subject: Toddler Sleep Problems – Healthy Habits [print this page] What is disheartening for a parent is just when they have managed to get their baby sleeping through the night, now that baby is a toddler they have toddler sleep problems. When your baby reaches the age of one or two years old, you may find your child resisting or even refusing to go to sleep. Toddlers between the ages of one and two years old typically need nine to twelve hours of sleep a night. Would you want some valuable tips on how to get your toddler to sleep at night? Care to read what successful parents do when they had this problem? Then you need to read some of these tips that will help solve your child's sleep problem.
Healthy habits.
Routines, playtime activities, and diets need to be addressed by the parents of toddlers who are having problems sleeping. The toddler's diet is perhaps the most important of the three. Your child's diet before bedtime can have adverse affects on their behavior. You will want to avoid any snacks and caffeinated beverages, like colas or tea because snacking before bedtime is not only unhealthy, it will only give the child more energy to burn, and caffeinated products will just keep them awake. Set up some rules that excludes any snaking, and limits the child to drinking only water before bedtime. This will set your child up for the normal sleeping process, and hopefully healthy habits.
Bath time bedtime.
Parents will want to prepare a bedtime routine that begins before putting them to bed. All children need routines that are consistent and expected. Children quickly adapt to routines that are consistent before bedtime, and theses children tend to develop more predictable sleeping patterns. A great way to prepare your child for bedtime is to give them a bath, and read them a story before putting them to bed. A bath routine before bedtime will relax and prepare the child for the bedtime story read by the parent before they are tucked into bed for the night. Once the routine is consistently in place, the toddler be mort tolerant at bedtime.
Playtime activities.
While the bedtime routine are important, many parents do not realize that daily routines are just as important. Playtime activities also play an important role in a toddler's daily routine, and parents need to provide the activities, including wake up times, that will keep their child engaged during the waking hours. The daily routines that you structure for your child during the day will set you up for success at night. Some parents will exercise at home, and they find that their children will try to emulate them; this will need to be encouraged by the parent that wants engage in daily activities with their children. Outdoor activities are also am important daily activity for your child, and if the weather permits, you should spend some time outside playing with your child. At nap time, you will want to limit the amount of time the child naps to make sure they are not over rested during the night.
Parents struggling with their toddler at bedtime needs to be approached much the same way as when they got the baby sleeping through the night, when the toddler was younger. Structured routines carried out in a consistent manner will rectify any toddler sleep problems. All a parent has to do is set up the routines that fit your family, and you will be able to solve your child's sleep problems in a reasonable time.
