Sleep. It takes over many of my conversations since having Evelyn. Constantly analyzing her sleep patterns, my husband and I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how we could all get more sleep. The reality is, things change quickly as babies grow and it’s hard to keep up with what is “normal” and what can be improved upon. There are so many articles online regarding sleeping babies you could get bogged down for weeks trying to figure out what to read or what to do. By the time you find something helpful, your baby has probably already moved on to a new stage of sleep. Ahhh!
I just recently discovered The Baby Sleep Site which would have been really helpful to know about when Evelyn was waking up in the middle of the night EVERY. SINGLE. NIGHT. Some way or the other, Evelyn is now actually a really good sleeper. She is 21 months old, wakes up between 6 and 7am, takes one nap after lunchtime which lasts anywhere from 1 to 2.5 hours and her bedtime is between 7 and 7:30pm. Pretty nice schedule, especially after months and months of waking up in the middle of the night, which can get really exhausting for two working parents! BUT, that being said, I still have questions about toddler sleep solutions.
The Baby Sleep Site’s mission is to help you and your child sleep! Mmmm, sounds lovely. It’s chalk full of resources to help you understand the different stages of sleep and tips to help you and your baby get better sleep. There are different types of resources including e-books, articles, chat rooms, and if you really just need one-on-one consultation they have that too. I had access to the Members Area and read up on posted articles and also joined a chat room when one of the sleep experts was scheduled to join in. That was VERY helpful for me because I could relay my specific question and get a personalized answer back.
One of my questions was about when to transition Evelyn to a toddler bed from her crib. Miriam, the helpful sleep expert, encouraged me to keep her in the crib as long as we can and said that it’s normal to use a crib until 2.5 or 3 years old. I actually didn’t know this. In my head, the transition was meant to happen before 2 years old, so I was actually relieved to hear this! Evelyn is super comfortable in her crib, she’s not trying to climb out, and I know she’s safe and not trying to walk around in the middle of the night.
Another thing I wanted advice on was how to wean Evelyn off of associating bedtime with bottle time. We have had a really nice bedtime routine which looks something like this:
- Taking a bath (every other night).
- Putting on jammies and lavender lotion.
- Dimming the lights and turning on her Cloud B sleep sheep and fan for white noise.
- Gathering her “babies” (stuffed animals) and blanky.
- Rocking and reading with mom or dad (1 – 2 books) while having a bottle of milk.
- Turning off the lights and saying goodnight to “Doc Doc” (her nightlight that projects an image of Doc McStuffins on the ceiling).
- Rocking a few more minutes and saying night time prayers.
- Laying her down, tucking her in with all her “babies”, saying goodnight and I love you.
Now that she has so many teeth, I need to get that bottle of milk out of the routine so she can have nice clean teeth before bedtime! Miriam from The Baby Sleep Site suggested that we give her the bottle about 15 minutes before bedtime and then brush her teeth after the bottle. I feel good about this advice because it’s not cutting her off cold turkey, but also making sure her teeth are clean before going to sleep for the night. It’s just so helpful to talk through scenarios with an expert and get specific advice.
~GIVEAWAY CLOSED~
Winners: Melissa Piper & Stephanie Holdridge
I want you to have that same experience I did, so I’ve teamed up with The Baby Sleep Site to do a giveaway for TWO memberships to the Members Area for TWO months each. Staying in the spirit of twos, there are TWO ways to enter:
- Leave a comment below. (Make sure to check the box to allow notifications for replies so we can let you know if you’ve won!) OR
- Like this Instagram post and follow the instructions to participate.
Good luck and hurry! Contest ends Sunday, April 3, 2016. But even if you don’t win The Baby Sleep Site offers a variety of both FREE and paid sleep coaching help, so make sure to check out their resources for yourself!
Raise your hand if you could use more sleep!?!?
Sponsored Post: This post is sponsored by The Baby Sleep Site but all content and opinions are my own. This post also contains affiliate links.
I totally need more sleep! 2 babies and 1 won’t let me sleep by myself!
I hear ya mama! Good luck! 🙂
My little lady is 17 months and we still get up every night one to two times. So we could use this! I’m glad to know the time frame for transition. We moved out first two at 18 months but I haven’t felt ready yet for my youngest. Glad I can wait another year or so!
It’s exhausting! I’m so glad we can wait to transition to a bed too! Neither baby or mama is ready yet 😉 Good luck!
Thanks for the article. I’ve been going through some really tough sleep issues with my 2.5 year old. I’ve used the baby sleep site twice in the past and he made a lot of progress. However this time he’s not taking the changes easily. It’s been a battle and temper trantrums and separation anxiety make it so hard..
Sleep issues can be SO stressful! Tired humans just aren’t fun and that includes parents and babies! I wish you luck my dear!
I’ve been struggling with sleep issues with my 1 year old since he was born! Every time I think I’ve figured it out and he’s ok, he goes and changes. Our whole life revolves around our son getting his sleep.
Ahhh that’ll drive a mama crazy! Hang in there and good luck on winning 🙂
I, too, am obsessed with my son’s sleep, or lack thereof. Now that we have another one on the way, I’m really worried about how we’ll juggle everyone’s schedules.
I hear you mama! I’d love to have another baby soon, and sleep is always such a worry!
Sleep… Did someone say sleep?? I sure could use a full night of it!! I just try to convince myself that my 3 year old loves me so much he can’t stand to be without me :). I hope to find some resolve!!
I hear you!!!! Good luck Aimee!
I’m a big fan of The Baby Sleep Site already, but having access to the members area might be a game changer for our fam.
Yes! I think it could be. Good luck!
This really hit home for me. I’m struggling with my 2.5 year old, who was the BEST sleeper and now is waking through the night and wanting to start his day anywhere between 4:30-5:00. Thankfully his younger brother (7 months) is starting to sleep through the night – two of them not sleeping was killing me!!! Haha
It’s so hard to function when your tired! Good luck in winning the prize!
The longest stretch my one-year-old has slept in his life was 5 1/2 hours when he was 3 mo, and I was so used to waking up often, I couldn’t sleep!
Ahhhh girl! You must be a saint! Good luck in contest!
My 15 month-old is still waking up at least once a night and wanting to nurse. Couple that with still trying to transition her to her crib (we “accidentally” wound up co-sleeping), so we’ve definitely got some sleep work to do!
Co-sleeping can be a wonderful experience! But I understand transitions are tough! Good luck in the contest!
Yes, I am still sleep deprived and in need of sleep!!! My little sleep thief is 13 months old, will only fall asleep for naps and bedtime by nursing to sleep, and will still only nap in my arms. 😢 Please help. (I am not willing to do any form of CIO or controlled crying though…) thank you !!
I love that saying “sleep thief”! Good luck in the contest Mary!!! Us mamas need more sleep!
I would love to win this! My almost 10 mo doesn’t sleep well yet. Waking 4-10 times a night.
really need this! My 8 months baby wake up more than 3 times every night. in worst nights, he could wake up every hour and would like to breastfeed (or sucking, only God knows which one he does – please note that the production of my breastmilk is so low and he is okay to drink formula during the day!). quite tiring as i need to work in the office during the day. and in the end, the saddest part, I try to keep my distance during waking hours as i think that i need to have my “me-time” and he already gets all my attention during his sleep #so sad but so true..
It’s important to have “me” time to keep your sanity so you can be a good mom! So don’t feel guilty about that! Good luck in the contest mama!
I would love to get more sleep !
A nine months lord and a two years old can get your nights in a mess quite nicely!
I hear ya!!!!! I want to have another baby soon so I might be in the same boat!
Great article. It helps me out alot. Thanks.
My almost 20 month old has completely regressed with her sleeping at night. For the past month she wakes up at least once in the middle of the night and getting her into her crib at bedtime is a battle royale every night. She used to be such a good sleeper, so this has been really rough on us. I would LOVE to enter the contest to win two free months with the baby sleep site. I love their articles.
It’s amazing how fast things can change! Hang in there mama! Good luck 🙂
I have a 2 year old son and to this date he’s never slept through the night except for a heavenly one or two nights in the past two years. My son is still breast feeding but I just want to finish it off. I don’t want to go cold turkey on him, but the gradual approach backfires
this would be a dream come true 🙁 the anxiety disorder plus sleep deprivation has caused havoc…it would be a miracle if he should sleep through the night ……..fingers crossed:) thanks for the opportunity:)
No problem! Good luck 🙂
Sleep. I don’t think I’ve gotten a straight 8 hours in over 3 years. I guess i’ll sleep when I’m dead anyways! Nice tips. I guess something I wonder about is how to help a child that wakes with night-terrors? My daughter has been waking up at least once a night and cries/whines and I don’t know what else I can say besides “it’s okay, go back to sleep.”
Night terrors are the worst! So scary! I’m not an expert but maybe she needs a little stuffed friend to scare her fears away! Or my daughter loves her night light that projects Doc McStuffins on the ceiling. Good luck in the contest!
My toddler wakes up at 5 am, which is really stressful. Plus soon we are moving to another country with a time difference 3 hours back! So I want to find a solution for my daughter to wake up at least at 6 am and to smoothly transition to a new time.
5am is hard! Even just one more hour would be a huge difference! Good luck mama!
I don’t know what it’s like to sleep through the night anymore 🙁
I enjoyed reading your ideas and suggestions. I will be contacting the baby sleep site for help. I think this will be helpful with my granddaughters routine. My daughter and her boyfriend have tried so many different things. But their 1.5 old wakes up in the middle of the night. They are both exhausted!
Maybe the free help from the sleep site will help. Thank you for sharing your family and routine with us!
MW