Help! My Little One is Not Sleeping Well!

How many times have you been frustrated or overwhelmed because your child is not sleeping well? Have you ever wanted to cry or ask for help because you felt like you were at the end of your rope with your child not sleeping?

As a parent of a now 16 month old baby I have been humbled over and over again when it comes to sleep. I have been proud of the nights when my little one slept through the night and overwhelmed on the nights that he lay awake or woke up every few hours crying.

I read countless books, poured over websites and tried my best to compile what I thought would work to keep my child sleeping well. It turns out that most of what I read was interesting yet I was again overwhelmed trying to find the best choice or plan to solve any of the sleep troubles we were facing at the time.

Again and again I seemed to read information about how long your child is awake in correlation to how long they will sleep. I read that it mattered if I pay attention to his waking and sleep cues as well as keep track of how long he is awake before nap and bedtime.

Throughout the past 16 months we have had may small sleep victories when our little one slept through the night and then we hit a really rough patch. Our babe was barely sleeping through a two hour period of the night at a time and he needed us to constantly go into his room and either rock him, hold him or lay with him so he would fall back asleep.

After several weeks of us going into his room to comfort him at night I knew that we needed a new solution! If he woke up and was scared or crying then of course we needed to go and tend to him, yet when he woke up and was simply talking that was not necessary for us to go and help him back to sleep.

It took nearly two weeks of us shortening the amount of time that we were in his room or the times that we would go in for him just talking to really start seeing a difference.

I know that as a parent you never want to hear that you “should” be doing something for your child. Whatever someone is telling you or saying is often something you have already attempted or it is something that does not go with what your parenting style is or your beliefs.

This is for those parents who feel the dread of bedtime or naps; thinking of the child waking almost immediately. I will by no means say there will ever be perfection just work towards a goal that works for YOU!

Every child is different, every scenario is unlike the next but the important part is to know that you are doing what you feel is best for your child in regards to their sleep and yours!