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Getting back to sleep

Your child used to snooze all night without a peep. Now he's waking up two, three or more times. Why? And what can you do about it?

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Originally published in Today's Parent March 2010

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Linda and Steve Botelho thought they were “golden” when daughter Isabella finally started sleeping through the night, just before her first birthday. A month earlier, with Linda facing the return to work, Isabella was still waking every two or three hours most nights. “I knew I wouldn’t be able to cope with that when I was back to work, so we decided to give sleep training a try,” recalls the Stouffville, Ont., mother of one.

The Botelhos continued their practice of staying with Isabella at bedtime until she fell asleep, but stopped going to her in the middle of the night. The first two nights were tough, but on the third, Isabella went back to sleep after only five minutes. She started sleeping through and continued to do so after Linda went back to work.

According to some lore about infant and toddler sleep, the story ends there. All babies wake in the night, experts say, but the ones who learn to fall asleep on their own won’t need parents’ help to get back to sleep later on. Once babies acquire this “skill,” parents should be able to look forward to peaceful nights from that point onward.
Really?

Fast-forward four months. Isabella had been sleeping well. Then she got a stomach bug and, whoosh, sleep went out the window. The comforting Isabella needed during her illness led to a month of rocking, singing and back rubs several times each night to resettle her. Eventually, the wakings dwindled to once a night — better, but not golden.

Two years later, Isabella’s sleep patterns remain fragile. “Even now (at age four), any little cold and she’s up in the night,” says Linda. “It can take weeks to get her back on track.”

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