Quick Overview
- 21-month-old toddler boy.
- Sleep challenges started at 21 months.
- Previously slept well in a crib.
- Was never formally sleep trained but could
fall asleep independently.
Main Challenge
- Difficulty falling asleep/long sleep onset.
- Could no longer be put down awake.
- Restless sleep with difficulty staying asleep.
When I connected with Shayna, a mom of two, she had been struggling with her toddler’s sleep for several weeks.
Her son had previously slept well, and this seemed to come on quite suddenly.
Her son now struggled with both falling and staying asleep. Both parents were absolutely exhausted and considered a floor bed and the chair method to formally sleep train.
Troubleshooting this toddler’s sleep struggles
Our plan was to track her son’s sleep over 24 hours for a few days to get a sense of his sleep needs.
By tracking his sleep, we would understand his true 24-hour sleep needs and build his new schedule around those needs.
After a few days, we uncovered she was averaging about 12.5 hours of sleep. This is actually spot on average for a child this age. (see the National Sleep Foundation Chart)
I suspected her son was being offered more sleep than he was capable of; on first glance, I could see his schedule was offering almost 14 hours of opportunity to sleep, which is a high sleep expectation for most children this age.
When sleep opportunity isn’t aligned with a child’s needs, it’s very common to have both issues with falling asleep and staying asleep.
So we put a simple plan into action…
The Sleep
Plan
We built a schedule to reflect his 12.5-hour sleep need.
Shayna’s family wanted a wake-up time of 7 am, so we built the new schedule around that.
New Schedule:
Wake: 7:00
Nap: 12:30–2
Bed: 8:00
Nap capped at 1.5 hours; time in bed overnight capped at 11 hours.
We advised starting the day at 7 am no matter how the night went
Hold off on any “re-training” and transitioning to a toddler bed.
The Results
It took almost no time for this family to see results.
With the right amount of sleep pressure, we noticed progress almost instantly.
Remember: there is often an adjustment period where the child might be grumpy due to being woken up earlier or having a short nap. This is not indicative of the schedule being “wrong” for them. If nighttime sleep onset and consolidation have improved, this is the strongest indicator the schedule is aligned with their needs.
Within a few days, her son went back to being the good sleeper he previously was and sleeping through the night.
The family didn’t have to “re-train” or move their son prematurely to a toddler bed.
In fact, applying a sleep training method when their son was under-tired would have resulted in unnecessary tears and distress for the entire family.
The Takeaway
💛 Sleep needs can drop in early toddlerhood – around 15-18 months (depending on the child) is when we commonly see a drop.
💛 This change can come on seemingly overnight.
💛 If several weeks go by and nothing has improved, you probably need a schedule update.
💛 Sleep training will not fix a sleep challenge caused by a misaligned schedule.
💛 Letting your wake-up time fluctuate based on the night will only perpetuate the cycle.
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