So you finally transitioned your toddler out of their crib. Just when you were feeling like the most accomplished parent, you realize what a terrifying new world you’ve entered. Your toddler has been given FREEDOM. Your previously sleeping child is now waking up at all hours of the night and roaming the house by himself! One night, he comes to your bed to wake you up. The next night, he wreaks havoc in your kitchen. The third, you find him in the utility room playing with brooms. You do the obligatory march back to his toddler-bed but he keeps doing it, night after night. Should you get a lock for his room? Is this normal? Will he hurt himself? Will you ever sleep again? Let us give you some tips below.

1-      When in doubt, go back to the consistent night time routine

First of all, let us reassure you that you’re not alone and you haven’t done anything wrong. This is a very common issue that arises when raising children. While some children are naturally good sleepers, most aren’t and sleep is a taught and reinforced skill.  In general, any time you feel your children regressing with their sleep, remember to go back to a consistent night time routine. This can involve baths, hugs, reading , kisses and staying consistent on the sleep time and waking time. End the day with good intentions and talk about having sweet dreams and good behavior. Try to walk out of the room before your child is asleep so they learn how to sleep by themselves.

2-      Set night time rules

Part of your night time intentions should be to talk about the rules of the house. Explain that getting out of bed is dangerous and not allowed. Make your child repeat it, to make sure they understand. Ask them “Do we get out of bed at night?” or “Why don’t we get out of bed at night?”. You can even read a book about this concept or put a picture on the wall if it helps illustrate to the child what bed time is for.

3-      Try a toddler alarm

Some toddlers really respond well to toddler alarms that have colors and pictures illustrating when it is sleep time, and when it is okay to get out of bed. These can be purchased online. Remember, children can be very restless sleepers and can wake up many times at night as they go through the different sleep cycles. This is normal. What you are trying to teach them is to stay in their own bed, even when they are awake, until they fall asleep again. That’s actually a pretty hard task for most adults to do, so give your children time and grace as they figure this out.

4-      Walk them back to bed

Once you catch them red handed in the act, give them one verbal warning of “it is still night and bed time,” and walk them back to their room. If you catch them again a second time, no explanation is necessary. Whatever you do , and however tired you are, resist the urge to bring them back to bed with you. Doing that will only provide positive reinforcement for an unwanted behavior!

5-      Get a safety gate

Many parents will ask if it’s okay to lock the door and while it may seem like a good idea, it may actually make things worse. Feeling like a prisoner in their own room may make the child never want to step in the room again. Their room should be a place of comfort and security. Also, having a lock on the room is unsafe for situations like house fires and emergencies. However it is okay to put a safety gate to quarantine them to a certain area of the house in order to avoid them hurting themselves in the middle of the night.

6-      Teach them how to use the monitor to ask for help

Remember that baby monitor you were gifted at your baby shower? It’s now a two way walkie-talkie! Consider teaching your child to call out to you if they feel they need you instead of roaming about the house in the dark. Of course, you will need to set ground rules for this too, and give your child 1-2 opportunities to talk to you per night, and save the rest for the morning.

Regardless of how you choose to approach your toddler’s night time woes, remember that this is a very challenging part of parenting. Trying to impose safety and rules onto toddlers with their own minds (but no ability to gauge safe versus unsafe) is hard and requires so much patience. Remember that sleep is a taught skill that will require some work on your part to instill. If you invest a few short nights or week to this cause now, you will reap the benefits for the rest of their life. The longer you wait, the harder it will be to fix later so take this as an opportunity now and stay strong!

Your PediPals