posted by Romy (@daddontlie)
How I Got My Toddler to Sleep Through The Night
....ummm, not so fast.
I was going to originally write a blog post entitled "How I Got My Toddler to Sleep Through The Night" today, that was, until he stopped sleeping through the night two nights ago. It was going to be great, I had all these great tips for rookie parents on how to get your toddler on the right path to a good night's sleep for everyone. But as I sit here after putting my toddler to bed tonight, I see him on the baby monitor jumping up and down, crying. Not sleeping. I better go up to his room.....I'll be right back...
....Ok, I'm back. Now where was I? Yeah, toddlers are unpredictable, especially when it comes to sleep. My 15-month old was on such a streak. Like you've heard before, he hasn't been the best sleeper. But after some rough nights a few weeks ago, we made some adjustments, tried a few new methods to get him to sleep on his own and we finally got him on a good pattern. Our nightly routine: bathtime, milk, bedtime story, put him down in the crib and yes, he fell right asleep without any fuss. The next best thing was that he didn't wake up until 6:30 in the morning when I got up for work. We were ecstatic. We broke out the champagne. Confetti fell from the rafters as we were on about a two week streak of our son sleeping through the night and then...I got cocky. I posted this tweet.
But hey, what a glorious two weeks that was. Straight sleep. When was the last time we had this as parents? Few and far between. At the beginning of the sleep streak, I would wake up constantly even if he didn't wake up since I've been trained as a new parent to get up every few hours. There were mornings where my wife and I would wake up at 5:30 am dazed and confused that there must have been something wrong since he didn't get up in the night, and all of a sudden we were the ones not sleeping.
These are the breaks of parenting. Sleep is an everyday struggle when you're a parent of an infant/toddler, and you never know what kind of night you're going to have.
I'll cherish those two weeks of good sleep nights. Who knows if it will ever happen again.
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Romy is a dad, husband and blogger based out of Halifax. He also writes about hoops too at HipHoopJunkies.com. For dirty diaper stories, follow him on Twitter @DadDontLie and for hoops talk, follow @RomyAquino
....Ok, I'm back. Now where was I? Yeah, toddlers are unpredictable, especially when it comes to sleep. My 15-month old was on such a streak. Like you've heard before, he hasn't been the best sleeper. But after some rough nights a few weeks ago, we made some adjustments, tried a few new methods to get him to sleep on his own and we finally got him on a good pattern. Our nightly routine: bathtime, milk, bedtime story, put him down in the crib and yes, he fell right asleep without any fuss. The next best thing was that he didn't wake up until 6:30 in the morning when I got up for work. We were ecstatic. We broke out the champagne. Confetti fell from the rafters as we were on about a two week streak of our son sleeping through the night and then...I got cocky. I posted this tweet.
Gotta say, after 18 months on earth, my son has finally mastered the art of sleeping through the night, well at least for now. #parenting
— Dad Don't Lie (@daddontlie) October 19, 2014
It was this night when the streak ended. It wasn't even accurate, my son is 15 months old, not 18 months old (at this point, I must have been getting too much sleep.) It was after this tweet that he decided to keep us up for a few nights. He wanted to make me pay for being so confident. He didn't let us off easy either, he woke up at 3:00 am and kept us up off and on until it was time to go to work. I regret feeling so confident about that two week streak, what a rookie dad mistake. It wasn't even me that accomplished anything, it was all him. It was another lesson learned, don't ever jinx the sleep streak...if it ever happens again.But hey, what a glorious two weeks that was. Straight sleep. When was the last time we had this as parents? Few and far between. At the beginning of the sleep streak, I would wake up constantly even if he didn't wake up since I've been trained as a new parent to get up every few hours. There were mornings where my wife and I would wake up at 5:30 am dazed and confused that there must have been something wrong since he didn't get up in the night, and all of a sudden we were the ones not sleeping.
These are the breaks of parenting. Sleep is an everyday struggle when you're a parent of an infant/toddler, and you never know what kind of night you're going to have.
I'll cherish those two weeks of good sleep nights. Who knows if it will ever happen again.
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