Your toddler needs sleep to restore her energy and fuel her growth. You need sleep to deal with your toddler all day, and when she isn't sleeping, you're not sleeping. A sleep-training program may save you both from sleepless nights and hazy days.
Problem Identification
If your child is a chronically poor sleeper, rule out physical problems that might be keeping her awake, such as sleep apnea. Chronic stress can also cause sleep problems, so you might try identifying and eliminating sources of stress for your child.
Prevention/Solution
Sleep experts agree that routines are essential for a good night's sleep. A daily routine should establish a reasonable waking time, allow adequate time for naps and promote an early bedtime. A special bedtime routine signals to your child that bedtime is approaching and helps her wind down. Yours should consist of calm, relaxing activities that you and your child enjoy: baths, massages, snuggles and stories are time-tested favorites.
Methods
Sleep training methods can be roughly divided into two philosophies: "Cry-it-out" methods and no-tears methods.
Cry-it-out advocates believe that children must learn to soothe themselves to sleep, and they won't learn how if their parents rush in to comfort them when they cry at night. Generally, children are put to bed while still awake and left to fall asleep on their own.
No-tears techniques are gradual and child-focused. They encourage parents to tune in to their children's sleep cues and use routines to set the stage for sleep. They assume that parents will be available to rock, snuggle, or nurse their children, but also provide tips for helping children develop the ability to go to sleep on their own.
Expert Insight-:Cry It Out
Pediatrician Richard Ferber's sleep-training technique is the best known of the cry-it-out methods. Ferberizing requires parents to put their babies to bed while they're stil awake and leave them alone for gradually longer periods. Ferberizing doesn't advocate letting babies cry endlessly to fall asleep; however, it does allow progressively longer periods of crying, and forbids parents from picking up baby to comfort him at night.
Sleep experts Marc Weissbluth, author of "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child," and Jodi Mindell, author of "Sleeping Through the Night: How Infants, Toddlers, and Their Parents Can Get a Good Night's Sleep," also encourage parents to allow children to develop self-soothing skills by ignoring nighttime crying.
Expert Insight: No-Tears
No-Tears advocates like pediatrician William Sears, author of "The Baby Sleep Book," and Elizabeth Pantley, author of "The No-Cry Sleep Solution," promote bedtime as an opportunity to develop comforting, positive nighttime rituals that allow you to respond to your child's needs for food and physical contact. Their techniques promote an attachment-parenting style.
