Sleep Tips for Your Child — Part 4

We've reached the final tip in our series on children's sleep. This is one of the most challenging for parents — but also one of the most transformative when applied with consistency and patience. If you've made it this far and have been applying the previous tips, you've already taken important steps toward helping your child develop sleep autonomy.

How to handle nighttime awakenings. It's quite common for children to wake up around 10pm, 2am, and 6am. When this happens, go to them — but keep stimulation to a minimum. If you used to pick the child up out of bed to soothe them, stop. Keep them in the crib, calm them with a gentle touch on the belly or back, and say firmly and lovingly: "You can learn to fall back asleep." They may protest at first — that's normal and expected. Over time, and with your consistency, they'll come to understand and gain more and more autonomy to comfort themselves during the night.

It's worth remembering: all the tips in this series work best when applied gradually, one at a time, and with all caregivers aligned with one another. Children sense when there is agreement and security among the adults around them — and that makes all the difference in the sleep-learning process.

Every child has their own pace. If, even after following these guidelines, your child's sleep is still a challenge, it may be time for an individualized evaluation to understand what's going on.