Guest Author - Kelly Aveiro
1.Help Your Toddler to Develop Sleep Associations.
One of the best ways to get your toddler to fall asleep easily is to create sleep associations. What do I mean by sleep associations? Sleep associations are certain routines or objects that the child associates with sleep. You need to instill a bedtime routine that includes sleep associations your child can replicate for him or herself. The idea is to get your toddler to a point where if he wakes in the middle of the night, he can go back to sleep on his own.
Establish a regular and consistent bedtime routine that includes things like a final changing and feeding, etc. The best thing you can do is to put your toddler to sleep at a point during the day when he is tried, but still alert enough to take in his surroundings and develop his own sleep associations. You might give him a special soft toy or a special blanket that he only uses at bedtime and nap time.
If your toddler creates a sleep association with these items, he can recreate it on his on his own when he wakes up in the middle of the night. Instead of waking up and crying for a feeding or to be rocked, your toddler will be able to grab his stuffed animal or blanket and go right back to sleep.
The worst possible thing you can do if you want to instill good sleeping habits in your baby is get your him used to falling asleep with you there. If your baby develops sleep associations with the bottle or breast or by being rocked to sleep, when he wakes up in the middle of the night he won't be able to fall asleep without being fed or rocked back to sleep.
2. Create A Familiar Sleep Environment
One of the most crucial things you can do to ensure that your baby sleeps well - and on his own - is to create a comfortable environment for him to sleep in.This doesn't mean that the house must be totally quiet when your toddler takes a nap. In fact, getting your toddler used to a certain amount of noise is a good idea so that he can sleep without you or his siblings having to tiptoe around all the time. Closing the curtains during a day time nap can also be conducive to sleep.
I hope these tips give both you and your toddler a better night's sleep.
