Toddlers and Sleep: Waking at Night

Naturally, toddlers are seemingly hyperactive little creatures for they love to explore things around their environment. They are fond of mimicking adult tasks such as feeding and putting baby to sleep, serving tea, and cooking. However, children age 2-3 years tend to wake in the middle of the night when everyone falls in deep slumber.

One of the reasons why a child gets up after two hours of sleep in the evening is because of over-stimulation during the day. Kids go overboard and got overfatigued with nonstop tagging along with toys or other children; making it hard for them to fall asleep at night. Hence, here are some factors that might stimulate unnecessary waking at night and how to deal with them:

• A night lamp may help ease discomforts of the child's perception towards dark rooms and monsters. You may use lights with changing colors for it fosters relaxation and sleep. This will reassure the child that there is nothing scary with the dark.
• Change diapers before going to bed so as to avoid untimely waking up due to leaking diapers.
• Be sure to tuck your child with blankets to keep him warm throughout his sleep.
• When your baby wakes up at night, he may be thirsty or hungry. You can offer him water, cookies or milk (depending on the child's preferences) to help him go back to sleep afterwards. Most doctors would say that milk should not be given to children who get up at night for it would cause tooth decays. Drinking water after eating would best do the trick.
• Different noises may also cause sleep disturbance. When you opt to watch late shows on TV, be sure to keep the volume low to prevent your tots from getting up from sleep.
• Perform comforting activities that would help him calm through the night. You may read story books or sing nursery rhymes together, or teach him to count numbers until he falls asleep.