ZERO TO THREE: Sleep Challenges in Infants and Toddlers: Why It Happens, What to Do

Whether it be from my friends or parents of children I work with, I get asked a lot of questions about how to help babies and young children sleep better. Here are some good ideas on the challenges of sleep:

ZERO TO THREE: Sleep Challenges in Infants and Toddlers: Why It Happens, What to Do

I've been lucky that my son slept through the night (7 hours or more) by 6 weeks of age and my daughter slept through the night by 8 weeks of age. Unless they were sick or teething, they have been excellent sleepers. Of course, there has been the occasional night mare or delay tactics in going up to bed, but overall I've been lucky in the area of "sleep". My husband and I put the children down at the predictable time of 7:30 for my son (he'll be 3 years old in June) and 8:00 on school nights for my 7 year old daughter. They have the potential to get 11 hours of sleep at night on a weekday, and then my son may or may not also take a nap at preschool or home (depends on if it is a day I work). For that age group children need 10-14 hours of sleep in a 24 hour period, and my children get that. So often, a child's behavior problems or school difficulties can be lessened by making sure they have a proper amount of sleep...notice I didn't say the problems vanish, just maybe lessen depending upon the child.

Feel free to post sleep problems and solutions that you have had with your child or a child you work with!