GUIDEMYBABY.COM A Guide to Baby Sign Language

VOL. 5

Problems At Bedtime

Bedtime Routine

You’ll find it much easier to get your child to sleep at night if you have a consistent bedtime routine. This helps a toddler to relax and get ready for sleep. Keep activities after tea gentle and quiet to help your child wind down from the day’s events. It is also important to have a set from the day’s events. It is also important to have a set bedtime – somewhere between 6:30 to 7:30 pm works well for most children, but some won’t settle until later. If your child is used to very late bedtime, bring it forwards by ten minutes a day until he or she is going to sleep at a time that works for you both.

Keep your bedtime routine short and simple – it shouldn’t take longer than about half an hour. A good routine could be: playtime in the bath, getting into pajamas, a drink of milk from a cup, tooth brushing, cuddle and story time, then bed and lights out. Avoid doing anything upsetting at this time: if washing your child’s hair makes him or her scream, do it in the morning. Resist an older toddler’s attempts to extend the routine: he or she may ask you to read more stories, say, to delay bedtime. Be firm. Giving some notice of what will happen next – “After your story, it is bedtime” – will help your child to accept the inevitable.

Make sure that your child has any comforters or favorite stuffed animals that he or she needs to help get to sleep. Get a nightlight or leave a light on in the hallway if the child doesn’t like to be in the dark. Some children find it comforting if your say goodnight in exactly the same way each night – for example, “Night, night, darling, see you in the morning.”

Getting Your Toddler To Drop Off Alone

If you always stayed with your baby until he or she was asleep, your toddler is unlikely to drop off alone now. You may still be happy to stay, but you may find that going to sleep takes longer and longer. If you want your evenings to yourself- or if you have older children who need your attention as well – you will have to make a firm decision to teach your child to go to sleep without you.

Most parents find that they can improve their child’s sleep within a week. But you do need to give your child a clear, consistent message about bedtime throughout this time. For this reason, you should start a sleep training programme in a week when you will be around for every bedtime and when your child is not having to deal with any other disruptions to the normal routine, or other challenges in their life. Younger toddlers can benefit from the routines suggested for older babies, but older ones also respond very well to the kiss method.

The Kiss Routine

This works best if your child is in a bed, so that you can easily bend down to kiss him or her when lying down. It could take a couple of hours and several hundred kisses if your child is very persistent. Kiss your child only when he or she is laying down, and don’t be drawn into any discussion or play. Say again that you will be back in a minute to give your child another kiss, and do it as often as seems necessary.

Some children who have slept through the night from a young age start to wake up again or resist going to bed. This is sometimes due to separation anxiety, but often it is simply down to excitement: now that your child can do so much, why would he or she want to go to bed?

GUIDEMYBABY.COM A Guide to Baby Sign Language

VOL. 5

The Kiss Routine

The Moving Chair Method

An alternative method to use is the moving chair method. It can be good if your child cannot bear you to leave the room before he or she is asleep.

After your usual bedtime routine, sit on a chair beside the child’s bed and turn the child so that he or she is facing away from you. Switch off the light and tell your child it is “sleepytime” (or whatever phrase you prefer to use) and to close his or her eyes. Then every time he or she tried to chat, simply say “sssshhhh, sleepytime”. You will probably have to do this many times, but persevere however long it takes for your child to drop off. Over the next few nights, do exactly the same, but move the chair a little further away from the bed and towards the (open) door each night. Eventually you should be sitting outside the door. By this time your child should be able to drop off alone and you can leave the bedroom after you’ve said goodnight. Go back to sitting outside the door if he or she seems to need that reassurance for a while longer.

A Guide to Baby Sign Language

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1. Do your usual bedtime routine. Put your child to bed and give him or her a kiss goodnight.

2. Say you will be back in a minute with another kiss. 3. Turn away and then turn back and give your child a kiss

straight away. 4. Move away a little further this time, then turn back and give

another kiss. 5. Now do something in the room such as putting toys away

or folding an item of clothing. Then turn back to your child and give another kiss.

6. Leave the room as if you are going to do something, come straight back and kiss your child again.

7. If your child gets up to follow you, act surprised and lead him or her gently back to bed. Give another kiss and then leave the room again.

8. Continue in this way for as long as it takes for your child to fall asleep. Gradually extend the period you leave between kisses.

Do the same on subsequent nights. You should find that it takes less time to get your child to sleep as the week draws on. But don’t be surprised if you have a few set-backs: the third and fifth nights are often the worst.