Help! My toddler won't go to bed at night.  Have you ever uttered this sentence?

You’ve heard me say a million times that your toddler & preschool age child needs to be going to bed before 8pm. But for many families, their child just doesn’t seem tired before 9 or 10pm.

Kids 2-8 years old should be getting 10-12 hours of consistent sleep each night with no wake ups. And the younger the child, the more sleep they need at night. 

When kids don’t get enough good consistent sleep every night, they won’t settle at bedtime, resulting in the child getting “overtired”. This is just a sleep coach term that means your child isn’t getting enough sleep and it’s set off a bad cycle of poor sleep habits.

Late bedtimes can lead to overnight wake ups, getting up at 5am, skipping naps. Lots of sleep problems occur because kids are overtired.

When kids are overtired, it can actually mask the feeling of tiredness. This has to do with the levels of cortisol that is released when they aren’t getting enough sleep. 

So actually the MOST tired kids may show very few obvious signs that they’re sleepy.

But don’t worry, they’re probably giving off some secret sleepy signs that you can learn to spot which will help you pinpoint the right early bedtime. 

Resources

Learn more about Jessica and Awesome Little Sleepers.

Save your spot in my next free Toddler Sleep Masterclass at: ToddlerSleepMasterclass.com

Other resources:

• Join me on Instagram @AwesomeLittleSleepers
• The ONE thing you can start tonight to improve your toddler's sleep, click here
• Check out the blog
• Watch the YouTube channel 
• ‘Sleep Tight Without a Fight’ sleep course, click here
• My favorite sleep products, click here