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Advice for getting your baby or toddler to sleep all through

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Relaxation Techniques for Toddler’s Bedtime

Though it may seem like your toddler does nothing but play all day, he’s working very hard and by no means is his life stress-free. As he’s learning to walk, talk, and climb, he’s pushing himself to the limits of his physical strength and mental learning. He's also falling down, bumping, surprising, and hurting himself over and over again each day. And since your toddler doesn't yet know how to roll with the punches or ease up on himself, he's constantly frustrated and angered by failure. All this activity is bound to make for an exhausted toddler. 

If you find his favorite activities or routine tasks are frustrating him, he’s most likely overtired and in need of restorative and restful sleep.  Physical exhaustion, excitement, and tension build up until he no longer knows he's tired. Then it is up to you as a parent to help him figure out how to stop and rest. You can help make the transition from busy, active, energetic day to tranquil, quiet and peaceful night by easing him into sleep with quiet activities in the evening after dinner.  Coloring a picture, sitting down and watching a favorite, but quiet, video, reading books, singing, quiet play at bath time, or singing lullabies together helps your toddler disconnect and start winding down.  If this is done within the framework of a consistent bedtime routine, your toddler will come to associate these activities with bedtime and find them comforting and he’ll be able to easily recognize when bedtime occurs. 

It’s also important to relax with your toddler.  If he sees you busy in the kitchen cleaning, outside gardening, or doing other busy activities in the evenings, he’ll be likely to want to do the same, making the bedtime routine frustrating for everyone involved.

Healthy Bedtime Routines for a Happy Child

Bedtime routines and rituals are very important for most children in establishing positive sleep patterns and in developing a sense of security and stability. Your child will benefit from a set bedtime. Pick a time for bed that is reasonable for your child and which you can consistently provide.

Establish a bedtime routine that can provide predictability and a comforting, familiar pattern.  Even an understandable and structured visual pattern can assist this process and can provide reminders and consistency for the whole family.

A good bedtime routine will help teach a child to calm down, relax and get ready to sleep. However, not every technique works for every child. For example, if bathing is stimulating or frightening for your child, it’s probably a better idea to do it at another time of day rather than right before you want your child to calm down and go to sleep.  Incorporate activities that you know have a calming effect on your child into their bedtime preparatory routine. Keep the routine short and sweet.  It should realistically only consist of four to six steps that can be completed in a reasonable time frame, not drawn out into hours on end each night.

Reading a favorite book each night, brushing teeth, having a glass of water, and saying a goodnight prayer can all be calming, soothing activities for a young child to perform each night routinely.  Hugging and kissing family members is usually also an integral part of the process, of course!

There are those nights or times when circumstances prevent your child from getting to bed at their usual time.  Be sure not to shortchange the process when this happens, but keep in mind that each step can be shortened significantly in order to prevent long frustrations at a time when everyone is tired.

Sleep talking and sleepwalking in children

Sleepwalking and sleep talking are members of a group of sleep disorders called parasomnias. Though it’s not known just exactly why children walk and talk in their sleep neither are considered to be serious disorders, and are not result of any physical or psychological problem.  Both occur during a child’s deep sleep, approximately one to three hours after falling asleep.




Sleep talking occurs more often than sleep walking in children, though they often do occur together. Parasomnias tend to run in families, and children may experience one, two, or all three types.

Of course, the main concern parents have for their sleepwalking child is their safety. A sleepwalking child does not have the judgment capabilities he normally does during waking hours, which makes the likelihood of injury when sleepwalking great. It may be difficult for parents to protect their sleep-walking children, since they don't make much noise, which makes it difficult for parents to tell when their children are sleepwalking.  The best way to protect their children is to be prepared. Parents should completely evaluate their child’s room for any potential hazards. Bunk beds or any bed that’s high off the floor is probably not a good idea for a sleepwalker.  Toys, shoes, and any other objects on the floor should be picked up and put away prior to bedtime. Bedroom doors should be shut and windows should be locked, which will help ensure the child stays in his room and does not wander around the house. Alarm systems for doors, windows and even the sleepwalker’s bed might also be considered by parents. Sleepwalking usually stops by the child’s adolescence, and as long as safety precautions are taken, should not be a great cause of concern.

Sleep talking is much more common parasomnia.  Children who talk in their sleep may speak very clearly and be easily understood, while others may mumble, make noises or be incoherent. If children are speaking loudly and seem upset, it might be a good idea for parents to go to their children and comfort them without waking them.  If they're simply talking, it's best just to leave them alone. The episode will probably end within a short period of time.

The Best Way to Get Your Baby or Toddler to Sleep

On Their Own

You may have asked this question to your friends and family many times or even spent hours searching the internet for an answer to what seems an impossible solution.


The Internet is full of do's and don'ts and it certainly must be driving you mad, but this advice certainly does work so give it a go.


When putting your toddler to sleep try to avoid playing music and cuddling them until they fall asleep feeling loved and secure, or having a mad half an hour before their bedtime to burn of excess energy so they fall asleep. Instead establish a consistent bedtime routine and leaving them to fall asleep on their own. You will need to repeat the same, calming bedtime ritual every night because this teachers your baby or toddler the cues for sleep, they need to know what is going to happen so they feel relaxed and secure. It is important that an hour before bedtime you start to calm everything down.



You can also try and give them a five minute bath before bedtime. This is a good way for them to unwind and the bath helps them to produce the sleep hormone melatonin. When you put them down, dim the lights, and read a quiet story and talk in a gentle voice. Leave your child drowsy in their cot but not asleep. They need to learn to fall asleep on their own to avoid sleep problems later on.


The most frustrating times are when they finally fall asleep and you then go and look forward to what you think is going to be a great night sleep only to be woken up by the sound of them crying.

Once you child wakes up during the night you want them to fall asleep on their own. If your baby wakes up in the night and you’re not there they will continue to cry until you go to them, but if they learn to fall asleep on their own they will wake up and find everything as it was and then fall back to sleep.



Some parents believe that if your baby or toddler does not have a nap during the day they will fall asleep much easier at night. This is not the case as an over tired baby is much more difficult to settle. Day time naps reduce the levels of the stress hormone Cortisol so it’s important that they have a nap during the day. As long as your baby is awake for two hours before bedtime, napping will help them to sleep better and for longer at night.

For more information on Baby and Toddler Sleep Issues please follow the links provided below.

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Night Time Help

There’s only so much one person (or two) can do to get a baby to go to sleep. There are things you can use other than your own shoulder to help lull your baby to sleep.

A baby swing can be a good idea and leave your hands free. Set the swing at a slow and gentle rock; you don’t want this to be an exciting or stimulating experience. You want to make it relaxing so your baby can fall asleep.

A glider or rocker is restful for both of you. And a good pillow support, like a Boppy® pillow is good for late-night breast feeding. It’s a nice U-shaped pillow that provides good support for your baby, as well as for your back.

If you’re on a budget, some parents swear by putting their baby in a baby seat and putting it on top of a dryer. If you do this, be sure to put the dryer on air only – you don’t want to overheat him.

A motorized cradle or bassinette can also be soothing for a baby. As a last resort, you can always bundle the baby into his car seat and drive around the neighborhood until he falls asleep. Many experts don’t recommend artificial aids like this however, as it’s impossible to sustain it and you won’t get the baby used to sleeping on his own.

There are also many ambient noise machines on the market that can also help mask household noises and provide a soothing environment for the baby (and for many adults). You can usually set them for a variety of noises, like rainfall, windchimes or ocean sounds. You can also leave the TV on quietly in another room so the baby doesn’t feel completely isolated in his room.

Get Your Baby To Sleep

Too many of us settle for our baby's sleep pattern and say that it's "good enough." You are awake far too many hours of the night... work desperately trying to get your baby to sleep... and if you're lucky, you get to squeeze in a few minutes of  rest and relaxation during baby's nap times.
Is that the kind of life you want until your baby is 6 years old...

Don't let fear of the unknown hold you back one more MINUTE from achieving the restful nights and stress-free days you DESERVE to live the
life you were meant to live!

It doesn't matter if you have no parenting experience... it doesn't matter if you don't have a science degree... and it doesn't matter what your current sleep situation is...

You and your baby can still start learning how to enjoy better sleep in the next FIVE MINUTES! 

The Four Ancient Principles to a Happy Baby

Dr. Harvey Karp is a nationally renowned pediatrician and child development specialist. He is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the UCLA School of Medicine. Over the past 20 years, he has taught thousands of parents his secrets for making children happy.

When he began to study medicine in the 1970’s, he was dismayed that a sophisticated, medical system didn't have one good solution for babies with colic, a terribly disturbing but common malady. He read everything possible about colic, and was determined to discover whatever clues possible to clarify why so many children and their parents were overwhelmed by this mysterious condition.

He first learned there are fundamental differences between the brain of a 3-month-old baby and that of a newborn. During the first few months of life, babies make massive developmental leaps. These disparities, he theorized, account for the huge gap between how parents in our society expect new babies to look, and act, and their true behavior and nature.

His second pivotal discovery came when he learned the colicky screaming that troubled so many of his patients and their parents was nonexistent in the babies of several cultures across the globe. He decided to investigate further to find out exactly why that was the case.  He realized that, in many ways, the peoples living in primitive cultures are ignorant and backward. Though, in some areas their wisdom is great and our culture is actually the “primitive.” By combining past trusted information with modern techniques and research as well as his own observations from his years of practice in the medical field, he theorized four ancient principles – the missing “fourth” trimester, the “calming” reflex, the five “S’s” and the cuddle cure – are crucial to fully comprehending babies and developing the ability to comfort them and help them develop healthy and restful sleeping patterns early in life.

Daylight Exposure

Remember your baby is used to a dark, quiet environment in the womb. She’s not used to the usual cues of nighttime sleeping. Nighttime, at first, is what she’s used to asleep or awake.

One method of getting your baby used to sleeping at night, or in the dark, is to be sure she’s exposed to lots of sunlight during the day. When it’s time to nap or time to go to sleep at night, part of your ritual can be dimming the lights, simulating dusk and nighttime, even if it’s an afternoon nap. This way, she’ll get used to day and night cycles and learn that nighttime and darkness are for sleeping.

There are clocks called dawn simulators that will gradually dim into total darkness over a period of about half an hour. This can be a way to gradually dim the light in the baby’s room. You can start while you’re still rocking her to sleep. When you start putting her in her crib when she’s still awake, you can set the clock to start to dim when you leave the room, or leave part way through the cycle. This way you’re not just flipping out the light and leaving her alone in the dark.

You can do this for nap times too. The clocks will cycle on slowly in the morning as well; you want to be sure that you mute the actual alarm sound, though, so you don’t wake the baby up with a shock.

If you combine any of these devices with your usual routines, you’ll help teach your babies the cues for going to sleep at nap time and at night. These are gentle methods that many parents prefer to just letting the baby cry it out.

Bathing

Bath time is a special time of bonding with a baby and her parents. It’s a time to play gently, talk and sing.  Get everything you will need ready before you start! The list includes water (of course), washcloth, alcohol pads, bath towel (with hood if you have one), clean diaper, any items you routinely use during a diaper change (for little circumcised boys this would include Vaseline and gauze squares), and fresh clothes. Use a special baby wash and baby shampoo, preferably natural ones with calendula oils; regular soaps and shampoos can be too harsh or drying.  Babies lose body heat very quickly, so make sure the room is warm -- 75 to 80 degrees Fahrenheit is ideal.

Gently cradle your baby's head in one hand and use the other hand to remove her clothing. Gently wash her with a soft, warm washcloth, and dry her off with a towel. If you like, you can wash one area at a time and put a fresh item of clothing on as soon as an area is washed and dried. This is not necessary unless you are in a chilly room.

It’s a good idea to start with the "less dirty" areas first, i.e. leave the diaper area until last, so you’re not washing the baby in dirty water. As you go, be sure to gently wash behind her ears; the crevices in her neck, elbows, and knees; and in between her fingers and toes.   It's a good idea to wash a newborn's hair near the end of bath time. This will help prevent him or her from losing too much body heat. Most newborns don't have much hair, so it is easy to sponge it with water much the same way you do the rest of the body. Almost all babies dislike getting their eyes wet. If you tip the head back just a bit and work your way from the front to the back, you can avoid getting water in your baby's eyes.