 Q&A:
Going through Sleep Transitions with Toddlers
By Gwenn Schurgin O’Keeffe, MD, FAAP
Your Kid’s
Health, The
Salem News
January 26, 2004
Q:
My 2 1/2 year old is starting to give up her
nap, and she still wakes up at 5:30 every
morning. How can I get her to stay in bed
longer?
A:
Regardless of how well our kids sleep when
they are infants, the majority of kids go
through some sort of sleep transition during
the toddler years. Giving up a nap is a milestone
in the toddler years – and marks that
our kids are moving towards the preschool
years. Try to be consistent and either help
her not nap or keep the naps no longer than
an hour. Many 2-3 year olds still need some
sort of nap or rest but long periods will
interfere with the amount of sleep that child
needs at night. For some kids, giving up the
nap or having a reduced nap will be enough
to get them to sleep longer in the morning.
For others, however, they still wake up at
that horribly early hour because their internal
clocks are programmed to that time.
A child’s internal clock can be reset,
but often not with the results you desire
because your child will still need the same
amount of sleep. To get her to sleep longer
means keeping her up later at night –
which for some kids mean keeping them up until
your bedtime hour. Re-setting a child’s
clock is not always easy. With some kids,
you can slowly push their bedtime later but
with others when they are ready to fall asleep
that is it – they are out! Trial and
error will be your guide.
The final consideration deals with just the
issue of getting her to stay in bed longer.
Consider not going to get her right away when
she calls – whether in a bed or a crib.
Some kids actually fall back to sleep with
this strategy or distract themselves with
their toys. If she is in a bed and leaves
her room to go to your room, consider putting
a gate on her door to keep her in her room
longer. Then there is the “if you can’t
beat ‘em, join ‘em” strategy
that we used to do. We’d put on a video
or a favorite cartoon, get a sippy cup or
bottle of milk and some dry cheerios, and
our wee ones would sit on our bed mesmerized
and content – and we’d have a
bit more time to wake up and rest. Not quite
the same as real sleep but better than nothing.
A
friend of mine sent me a funny email that
read: “Why is my kid always getting
sick - and when will it start to get better?!”
Then she added in parentheses: “Actually,
I already know what you are going to say:
Silly girl, you kept your kid home until he
was three, and then you sent him off to pre-school.
What did you expect? Of course, he's getting
sick all the time."
I joked with her that for a businessperson,
she has good medical sense! Kids get 6-12
upper respiratory infections a year and it
is always more intense the first year they
are around other kids. It comes with the territory
of living in the world and is actually healthy
– it primes our immune systems for battling
similar illnesses in the future. While for
most kids, the amount of infections will decrease
as they get older, some kids never seem to
shake that pattern and may need a workup of
their immune systems. Your pediatrician can
help you determine if an immune workup is
needed for your child.
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