As a new mom, you count down the days until your baby starts sleeping through the night. Sleep…it’s probably the number one topic you and your mom friends talk about. You’re getting and giving advice, talking routines and strategies, and desperately searching Google at 3am for the answers.
It seems like the first question people ask you about when you have a new baby too…”how are they sleeping?” Being sleep deprived is no joke, gives me the worst anxiety, and something I did not think I would be going through with an almost 3 year old. In fact, the promise of a restful night’s sleep when your baby hits the toddler stage is what got me through those newborn days. Clearly I had no idea what I was in store for.
Quinn was sleeping consistently through the night at around 6-7 months. Little set backs here and there, but we were getting a solid 11-12 hours most nights until this year. Back in December she got hand, foot, and mouth (if you don’t know what this is Google it and pray your kid never gets it!) and we finally took her beloved “paci” away. I honestly feel like that was the beginning of her inconsistent sleep patterns. Over the past few months she has been getting harder and harder to get down at night.
I dread putting her down and I’m so happy when my husband is home to do it! Her procrastination techniques are impressive, she wants to you to stay in her room with her and screams and hysterically cries when you say goodnight and leave the room. This started happening at naps as well and nap strikes have become more frequent. To top it off…she has also started waking up in the middle of the night (sometimes several times) and having VERY early morning wake up times.
We’ve tried all.the.things. and have had the same consistent bedtime routine basically since she was born (in some form). We considered it was time to drop her nap, but she is exhausted by 12:30-1:00 pm especially if she’s been up since 5:30 am (and so am I!!) We’ve considered she might be ready for a big girl bed (she hasn’t tried to climb out of the crib yet) but the more reading I’m doing it says to keep them in their crib as long as possible (if they aren’t climbing out) and 3.5-4 years old is an ideal time to transfer out of the crib.
So here is where we are currently at. We got this wake clock (I know a lot of people love the Hatch Baby) and she’s pumped about it. She says she loves her new clock and thinks the face on it is cute. We’ve only used it a few nights now, but she is slowly starting to get the hang of it.
The first night it didn’t help at all. The second morning she called yelled for us only to tell us that the light was NOT green and it was NOT time to get up. Thanks girlfriend. By night 3 she stayed quiet in bed until the light turned green in the morning. I’m sure it won’t always be like that, but it’s progress and I’ll take it! We also got a stars and moon light projector for a fun new night light for her to look at.
I’ve been doing a lot of reading and experts recommend a “stay in my bed” chart and a little reward at the end of the week. We will start this next week. Ideally you start the clock and the chart at the same time. We are also making sure she is getting to bed earlier. Early wake times are often related to a child going to bed overtired. Every kid is different, but this is true for Quinn. The later she goes to bed the earlier she wakes.
Our goal is to get her actually IN bed by 6:30-6:45pm and hopefully she’s asleep by 7:00 pm. Fingers crossed. The past few weeks she’s been so upset and overtired that she wasn’t falling asleep until 8:30-9:00pm and up at 5:30ish and just constantly overtired and we couldn’t catch up.
Here are some main tips I’ve taken away from my research:
- Stay consistent with your routine
- Earlier bed time (6:30-7:00pm)
- Set firm boundaries
- Use a wake clock
- Use a stay in bed sticker/reward chart
- No talking after saying goodnight. Let them know you will not be coming in after you say goodnight until their clock turns green (unless emergency or nightmare).
- Experts also say make sure toddler has about 6 hours from wakeup to nap and 4-5.5 hours from end of nap to bedtime
That is where we are at and I’m slowly seeing things start to improve. Last night she got a little over 11 hours of sleep and she was a completely different child today. She was such a happier girl and made our day together so much more enjoyable.
I’d love to hear if any of you have any tips or tricks that have worked for you and your family.
xx,
Alix
Dying at all the pics of the things in her bed