Having difficulty in making your toddler
sleep at night? Well, you are not alone.
Having a hyperactive toddler is never
easy. Based on my experience, my son enjoys running around and climbing
everywhere. Making him sleep is really a problem for he doesn't want to be
reprimand of what he wants to do sometimes. So we end up battling and most
of the times, he win. Yay!
Because this shouldn’t be the case always
for sleeping is very essential to his development. He needs enough sleep to
boost is brainpower. So over time, I have studied his behavior and even his
excuses. He sure has many excuses like telling me he wants to pee, poop, or
drink water, just to get up from his bed.
Anyway, here are some bedtime strategies
we can use to end up our nightly battles.
1. Let your toddler have plenty of activities
to exercise his mind and body. Being active all day will help our toddler fall
asleep easier and have a good night sleep. Let them use their all their energy
at day and then recharge at night, that’s it.
2. Have a simple bed routine. It can be as
simple as bath, book and bed. It’s for us actually to see what will best work
for our toddlers.
3. Be consistent. As much as possible follow
same bedtime daily. Don’t easily give in when they ask for extension.
Matt always has excuses just to get up from his bed. He will tell
me he wants to pee, poop or drink water.
4. As much as possible we should not give your toddler snacks or drinks that is high in sugar near bedtime. Sugar will give them energy to consume so surely it's hard for them to feel sleepy.
5. Avoid video or TV at night. Do you remember this?
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| Busy watching Gandang Gabi Vice |
Since Matt knows how to make excuses, I really never turn on the TV at our bedroom. He will not really sleep when the TV is on. But I let him watch some video like his favorite Rainbow and Color song. I think this helps him feel sleepy =)
5. Let your toddler have a sense of control. Let them choose their pajamas to wear and books to read.
6. When you turn off the light, make sure there's a dim light. The total darkness will not help your toddler sleep. It will just make his senses alive. While the dim light will hypnotize them to fall asleep.
7. Be an example. If they see you are not sleeping yet then the tendency is they will not sleep too.
8. Let them play when they aren't feeling sleepy yet. Ordering them to sleep when they cannot sleep yet will just lead to a battle of wills. This will just make them insist their wants.
When I tell Matt to sleep, he will tell me he wants to sing first. So I let him sing while lying down his bed. He will sing until he is sleepy. Or since we are homeschooling, I gave him some activities while I am crocheting, until he say he wants to sleep. Usually if it's beyond our bed time already, I will ask him to lay down and we will have a reading lesson instead.
These are some bedtime strategies that can be of good help to us. If you have other tips or strategies to share, please do.
I will end this post with Matt's "Color Song."
Matt: Let sing a song about colors, let sing the colors song... Blue, blue what is blue, the sky is blue, the sky is blue.... Green, green what is green, the grass is green, the grass is green...
Then when it comes to the black color.
Matt: Bleck.. what is bleck, bleck is the sky in the night...
If you think it's a wrong spelling, no... Matt pronounce black as "bleck".I tried to correct him but he insist because that's how it was pronounced in the video. Slang lang ang peg. Hehe...
Enjoy your weekend!
Enjoy your weekend!
