goal short in the beginning. This helps them to start getting little wins under their belt so they understand and know what that feels like.
This will teach them natural consequences without harsh punishment. Its also a good reminder for them if they’re fighting you on a step in their routine.
Out of all my tips this one is the most important. Toddlers are creatures of habit and they like to know whats happening next. You’d be surprised at what things they would stop fighting you on when it becomes part of their routine. Stay firm and don’t deviate from the routine even if your toddler fights you on it. Toddlers are like water and will always find the crack. Don’t forget to utilize the long term goal here!
We’ve talked about how to get your child to go to sleep. Now we’re going to talk about how to get them to stay asleep. Better yet, stay in their rooms until an appropriate time to come out!
Getting a white noise machine is a great way to help your child feel comfortable while sleeping. It also lets other noises not be so prevalent and wake them especially in the morning.
When we first started sleep training it was dark by 6pm. Which was great until the sun was out longer and up earlier. Quickly it became evident she needed some curtains to keep that light out. Here’s a link to some affordable black out curtains off Amazon!
My favorite sleep/wake aid ever! This has been the thing that has allowed me to have my morning routine to myself before my daughter wakes up full speed. It gives me that much needed peace in the morning. I’m able to get my bible reading in, dressed and ready and do some morning chores all before she even gets up! I also don’t need to be guessing how much time I have before she’s up. I got this one off Amazon because I thought it was just too cute! When its time for bed I turn the alarm on. That triggers the red light which will stay on all night. This lets her know as long as that red light is on she needs to stay in her room. Here’s the one we have!
I have the green light set to 8:00 am. Now, she typically wakes up around 7:30. However, she’s free to play quietly in her room if she’s up before the green light goes off. I often times have to go remind her the green light is on! She gets so content playing she forgets to check!
Some other options are the Hatch and this one by LittleHippo.
Setting the tone for the night is really effective. You can do this by playing relaxing music and dimming the lights. Something thats on her evening chart is to clean her room. I think having a nice clean room is a lot more restful than the chaos. It also helps set her day out on the right note.
How many times does your toddler pull out every excuse to get out of bed? My daughter always was yelling something out from her room. I decided to start including filling her water bottle and getting a snack in the routine. It keeps her preoccupied and less excuses.
If your toddler is fighting nap times or they’re unable to fall asleep at a good bedtime. You might want to consider dropping their afternoon nap or monitoring the time on it. Every child is different my daughter had a quiet/nap time around 3 1/2 but she suddenly stopped napping. This ended up being beneficial for us because it allowed her to be tired enough at bedtime.
Children’s sleep is very important! I recommend trying things out and visiting this website to get some information on nap times for your child.
There you have it my best tips, tricks and resources for toddler sleep training. If you have an specific questions feel free to comment them down below or reach out to me at mrsmagnoliamade@gmail.com. I hope you found this helpful and don’t forget to check back every Wednesday and Sunday for a new blog post!
