Tips for helping your little one sleep through the night.

When the Wild One was younger, sleep was always a concern for us when travelling. Almost every parent has experienced some form of torture of a night time when away from home, when the little ones wont settle. After a busy day of exploring and travel, not getting sleep is the last thing any one wants. Here are some tips that may or may not, make your holiday less tiring!

Our first born struggled to sleep all night before turning two. We don’t know if it’s because as first time parents we did it all wrong, or if there is even a wrong way to do it, but whatever we did, somewhere along the way, our inner judgmental-self told us we got a little lost with helping our little one self-settle along the way.

Self-settling is a touchy subject. What works for some families, may not work for others. I didn't work for us, and that is OK. That's not to say we didn't try it; it just wasn't for us. It brings us to the topic of this post. What can we do to help our little ones sleep better? Well let me say for the record; every child is different (wow, what an observation, AJ!), and sometimes, despite doing everything you’re ‘supposed ‘to do, or not do, it just doesn’t work out how you planned and desperately hoped (Yawn).

I'd like to contribute the following factors to why our bambino may not have slept through before turning two. Ever. These factors most likely existed in every house hold at some point in time. And I’ll be fair to us as parents – the not sleeping through thing is not completely our fault.

• Teething. Again. And again. And.. again!
• Learning new things
• Wonder weeks (of hell)
• Being spoilt and held to much (is this even a thing?)
• We were not strong enough to let them cry it out
• We were too loving and soothed him. Constantly.
• And finally, the most remarkable observation of all – he was being a newborn, infant, crawler, walker, toddler (thanks, Huggies!) doing what babies do best.

Now that our Wild One is past two, we have new hurdles. Yes, the kid sleeps well and is in bed by 7pm but we are sometimes faced with vivid dreams and not being able to self-settle at his age. He even took a step back and wants ‘baby’ things like his younger siblings, since they arrived.

So, I found myself Google searching for tips, tricks, pages and blogs on how to get the poor little dude to sleep through, unaided. Without me. This was so important because as all parents know with multiple children – when the new babies come home you desperately need the older ones to sleep through the night! The reason why is a no brainer.

Here are some things we tried. What worked for us may not work for you. And not everything on this list, worked! It would also be silly to say that these solutions, or attempts worked all the time.

1. Making sure to burn off energy in the late arvo.
2. No junk food before bed time – avoid the hypo.
3. Go through the whole day’s events, helps to wind down their busy brain.
4. A solid routine – bath, book and bed. Same time, every night.
5. Going to bed with a full tummy.
6. Just before going to bed go in and stir them just enough to break the sleep cycle by resetting it again, but making sure not to wake them.
7. Use a Gro Egg to ensure that the room is not too hot or too cold. Ideal temp is 19 degrees Celsius, so the egg says.
8. Has a comforter.
9. Added a pillow to the bed.
10. Removed the pillow from the bed.
11. Wear socks.
12. A decent doona/quilt that won’t make them too hot or too cold.
13. Leave a night light on.
14. Comfort and reassure that everything is ok, and its time to go back to sleep.

I'm sure there are plenty more tired and tested methods out there. But would you believe, all it seemed to be for us was leaving a lamp on. Its so easy to forget that they are so little when they are out and about, talking, learning, growing. So, we left the lamp on and the Wild One has slept much better of a night. What works for you? What did you try? Comment below so we can all help each other out.

Our go to search is Baby Center AU. They have a great website, loads of blogs as well as an app that can send you emails with your child's development. https://www.babycenter.com.au/

Also, the Wonder Weeks App is amazing. But be warned. There is no guarantee you wont cry when you see a leap headed your way! https://www.thewonderweeks.com/

What do you do, or did do, to help your young one sleep? Share your tips with us!

Here's to a good nights sleep!

A. :)