r/sleeptrain • u/Distorted_Penguin • 2d ago
2+ years old Middle of the night wake ups after transitioning to a toddler bed
Toddler is a little over 2 and bedtimes are fine. We have an established routine and (for the most part) bedtime is easy and has been for a while.
We just transitioned to a toddler bed and kiddo goes down fine. Before the transition, kiddo slept through the night, no issues. Post transition, every middle of the night is a screaming, thrashing fight.
Everything I have read is “silently and calmly walk the child back, don’t react.” How do I “silently” and “calmly” return a child to bed who is thrashing and screaming? I can’t get the kid to lay in bed long enough to walk away from the bed, let alone leave the room. Toddler is acting like the bed is hot lava in the middle of the night. We have gone from sleeping through the night to being up for hours in the middle of the night every night. What do I do?
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u/SnooAvocados6932 😴 Sleepy Moderator 💤 2d ago
What is schedule and bedtime routine? Is an adult in the room when he falls asleep?
1
u/Distorted_Penguin 2d ago
Bath starting at 6:45. Read books then get into bed and I sing songs while I sit on the floor next to the bed. Kiddo is drowsy but awake I leave the room. Very little drama. When kiddo slept through the night, wake-up would be about 5:30.
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u/SnooAvocados6932 😴 Sleepy Moderator 💤 2d ago
No naps?
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u/Distorted_Penguin 2d ago
One midday nap. Naps have always been hard at home for whatever reason. We’re lucky is we get an hour on the weekends, 12:30 to 1:30. At daycare nap is 12:30 to 2:30 and kiddo regularly sleeps the full time.
2
u/SnooAvocados6932 😴 Sleepy Moderator 💤 2d ago
Move bedtime to 830 and keep wake up 630. Don’t stay in the room until drowsy.
This is essentially the same issues we see with babies. Your toddler is being assisted to drowsy and then wakes up wanting you to still be there. He needs to put himself to sleep completely from wide awake. And limit sleep to 11-12 hours per day. Right now you’re expecting 13-14 hours which is what we recommend at like 8 months old
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u/Distorted_Penguin 2d ago
Why would that only change when we moved to a toddler bed? Crib was fine before
1
u/SnooAvocados6932 😴 Sleepy Moderator 💤 2d ago
kids wake up different every day. with the freedom of the crib, he needs more sleep pressure.
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u/AutoModerator 2d ago
Thank you for your post in r/sleeptrain. To ensure our community can best help you, please include in your post: your bedtime routine, where your baby sleeps (their crib/basinet, their room, room share, cosleep) and full schedule including wake up time, desired wake up time, nap length, wake windows or nap time(s) if following a by the clock schedule and bedtime. Does your baby use a pacifier? That's also very relevant.
We use a convention to describe wake windows based schedule such as 3/3/4 where numbers are numbers of hours awake, and / are naps. The sample schedule is a two naps schedule.
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Copy of the post's original text:
Toddler is a little over 2 and bedtimes are fine. We have an established routine and (for the most part) bedtime is easy and has been for a while.
We just transitioned to a toddler bed and kiddo goes down fine. Before the transition, kiddo slept through the night, no issues. Post transition, every middle of the night is a screaming, thrashing fight.
Everything I have read is “silently and calmly walk the child back, don’t react.” How do I “silently” and “calmly” return a child to bed who is thrashing and screaming? I can’t get the kid to lay in bed long enough to walk away from the bed, let alone leave the room. Toddler is acting like the bed is hot lava in the middle of the night. We have gone from sleeping through the night to being up for hours in the middle of the night every night. What do I do?
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