The Mystery of Sleep Problems in Toddlers



The Mystery of Sleep Problems in Toddlers

Sleep problems in toddlers are largely related to what is known and seen as opposed to what is not. This translates into many of the sleep difficulties in a toddler being about something that is known or seen by the toddler, or perhaps a past recognition issue. Scary movies and visuals come into play here as many sleep problems in toddlers are related to the toddler recalling something they have seen and were spooked by in their subconscious as they sleep or prepare to sleep. Getting past the notion is difficult, and many toddlers do not have nightmares but rather have trouble getting into full REM sleep mode.

REM sleep, or rapid-eye movement sleep, is the deepest form of sleep and is the hardest form of sleep to fall into if you are spooked by frightening visuals or sounds. It is for this reason that many toddlers would rather sleep with their parents or stay in a room with a sibling for those nights. It is this type of comfort that guides them into full REM sleep and enables them to go beyond the nightmare or fright that they experienced beforehand. Of course, the toddlers are not as well versed in the medical sciences so as to know this, but the cause is relatable and they find out what works after time.

Learning to Sleep

This effectively means that the toddler chooses to learn to sleep in a different way. The notion of coming out to the parents’ room is actually a great signal that your toddler is processing what makes him or her more able to sleep. It shows initiative and great problem solving skills as the toddler finds that the first scenario is not working and so attempts another one to get them to sleep. From there, you can help teach your toddler and encourage him or her to advance on this methodology and begin processing other methods to help get past the sleep problems in toddlers.

Much of learning to get past sleep problems in toddlers involves self-teaching or learning to sleep by oneself. This notion seems complex at first but it is actually quite simple. The toddler is already halfway to that point if they are getting up to find their parents in the middle of the night. This shows problem solving initiative. The other half of the deal is getting the toddler to show self-initiative and find the comfort within them to sleep. Interior coping mechanisms are developed to curb sleep problems in toddlers from this point.

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  • Clara Edwards: Our daughter had been an erratic sleeper (much of it our fault, in retrospect) and frequently ended up...
  • Emilio Gonzalez: Ferber does a good job of describing what happens when you sleep. Apparently everyone wakes up in...
  • Roberta Reid: I guess my main problem with Ferber was the way that it’s an exact, rigid theory or philosophy....
  • Amber Laws: We were careful to put him in bed before he was completely asleep so he could adjust to the idea of being...
  • Debbie Hubbard: Good luck.posted by dragonsi55 at 7:07 AM on September 29, 2006
  • Douglas Witherell: This idea that you can have a child sleeping quietly in three days is more to appease the parents,...
  • Robert Spangler: The “Cry it out” method didn’t work on him — what did work was something...
  • William Aguilar: The thing is, children are not interchangable. For varying reasons, some kids sleep well righr away...
  • Robin Kelly: We got a baby massage book and started “bedtime” about 30 minutes before we put him down for...
  • Jessica Miller: That being said, rdurbin already wrote down everything I wanted to say–especially the part...
  • Justin Schultz: An idea? To appease us? We spent many months with various techniques that didn’t work, Ferber...
  • Linda Allmon: The second one was a preemie (about 7 weeks) and it literally took years for him to settle into a good...
  • Tara Mccandless: But they do, frequently, until their child is asleep. Have you read any other part of it than the...
  • Darrell Jones: I agree with the being present and patting on the back and telling him it is night night time while...
  • Todd Mcclelland: I think even if you don’t use his process, he’s got a lot of interesting things to say...