How to Get Your Child to Go to Sleep Without You - Baby Sleep Issues, Pt. 6

It's pretty common. In fact, we probably have all dealt with it in some degree or another. A baby or toddler who cannot and will not go to sleep unless you help them in some way. And often, frequent night wakings go hand in hand with this issue.

This is extremely frustrating. Not only does it take 20-30 minutes or more every night to get your child to go to sleep, but you are stuck having to go in several times during the night to help them get back to sleep when they wake up.

You start to feel stuck. If you don't help them, they will cry. And no one likes having a crying child. Yet, you're so tired, and you just don't have the energy or emotional stamina to handle the stresses of the day. To top all this off, your child is also overtired and may often be grumpy or out of sorts.

So after a long and tiring, stressful day, the last thing you want to do is put up a fight with your child over sleep. But of course, continuing to choose the "easy" route every night changes nothing, and life continues on in its foggy brained, energy drained way.

Whether this has been going on for a week or for months or even longer, the key is to just jump in and stop the cycle. You will never reach a night where you feel energized enough to tackle it. Just do it.

If this describes the going ons in your home, you will find this article by Dana Obleman very helpful.