Has your toddler rarely slept through the night?
Many parents think once their child has learnt the knack of sleeping, they will sleep well forever, but as humans we all have rough patches when falling asleep, waking overnight or just waking way too early is a fact of life.
If you are the parent of a baby that is sleeping well let’s hope you are lucky enough to avoid sleep regression because once you have good sleep it is very difficult to be thrust back into sleeplessness.
Some kids never go through sleep regression because they have never learnt the knack of sleeping EVER!
Working with loads of parents that never get to experience sleep regression because their baby has never slept for than five hours is akin to being in a state of perpetual jet lag. It’s chronic sleep deprivation at it’s worst, and it really does affect the way you parent and the relationships between you and your kids, your partner and even your friends and work colleagues. The biggest impact, however, will be on your child your relationship, because tired kids don’t learn nearly, as well as good sleepers and their emotional and intellectual intelligence, is compromised often for life.
The story of a non-sleeping toddler called Laura
This might be a typical scene that is currently playing out in your home and is a real-life story.
Toddler Laura at18 months old has never slept through the night more than 5 or 6 times….that translates to around 540 nights of broken sleep and this family was EXHAUSTED.
We are desperate for sleep!
Her parents read books. Not just one but many and spoke to many knowledgeable experts from their general practitioner, pediatrician, maternal/child health nurse, friends, family and even went to sleep school.
They painstakingly tried a long list of techniques like white noise, lullaby music, camping in Laura’s room, and rocking for hours on end. They slept in her room and she slept in their bed. They tried routines around strict sleep times and even controlled comforting. Yet baby Laura defied every single one and continued to wake frequently overnight and take a long time to settle to sleep.
They had lost confidence as parents and their relationship as a couple was strained. They rarely had dinner together and dreaded putting their toddler to bed. It was all round stress and anxiety for everyone and baby Laura’s sleep pattern was breaking them.
The remedy was…
As a sleep expert, I’ve heard this scenario so many times over and I feel so much for these tired families because even one bad night throws my day out.
I knew Laura just couldn’t relax as the first issue. Secondary to this was the fact that she was in a perpetual state of sleep debt that caused her poor sleep habits to become chronic sleep deprivation.
What a joy to hear how sleep changed for baby Laura who had been tired her whole life thanks to the Nigh’ Nigh’ Sleepy Head Lullaby Sleep Music.
“Laura is now able to go into her cot feeling happy, relaxed and content. She settles quickly into a comfortable sleep and sleeps soundly. On the occasions during the night where she does wake, she is now able to settle herself back to sleep without any intervention from us, which I am quite sure is due to the positive association she now has with bed and going to sleep. Thank you, Deb, for creating a fabulous CD that has helped us so much. Everyone in our family is happier and gets a lot more quality sleep. Finally, my husband and I feel like much more capable parents simply by having an effective tool to help our daughter settle and go to sleep“.
Sleep research used to support quality sleep over quantity but is now no longer supported. Sleep hours are critical in your child’s formative years and the new recommendations for toddlers aged 1-3 years are 12 to 14 hours per day.
