Toddler sleep patterns

By the time your child becomes a toddler, she should be sleeping between ten and twelve hours a night and taking a two-hour afternoon nap every day. Some children will continue to have two shorter daily naps until their second birthday. If yours is one of them, just go with the flow.

By this stage your child should be able to go to sleep at night without being cradled or lulled to sleep. If you employ tactics such as letting your child falls asleep every night listening to a particular CD, he may waken during the night and wonder where the music is. This may cause him to become upset and ultimately prevent him from dropping off to sleep again. Most of the experts agree that you should try to avoid letting your child become dependent on such external conditions as music, lighting, and feeding to fall asleep. If you do this, he’ll need the same things every time he wakens up at night.

Help your child settle at night by creating a consistent bedtime routine. A nice warm bath followed by a story will get your child into a pattern and allow them to feel secure in this routine. To avoid bedtime power struggles, let your child make choices whenever possible during his bedtime routine, such as the choice of pyjamas and story. Only offer two or three options as to provide more will only cause confusion.

Don't make jumping out of bed interesting for your child. If he jumps out of his cot and you react by giving him lots of attention, or by letting him get into bed with you, he'll keep doing it. Simply stay calm, tell him firmly not to climb out, and put him right back in his cot.

You can help your child with self-comforting techniques by giving her a stuffed animal or blanket and helping him to find his thumb. If he does begin to cry during the night, break into your child's sleep rhythm by waking him up before your bedtime. Love and cuddle him, feed him if necessary, and put him down again. Don’t forget to reassure him that you’re there.

If you do find that your child is wakening during the night try moving your child's afternoon nap to an earlier time and cutting it shorter if necessary. If you find that he is wakening too early in the morning, then use thick blinds or curtains to make his room darker so that the morning light doesn’t waken him. You may have to accept, however, that he’s simply a natural early riser!