Your toddler's bedtime – our health visitor answers your questions
Q. My 3 year old keeps getting out of bed at night and coming into my room. Help!A . Start by making sure he settles to sleep on his own in his own bed as this way, when he wakes up in the night, he’ll know how to settle back to sleep without you. When this routine is established, the only way to reinforce better sleep habits is to keep putting him back in his bed each time he gets up.
Calmly but emphatically put him back, with little chat, and a firm goodnight. It’s going to take energy and commitment on your part so get some extra help for a few days so you can catch up on rest yourself. The more reliable and persistent you are in putting him back, the quicker he’ll learn to sleep through.
Try leaving a T-shirt of yours with him for reassurance and if you want to know when he’s coming put a bell on his door so you’re prepared for having to put him straight back.
How To Choose The Toddler Bed Thats Right For You
Selecting the right toddler bed is a very important choice to make because it will be your child’s first proper bed that they’ll rest in once they are old enough to make the conversion from cot to bed. Relocating your child from the security of the crib with its protective side rails you’ll also should be certain that your child’s new resting area is safe and secure. For this reason the majority of the beds have rails or raised sides for safety. Should they be not included with the particular bed you want you can also buy the rails individually, this will make sure that there isn’t any threat of your toddler rolling or sliding out of the bed while sleeping.
The beds can be found in numerous styles and sizes and it is essential to pick the right size for your child, make certain you pick a model which is large enough for your child to grow into to ensure you may get a good number of years benefit from it. Almost all the beds are intended to be low to the ground so that your child can easily climb in and out of bed and also the lower designs are definitely the safest solution to decide on. Some of the beds may come with a mattress supplied it is therefore wise to check that it is comfortable as well as the correct firmness which you wish to have for your toddler or if you want to you can use the mattress from the crib that your toddler will be used to for a while and in due course exchange it for the larger one.
