24 August 2026 · Veronica Chi
Business & Product Director · Mum of two
How to Help Your Toddler's Sleeping Problems
Getting a toddler into bed is one problem, and our guide to toddler bedtime resistance covers it. This is the other one: the child who goes down without much fuss and then wakes at 1am, or is up for the day at five, or sits bolt upright screaming and does not appear to know you are there. These have genuinely different causes, and the useful thing is to identify which you are dealing with before applying a strategy.
Night waking that ends up in your bed
The most common toddler sleep problem, and the one most often described as a habit. It usually is one, in the neutral sense: waking briefly at night is normal, and once a child has learned that waking produces company, the waking becomes worth doing.
- Decide what you actually want. Plenty of families are content to co-sleep and the problem dissolves. This section is only useful if you would prefer not to.
- Make the return boring. Same phrase, minimal light, minimal talking, straight back to bed. Interest is the thing being sought.
- Be consistent for at least a fortnight. Intermittent success is worse than none — a rule that works four nights in five teaches persistence.
- Deal with it at bedtime, not at 2am. A child who falls asleep alone at 8pm generally resettles alone at 2am; a child who falls asleep with you does not.
Early waking
Anything before 6am counts as early, and it is stubborn because it has several possible causes that all look identical from the doorway.
- Light. The most common cause and the easiest fix. Proper blackout, including the gaps at the sides — a 5.30am glow is enough to end sleep.
- Too much daytime sleep, or a nap that has drifted late.
- Bedtime too late. Counterintuitive but reliable: overtired children wake earlier, not later.
- Hunger, in a child who has recently dropped a feed or is in a growth phase.
- Habit, once the pattern has set. A toddler clock that changes colour at a set time genuinely helps from around two and a half.
Change one of these at a time and give each a week. Early waking is the problem most often made worse by trying three fixes at once and being unable to tell which did anything.
Night terrors and nightmares are not the same
| Night terror | Nightmare | |
|---|---|---|
| When | First few hours of the night | Second half of the night |
| The child | Eyes open, distressed, not awake | Awake, frightened, seeks comfort |
| Do they know you? | No — comforting often escalates it | Yes |
| Memory next day | None | Often remembers |
| What to do | Keep them safe, wait it out, do not wake | Comfort, reassure, settle back |
Night terrors look far worse than they are and are not a sign of distress or trauma. They are most common between three and eight, are made more likely by overtiredness and illness, and usually reduce as sleep debt is cleared. If they happen at a predictable time each night, some families find gently rousing the child fifteen minutes beforehand for a few nights breaks the pattern.
Climbing out of the cot
The first climb is a safety event rather than a behaviour problem. Drop the mattress to its lowest setting, take out anything that can be stood on, and check what the child would land on. Most guidance is to move to a bed once the child is around 90cm tall or the cot side is below their chest.
There is no rush otherwise. A cot that still contains a child is doing useful work, and moving to a bed early tends to convert one problem — climbing — into a different one, which is a child who can now leave the room at will.
The nap transition
Most children drop to one nap between twelve and eighteen months, and drop the last nap between two and four. The transition is messy in both cases, and the honest advice is to hold on to the nap longer than feels indicated. Signs it is genuinely ending: the nap consistently pushes bedtime past a reasonable hour, or the child lies happily awake through it for a fortnight. A few bad days is not a signal.
During the transition, an earlier bedtime does most of the work. On days the nap does not happen, bringing bedtime forward by half an hour prevents the overtiredness that would otherwise wreck the night.
When it is worth asking a doctor
- Snoring most nights, mouth-breathing, or pauses in breathing.
- Restless legs, or a child who repeatedly complains their legs feel odd at bedtime.
- Extreme daytime sleepiness despite adequate night sleep.
- Sleep problems that appear suddenly alongside a change in mood, appetite or development.
- Anything that has not shifted after several weeks of consistency and is grinding the household down.
Questions parents ask
Why does my toddler wake at 5am every day?
Light is the most common cause, followed by a bedtime that is too late and a nap that has drifted. Fix the blackout first, including the gaps at the edges of the blind, then try bedtime twenty minutes earlier. Change one thing at a time and give it a week.
Should I wake my child during a night terror?
No. During a night terror the child is not awake and does not recognise you, and waking them tends to prolong and worsen it. Keep them safe, stay nearby, wait it out. They will have no memory of it in the morning.
When should a toddler move from a cot to a bed?
Usually when they are around 90cm tall or the cot rail sits below their chest, or once they have climbed out. Before that there is little advantage to moving — a cot that still contains a child is doing useful work.
How do I stop my toddler getting into our bed at night?
Decide first whether you mind — many families do not. If you do, the return needs to be consistent and boring: same phrase, low light, minimal conversation, straight back to bed, every time for at least two weeks. Intermittent enforcement teaches persistence.
Sources
This guide is general information, written to help you understand a topic and ask better questions — it is not medical advice and does not replace your own doctor, midwife or paediatrician. Anything that worries you about your baby belongs with them.