Toddler Slumber Rules

One of the most challenging aspects of becoming a parent involves disrupted sleep, and many first-time parents are keenly interested to get an answer to the question, “When will my baby sleep through the night?”

- Loren Stow

This is understandable, because prolonged sleep deprivation is not dissimilar to torture, resulting in constant tiredness, lack of energy, decreased ability to focus and be productive, and generally is just very, very horrible. Yet many babies do not sleep through the night for months; then they become toddlers and they’re still not sleeping through the night. Also, there are some babies who are wonderful sleepers that just stop sleeping through the night when they become toddlers.

Needless to say, sleep is a very big challenge for new parents and one that every parent strives to learn the secret of. While each family and child is unique, there are certain approaches and questions you can ask yourself that may hold the answer for your family.

BACK TO BASICS

While Sister Ann Richardson, the well-known author of Toddler Sense (Metz Press, 2011), explains that a toddler, for all intents and purposes, really should be sleeping through the night, Erica Neser, the author of Sleep Guide for Babies and Toddlers (Protea Books, 2006) puts forward her theory that it is still common for children to wake at night until the age of 3-4 years. These views might sounds contradictory to the parent, but the bottom line is a toddler has the physical capability to sleep through the night, but there may be a variety of reasons that they are still having sleep issues.

THE SLEEP SHIFT