The Toddler Sleep Secret That Changed My Life
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Got a strong-willed kid that doesn’t want to miss out on anything? Does this same sweet, independent toddler fight going to sleep? It’s so tough when qualities you want to celebrate and grow in your child also make some of the day-to-day necessities feel nearly impossible.
I’ve been there and I’m so thrilled to say that I finally found the magic trick to turn our sleep-fighting toddler into a sleeping angel in less than five minutes. When I say I have been there, I mean that I had a child that would literally hold his eyelids open to prevent himself from falling asleep. I love that level of dedication and think it will serve him well down the line, but, my goodness!
If you are desperate to find a solution that will allow your toddler to take naps and go to bed for the night without an hour-long battle or having to be nursed to sleep, please read this blog post. I will share with you:
How I Created a Bad Sleep Situation
The Point that I Realized it was a Serious Problem
The $27 sleep miracle that changed my life
Why it took 5 Nights
Our Routine
If it sounds too good to be true, I would agree. I was very skeptical when I decided to try this sleep secret out, but my desperation overpowered my skepticism and I gave it a try. If you need the same miracle in your household, you are in the right place. After you read this post you can start changing your sleep problems into sleep solutions tonight!
How I Created a Bad Sleep Situation
I have to be honest, I’m the major reason that my toddler refused to take naps or go to sleep. Because of the luxury of working from home (thank you COVID) I was available to nurse my child to sleep for every nap and each night before we went to bed. I read plenty of recommendations that I should NOT nurse him to sleep and should instead put him to bed when he is sleepy, but still awake, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it.
Starting early he would cry if we put him to bed before he went to sleep. I didn’t have it in me to do the “cry it out” method. I also had a long, hard battle to get to the point of nursing him comfortably (I will share more about his lip and tongue tie in a future blog post), so once I got to the point of being able to nurse him, I really just wanted to cherish each moment.
I also justified the bad sleep habits I was creating with the fact that the time was so short and I was going to blink and he would be a big boy that didn’t want to be cuddled. I wanted to soak up every second that I was able to cuddle and protect my sweet baby boy.
I know, I know, experts will tell you not to do what I did. I had read a lot about it and knew better, but it happened anyway. To be honest, I am not sure that I would do it differently even if I could. I think those moments were precious and fleeting. I also believe that there are long-term benefits that will blossom from the decision as far as our mother-son relationship goes.
The Point that I Realized it was a Serious Problem
Fast forward two and a half years and I am 9 months pregnant and still nursing my toddler to sleep. I was concerned that it would be a challenge when baby #2 arrived, but I was planning on tandem nursing anyway (a blog post about my tandem nursing journey is in the works right now), so I decided not to let it get me too upset.
Then, after my second child was born, we were admitted to the NICU, and for the first time ever, I was NOT available to nurse my toddler to sleep. This was the moment that I realized we had a serious problem and that I had created a bad situation for my toddler to be in. He needed sleep and wasn’t able to get himself to sleep because he had depended on me to get him to sleep for his entire life.
Luckily, we are surrounded by amazing family members that helped take care of my toddler while we were in the NICU with my newborn and they did everything they could to make him as comfortable as possible and to get him as much sleep as they could manage. But, it wasn’t easy and he didn’t get nearly as much sleep as his little body needed. He was staying up until midnight or later, many days skipping a nap altogether and quite often, only falling asleep as the result of a car ride.
I wasn’t able to address the problem right at that moment because I was preoccupied with the health of our second baby, but it was the first time that I fully acknowledged the severity of the problem and knew that I had to find a solution after we made it beyond the health issues we were dealing with.
The $27 sleep miracle that changed my life
We were released from the hospital and finally got into a semi-normal routine at home (interlaced with a lot of follow-up appointments and trying to catch our toddler up on a LOT of missed sleep). I was tandem nursing the boys, which turned into me nursing two boys every three hours like clockwork. Our toddler had only been nursing to fall asleep (twice a day total), but when his brother came home and he saw him nursing, he wanted to nurse too. After everything we had been through, I wanted to allow him to do that for a little while until we got back to a more normal routine.
After a month of tandem nursing and trying to juggle two boys at the breast for naps and bedtime routines, I decided it was finally time. We were going to wean my toddler from the breast and consequently, that meant we were also going to have to find a different way to get him to go to sleep.
I set to work scouring the internet, Pinterest, etc. We had already tried a few different methods when he was younger and they all failed. As I already mentioned, I wasn’t willing to let him cry it out and I wanted to be very mindful of the impact of all that he was going through as well. He was adjusting to a new sibling, had a very unusual week while we were in NICU, was having some separation anxiety as a result of that week, and now we were going to change one more thing (hence us waiting for a month before we started looking for a solution).
I stumbled upon this Sleep Miracle Lullaby called Bedtime Imagination. I jumped to the reviews and saw raving reviews swearing that the lullaby had their kids sleeping so quickly, kids loved going to bed now, etc. Excited, I scrolled back up to check the product out better. Essentially the product is a lullaby that starts out with instrumental music, plays a short lullaby, and then has a voice-over of something similar to what you would hear in a meditation routine to help guide your children to sleep.
I was pretty skeptical at this point based on the price tag, but my desperation for a solution overpowered my skepticism. I thought to myself, I have spent $27 on far sillier things in my life. Also, it has a 60-day money-back guarantee, so why not give it a shot.
Still slightly skeptical, I sent it to my husband. He reviewed the website, listened to the lullaby preview, and looked at me in shock. He exclaimed,
“This seems totally nuts. I honestly can’t imagine how it will possibly work, but if you want to try it, I will support you.”
I went for it. I made the purchase and got the file downloaded on my phone. It came with some freebies as well to help with the process, so I saved those too and decided we would give it a try. Within 5 days, it worked like a charm and my toddler is now consistently falling asleep within 5 minutes of us playing the Bedtime Imagination lullaby.
It isn’t just that it works, it is that we also don’t battle sleep for an hour. My toddler isn’t holding his eyes open in protest of going to sleep and my husband has been able to put our toddler to sleep for the first time in his entire life. We are both so thrilled with this $27 purchase that we have considered sending the company more money to show our appreciation.
Why it took 5 Nights
You might have noticed that I said within 5 nights. The miracle didn’t work perfectly the first few times.
The first night we downloaded the lullaby my husband and I decided on a nighttime routine to follow and we agreed that we would not cave or make any changes in the plan until we had tried it for at least a week so that we could really give it a shot. That night we completed our first attempt at the sleep routine which ended with the lullaby. Our toddler laid peacefully for a few minutes, but then he realized he was about to fall asleep and started to protest.
He knows how to pull on his mama’s heartstrings.
“I need to go check on my baby brother. I think I can hear him crying,” he exclaimed.
But, I didn’t cave. I simply told him that we needed to stay in bed and finish listening to the song. If he was still awake when the song ended, I would take him to check on his brother.
As the song continued, he found a few more excuses to get out of bed. Each time I put him back in bed he became more upset and started to cry. I held him and told him that I understood he wanted to “XYZ,” but that it was time to listen to the nighttime song and get some rest. Within 15 minutes of the song playing, he fell asleep in my arms. I transferred him to bed.
At this point, my husband and I weren’t 100% sold on the lullaby, but we wanted to keep trying. So, for the next few days, we followed the same routine for each nap and bedtime. We were pleasantly surprised to find that each time it was becoming easier. The protests were becoming fewer, no tears were being shed, and the time to actually fall asleep was becoming shorter and shorter.
Within 5 days of starting the Bedtime Imagination lullaby, our toddler was consistently falling asleep within the first 5 minutes of the song and not protesting going to sleep at all.
We are both so grateful. We have finally found something that works for us, that has given us hours of our time back each night, that is emotionally healthy for the whole household, and most importantly, has allowed my son to go to sleep without depending on me.
I have additional confirmation that the Bedtime Imagination lullaby is pure magic because it even works for my mom when she is watching my kiddo. She was as skeptical as my husband. She thought I should request a refund before we even gave it a shot. Last week my toddler spent the day with her. In the past, that would mean he didn’t take a nap that day because I wasn’t around to nurse him to sleep. However, she texted me a picture of my sleeping angel and said,
“Your sleep song is absolute magic. I can’t believe it, but he was asleep within minutes!”
Our Routine
I gave our nighttime routine a lot of thought before we started our process. My initial plan had way too many elements. It was going to take us an hour or more to get through the entire process every night. I realized that we had to find a routine that was easy to follow so that we would be consistent, but also so that someone else would be able to replicate the routine if necessary. The routine that we implemented and has worked wonders for us looks like this.
Apply Young Living SleepyIze oil on feet
We start with the essential oils so that they have a little time to get into his system and start working. I like the Sleepyze that comes in a roller bottle so that I can just quickly glide it up his feet and move on to the next thing. As a busy momma, I am sure you understand the importance of convenience! You can check out my three favorite KidScents Roller Balls here.
Brush Teeth
This was a different battle that I could write an entire blog post about. I will give you the quick version. We tried a solid 15 different toothbrushes and finally found this gem. He loves the light that is “exploring in his mouth” and enjoys that the vibration is “tickling” his teeth.
Read 3-4 books
I subscribe to the Amazon Book Box on a bi-monthly basis, so we have a LOT of reading options.
Say our nighttime prayer
Play the Bedtime Imagination lullaby
Depending on the books that we read, our entire nighttime routine is typically completed within 15-20 minutes. Some nights, my toddler will tell me that he doesn’t want to read the books, he just “wants the song”. It actually seems too good to be true. I keep waiting for my miracle to fail me, but over and over again, it works like a charm. In fact, sometimes it puts my husband and I to sleep before the song is over too!
Are you ready to put the nap and nighttime battles to rest? I don’t blame you! Your sanity is crucial for the rest of your household to function properly. Get your sanity back, Momma. If I knew my sanity was hiding in a 27 dollar lullaby, I would have purchased it a year ago!
Download your copy of the Bedtime Imagination lullaby now and start your journey to better sleep for everyone tonight!
If you aren’t ready to go all-in, or maybe your husband is as skeptical as mine, just visit the site and download the free resources they offer. The site offers
A FREE Rest Tool Kit!
"5 Magic Tricks That Will Have Your Kids Sleeping In Minutes" bedtime inspiration rest workbook!
Our "Rest Journal" to support our tools and creativity
"The Resting Night" Coloring Book
12-month rest tracker to show your progress along the way!
I truly hope that you take the chance on this money-back guaranteed lullaby. I want every Momma out there to have peacefully sleeping angels and a moment for herself to end each night. You deserve it!
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