It’s Shloofy Time: Toddler Sleep Issues

3/31/2008

Lots of toddlers resist going to sleep with every fiber of their being. They know how to wrap mom and dad around their little fingers and put off bedtime as long as possible. If we’re working parents, sometimes we’re their co-conspirators, because we cherish every moment with our kids. It’s our job as parents, though, to help them get the sleep they need to function well, stay healthy, and develop properly.

If your child is regularly getting less than that, it may be time to make a few changes to your usual nighttime routine to allow time for an active toddler to decompress. This will make the transition to beddy-bye (or as we say in my house, “shloofy-time”) much easier:

• Bedtime should be a fun, quiet, and loving time. Just keep it firmly but gently headed towards sleep.
• Establish a bedtime ritual—maybe a special prayer, a short back massage, a listing of blessings, or a brief recap of the day’s events that frames them in a positive way.
• Adopt habits of getting ready for bed that can be duplicated no matter where you travel—for instance, bath time is always followed by story time, followed by sleep.
• Don’t give your toddler chocolate, cola, tea, or other caffeinated food later than mid-afternoon. The energizing effects of caffeine can linger for hours.
• Turn the TV/computer/DVD player off at least one hour before bedtime. Keep these media in family spaces where their use can be monitored, and not in your child’s bedroom.
• If a child insists on staying awake, tell her she’ll have to do it without family entertainment. Mom, dad, siblings, and pets shouldn’t be going in and out of the bedroom every five minutes.