Early rising is such a common thing with toddlers, especially around the 18-month mark and as frustrating and challenging as it can be to deal with, there are some things you can do to ensure everyone is getting enough rest and your toddler learns to go back to sleep at the most critical time in their sleep cycle.
Steph Gouin, baby sleep consultant looks at all the things we can do to help our children.
Key call outs
Warmth: The coldest part of the night is around 4am – 5am and if your child is not snug enough in their bassinet, cot or bed, they’re going to have a hard time going back to sleep.
Light: Around the window, under the door – check where there might be light leaking in to the room. This can signal morning time for young children. Get that room super dark right until morning.
Noise: Is there a lot of noise going on? Is there a noise or music machine? Keep it simple and strip any in room noise away.
Hunger: Check their calorie intake to make sure she’s filled the tank and when she goes down at bed time, it will sustain her busy body and brain.
Overtiredness: Overdrive is a thing! It’s important to get things under control before the overnight sleep so children aren’t going into overtiredness.
Sleep aids: If there are sleep aids in place at sleep time and they are no longer in place or available to the child in the early hours of the morning and upon waking, this can pose a real problem. Remember to keep things really stripped back and simple.
We hope this information is helpful to your families and you’re able to get more sleep very soon.
Steph Gouin is a qualified Baby and Child Sleep Expert, Registered Nurse (currently non-practising) and Mum to three beautiful children. Care for Kids is excited to welcome Steph to our panel of experts, offering parents across Australia baby and toddler sleep solutions in and out of the childcare space.
To find out more about Steph, see her product offering on her website or follow her on Facebook or Instagram
