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Home › Articles › Sleep Issues › Curtain Calls

Curtain Calls

Getting Toddlers to Sleep and Keeping Them In Bed

By Laura Cone

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Downey says bedtime routines are important because they signify that it's time to wind down. "When we think of sleep and sleep medicine, we think of it as a continuum," he says. "You go from wakefulness into light sleep and into deeper sleep. That's the way healthy sleep works. In order to do that, we need to prepares ourselves for the transition. It's not like sleep is a switch. It's more like a dimmer."

Instead of demanding your toddler go to sleep, create an environment that is conducive to sleep so they can gradually wind down from a more active to less active state.

Downey says just as adults should not exercise before going to sleep, it's best not to engage a toddler in strenuous play or exercise before bedtime.

When a Parent Travels
Rochelle Hinds of New Tampa, Fla., says she has a more difficult time getting her children to stay in bed when their father, Steven, an account coordinator, is gone on business trips.

"In the beginning, we started taking them back to their rooms," Hinds says. "After that, we started telling them to go back themselves. It stopped for a while, but my husband has been traveling a lot. It started up again. They know he is not there. They always act up when one parent is gone."

Hinds says the rule in the family is that the children can not see their parents again after bedtime until 6 a.m. Her other rule is not eating or drinking after 7 p.m. Hinds says she also tried the graduated extinction approach. Instead of her son getting up every hour, he only gets up once a night.

Her children's bedtime ritual involves taking a bath and picking out a book to read on the sofa. "Every night my husband and the kids will play outside or play video games or board games," she says.

Experts say it's important to keep the bedtime ritual the same even if one parent is gone or if a babysitter or grandparent is visiting.

Sound Sleep Advice for Sleepless Toddlers
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