Curing Toddler Insomnia

You've put your toddler to bed and are just sitting down to relax and watch your favorite movie when you hear banging against the wall upstairs. You go up to investigate and when you open your child's door, you discover that he has emptied his entire crib of toys. After an hour of cajoling him to sleep, you decide to give the movie another chance. Fifteen minutes in and you're back upstairs, caught up in a vicious cycle that could very well continue for most of the night. If this sounds familiar, don't be discouraged. There are practical solutions to this very common dilemma.

Before you can do anything about your toddler's insomnia, you must identify what is causing it in the first place. It may take a considerable amount of experimentation to determine what the specific underlying cause is.

A common trigger for sleep problems amongst toddlers is fear of the dark. This could be quickly remedied by a night light and a few comforting words when putting her down to sleep.

Sometimes you can just tell that your toddler is fighting sleep with everything he has. He may rub his eyes, yawn and just plain refuse to lie down. According to the BabyCenter, toddler age marks the beginning of his sense of independence and refusing to sleep is a way that the child asserts his newfound control. In layman's terms, this amounts to him simply not wanting to miss out on anything going on. Shutting his door and keeping voices down as well as the television could very well solve the problem.

Many causes for the insomnia are not quite as cut and dry. Most sources agree that the single most common underlying cause of insomnia in toddlers is a lack of a routine. Establishing a set routine will create the associations in your child's mind that better prepares her for sleep. Routines are limited only by you and your child's imagination, but key to any routine should be to set a specific time for bedtime. This time should remain the same every night.