Our Toddler’s Sleep Routine
Out of all the age groups, I believe that toddlers have the worst (and possibly the most undeserved) reputation. Sure, they love to scream and make messes. They may color on the walls and throw monster tantrums, but you know what? My daughter’s toddlerhood has been my favorite stage so far. Not only is our daughter super affectionate, sweet, hilarious, and lively (among so many other wonderful things), but she is also able to sleep through the night now! She sleeps 12 hours most nights and very seldom wakes up before 8:00 a.m. There have even been times in the past few weeks when she has slept past 9:00 a.m. - a remarkable achievement for us.
The newborn days are a blur for me now, but one of the things I remember most was how beat-down my partner and I were all the time. Any new parent, especially nursing moms, can relate to this - you spend x amount of time nursing your baby and rocking them to sleep, then you finally doze off yourself, and BAM - baby is crying. You slept all of 8 minutes, just to do it all over again. I tried my very best to treasure every minute of my daughter’s newborn days, but it was hard when it felt like my organs were shutting down from lack of sleep. I didn’t get to sleep for 8 hours straight until after my daughter had hit the 1-year mark. Sadly, I can’t even begin to guess how many times I snapped at my partner because I was so sleepy but had to keep going.
Things are so different now - luxurious, almost. Not only does our baby sleep all night now, but she also likes to play in her crib in the morning sometimes (we keep a little stuffy in there with her). This means, unlike before, that she doesn’t call out for us or cry right away when she wakes up. Before, there was always a sense of urgency - a sense that we could never do anything fast enough when it came to parenting. But now, she’s way more independent and we love it.
We can probably attribute her newly good sleeping habits, at least in part, to a solid and (mostly) consistent bedtime routine. That doesn’t mean that we are always able to get Bebe to bed at the same exact time every night, but we stick to the routine as best we can. There are occasionally times when it’s not possible - a few months ago we attended a wedding and getting home by bedtime just wasn’t going to happen. On a similar note - two weekends ago, I was so busy cleaning that I forgot to put her down for her afternoon nap, which we try to keep between 12:00 p.m. and 2:00 p.m. But that is not our norm. Unless an occasion warrants otherwise, we will typically tweak our plans to fit her sleep schedule.
Some parents may not agree with that - I know parents who just kind of do what they need to do and their babies fall asleep wherever they are. And that’s perfectly fine, but I like predictability. And, as an introvert, I love having an excellent reason to leave any social gathering early…
Here’s what our toddler’s naptime and bedtime routines look like on most days…
Bedtime -
7:00 p.m. - Bathtime, baby massage, get baby dressed, brush her hair and teeth, clip nails (if needed), and put on the sleep sack.
7:30 p.m. (ish) - Bedtime milkie, watch Bluey or Ms. Rachel together while we wind down and snuggle.
8:00 p.m. (ish) - Turn off the TV, head to her room, and rock her (mostly) to sleep in her rocking chair while singing Disney songs.
Our Disney song lineup is: (1) Part of Your World (The Little Mermaid), (2) A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes (Cinderella), (3) Once Upon a Dream (Sleeping Beauty), (4) A Whole New World (Aladdin), (5) Colors of the Wind (Pocahontas). In that order, every single time. If she’s not asleep by the time I’ve sung those 5 songs, I’ll add Let It Go (Frozen) and How Far I’ll Go (Moana).
No later than 8:30 p.m. - Put Bebe in her crib, make sure the humidifier and nightlight are on, and leave the room. Then, I turn on the baby monitor and cross my fingers that she’s still asleep.
Naptime -
(this mostly applies to weekends since my partner and I both work during the week, but we have instructed our caregivers to adopt a similar routine)
Around noon(ish) - Change baby’s diaper, give her a small bottle of warm milk, put her in the sleep sack, and rock her to sleep while singing the same Disney songs as I would for bedtime. Once Bebe is asleep, I place her in her crib.
Bebe has been very good about sleeping for 2-3 hours in the afternoon (since we are down to only one nap a day now). If she were to sleep more than 3 hours (which has only happened a couple of times), I would go ahead and wake her up to avoid a fussy bedtime. On the other hand, if she wakes up after only napping for an hour or so, I would try to rock her to sleep again to make sure she gets close to the two-hour mark. An overtired baby doesn’t help with bedtime, either.
As a side note, I can’t explain how great it’s been for us to have implemented a naptime routine. For the first 14 months of her life, I had no idea what it was like to be able to put her down for a nap and get things done. Usually, I would need to lie down with Bebe in our bed to console her to sleep and I wasn’t able to do anything else.
So, if you’re currently in the throes of a tough sleep situation, I hope this article helps! Or, at least gives you hope that things will get easier in the sleep department.
XOXO, Alexis.