By Claire Lerner and Rebecca Parlakian
Learn how to make sense of your infant or toddler’s sleep problems, and find out how to appropriately address them.
Few parents get through the early years without struggling with some kind of sleep issue with their child. Consider some of the examples below. Do any of these sound familiar to you?
- Eight-week-old Tabitha falls asleep quickly as her mom rocks and sings to her. But the second her mom puts her down, Tabitha starts to cry until her mother picks her up again.
- Brian, 16 months, still wakes up 2~3 times a night and can’t go back to sleep unless his mom or dad pats his back for up to 30 minutes.
- Natasha, 33 months, refuses to go to sleep without a bedtime routine that seems to get longer each night. Even after “lights out,” she calls for her dad or grandmother many times for drinks of water and trips to the bathroom.
While there are no easy answers or one-size-fits-all approaches to solving sleep challenges, there is a lot you can do to help your child become a good sleeper. Trying the strategies below, modifying them to meet the needs of your child and family, is a first step. With sensitivity, patience, and consistency, hopefully you will all be sleeping better soon.
Think about:
Think about the following questions to help you adapt and apply the information and strategies below to meet the needs of your individual child and family:
- What do you find most challenging about your child’s sleep habits? Why?
- What do you think are the reason(s) for your child’s sleep challenge?
- What have you tried that has worked? Not worked? What can you learn from this?
