Parenting expert Ann Douglas explains how to get your kids to sleep and stay asleep.

Solving Your Kids' Sleep Problems

Sleep Problem #1: Your baby’s popping up more often than a horror-flick villain

Sleep solution: If your baby is a newborn, being hungry in the night is perfectly normal. Even at six months and beyond, when many babies start sleeping for a five-hour stretch or more at night, she may wake up looking for a night feed whenever she’s going through a growth spurt. Encourage night sleeping by ensuring that she’s getting naps and enough to eat during the day, maintaining a regular, soothing bedtime routine and choosing a comfortable and absorbent diaper brand, as well as warm sleepwear free of scratchy tags and lace. Talk to your family doctor – and supportive friends who have been there – if problems persist.

Useful Product: Diaper (Canadian-made cloth diaper with overnight inserts that can be adjusted to accommodate boy or girl biology)

Sleep Problem #2: Your wee one is up with the birds every morning

Sleep solution: Believe it or not, babies and toddlers who wake up as early as 4:30 or 5:00 a.m. are generally overtired. Try shifting your baby’s bedtime so it falls a little earlier in the evening, and your baby might sleep in longer in the morning. (I know, it’s counterintuitive, but it works.) Then toast the dawn with non-alcoholic champagne and orange juice the first day she sleeps past 6:00 a.m. - a decent sleep-in time for a baby. Other triggers of early-morning waking may include noises, separation anxiety, teething or illnesses such as ear infections.

Useful Product: Room-darkening blind
  
Sleep Problem #3: Your once fabulous sleeper is now up crying once or twice a night

Sleep solution: This is fairly common in older babies. She’s figured out that the two of you are separate human beings, but for her, out of sight means gone forever. So she wants to double-check that you’re still there. Separation anxiety may also coincide with any major change in baby’s life—e.g., a new day-care provider, Mom or Dad re-entering the workforce, etc. Minimize anxiety by keeping her with you as much as possible when you are home, encouraging attachment to a toy or blanket that can serve as a stand in for you when you’re away, and responding to her in the night. You may decide to respond verbally (“It’s okay. Daddy’s here, but it’s sleepy time for Kellie”) or physically (walking into your baby’s room so that she can see that you’re still there, patting her, etc.).

Useful Product: White noise machine and Ambiance app (for iPhone)

Sleep Problem #4: Your crib-liberated toddler is playing nighttime explorer

Sleep solution: Decide whether or not having him hop into your bed is a major deal for you, because these visits could become a repeat performance. Provide gentle reassurance when he comes into your room in the middle of the night and guide him back to his own bed with minimal fuss. Or, try sleeping in his room instead of yours if he’s ill or upset from a bad dream. Let your toddler know that wandering around the house while everyone else is asleep is not okay: it’s dangerous. Back up your warning with some baby gates, door alarms, and other safety devices. 

Useful Product: Night light (blue light or green LED) and toddler book

Sleep Problem #5: Your child is having regular nightmares or night terrors

Sleep solution: First of all, know that 64 percent of preschoolers’ parents are awakened in the night at least once a week by their child. But nightmares and night terrors affect older kids, too. You’ll know if it’s a night terror because she’ll still be asleep, even though her eyes may be wide open while she cries, or shouts at something unseen. Your presence is barely registered, if at all, and the terror isn’t remembered. Hold on to her so that she won’t hurt herself and provide gentle reassurance, even if you’re not sure she can hear you. If your child has a scary dream and then wakes up, frightened and upset, offer comfort and explain that the dream was not real. If she talks about it in the morning, offer her a chance to rewrite the ending of the dream.

Useful Product: Toddler-friendly markers and art book for parent and child to create a story together

Sleep Problem #6: Your kid has more excuses to delay bedtime than any other kid on the planet

Sleep solution: Help him to understand that everyone needs sleep to feel their best the following day. Also, keep evening activities light and avoid sugary, caffeinated drinks such as chocolate milk or any after-dinner craziness.  Give your child advance warning that bedtime is coming to help ease the transition or let a cheap $5 alarm clock be the bad guy. Then let him choose his pajamas or which book to read, but don’t ask him whether he’s ready to go to bed. After a regular, 20-minute pre-bed routine of reading or quiet talk, settle in for the night.

Useful Product: Piggy-shaped egg timer