Sleepless Toddlers are Popular

Readership has skyrocketed since the beginning of the year when I revamped the blog.  Interestingly though the most popular post on this blog remains Sleep Habits of a Toddler, a post I wrote more than 3 years ago.  When I review the stats for the blog I consistently see 10 views on this post per day, most of which come from a browser (Google) search. 

This tells me one thing - sleepless toddlers are pretty popular.  Based on the key word searches that lead people to that post it is apparent the people involved in the search are most likely moms who are frustrated with their kiddos sleep patterns and are looking for tips to get their kids to sleep.

I recently ran into someone at work who years ago talked with me about my sleepless son.  If I remember correctly, his daughter at the time was 4 or 5 and still struggled with sleep.  The first thing he asked me when we ran into each other was how my son was sleeping - his 7 year old still sometimes struggles, he says.  It made me chuckle - when your kiddos don't sleep very well whether they are babies, toddlers, or older it really can be impactful and memorable.  And long-lasting.

Our son now typically sleeps through the night, contrary to the article that spurred my popular post.  I don't rock him to sleep and he doesn't use any kind of noise distraction to help him sleep (like music, like he used to use).  He doesn't use a pacifier.  He typically sleeps alone and does just fine.

He does still struggle with going to sleep some nights, especially when daddy is home.  He doesn't need a nap and that messes up his ability to go to sleep early at night during the week.  And, of course, one of the ways we get him to do really good sleeping at night by himself is to allow him to sleep in our bed every other night.  It works out that he sleeps in his bed more than half the time, but he is encouraged to try really hard to sleep "like a good boy" in his bed when he can look forward to sleeping in mommy and daddy's bed the next night.

And we still know two things - 1) He will sleep just fine at some point & 2) That point in our mind is no more than 13 1/2 years away.

So for all of my readers who've found me by trying to find hope for their sleepless toddlers - take heart.  You're not alone, and your baby will sleep good through the night soon.