Kids That Go Bump in the Night

6 strategies to set up good sleep habits and discourage midnight drop-ins

By Aviva Patz

You've survived the up-every-two-hours newborn period, and you're finally slumbering peacefully through the night. Out of nowhere, your toddler starts showing up like an uninvited guest at all hours. "I lost my blankie," she says. "I'm thirsty." "I wanted to give you one more hug." There's a million reasons your merry wanderer may give for crawling out of bed, but there's only one thing you need to know at that time of night: It's critical to get your child back to sleep for the full 12 or so hours she needs.

"Families need to make sleep a priority because it affects every aspect of a child's well being -- health, behavior, development and the ability to learn," says Saint Joseph's University psychology professor Jodi Mindell, PhD, author of Sleeping Through the Night (Collins) and Sleep Deprived No More (Marlowe & Company). "If children don't get enough sleep, they're cranky and irritable, they're more likely to have behavioral problems, and they're more likely to get sick because sleep deprivation compromises the immune system." You're more likely to get cranky, too, especially when your child's third curtain call of the night is at 3 a.m.

Why do toddlers develop nocturnal wanderlust? Often it's because they switched from the crib to the bed too early and are suddenly free to roam. "Before age three, they don't have the self-control to stay in bed, and they're not yet capable of grasping the imaginary confines of a bed," says Mindell. Parents can make things worse. "When kids won't stay put in bed, parents get into the habit of hanging out until they fall asleep, so then when kids wake up, they're primed to seek out their parents to help them fall back to sleep."

Here are six strategies to set up good sleep habits and discourage midnight drop-ins:

Delay the switch from crib to bed until your child is three If you've got a climber, use a crib tent to keep your tot safe and snug -- and contained -- in bed.

Set a few clear nighttime rules and enforce them Rules might be: When lights go out, you need to stay in bed until morning. And, you may call with a request --for water or another hug, for example -- only once.