Wake up toddlers in the morning is essential to adjust to the daytime cycles and engage in practical activities. This might be the most challenging part of your day, especially in the morning when you have to start by making breakfast, sending your children to preschool or school, or working yourself. Preparing yourself ahead of the task can be the best approach to peacefully waking up your toddler from their much-needed sleep.
Put your worries aside and dive into this article that will give you some valuable tips to help you wake up toddler and spend a peaceful day!
Related Articles in this blog:
- Positive Discipline – How to Get Your Toddler to Listen Without Yelling
- 8 Steps to Stop Toddler from Screaming – Why It Happens and How to Handle It
Table of Contents
1. Set up a routine and manage sleep schedule
Adults may find doing the same thing daily dull, but for toddlers, dependable routines reduce stress, boost confidence, and even make them feel more competent. Routines provide small children with a sense of security, intelligence, and time management. Moreover, it is an excellent strategy to reduce the amount of time you spend nagging, reminding, and shouting at your child throughout the day! Routines may be used by simply repeating the same set of procedures before a meal, exercise, or sleep time.
First, you have to make sure that your kid is taking a good sleep. A toddler needs about 11-12 hours of sleep or sometimes up to 14 hours of sleep in a 24-hour cycle. This sleep schedule is usually divided into daytime short naps and nighttime sleep. If you want your toddlers not to be cranky and in a bad mood after waking up, you have to manage their sleep schedule to provide them with their minimum needed sleep. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has recommended the following sleep hours per day:
Establish a bedtime routine and follow it consistently. For example, if your 2-year-old takes a two-hour nap in the afternoon, make sure that he is in bed between 07:00 to 08:00 pm to provide him with a long and peaceful night’s sleep. A peaceful sleep at night will surely make his mood better in the morning, and he will feel refreshed and energetic after waking up.
2. Making slight disturbances
How would you react if someone suddenly yanked your curtains wide open or shook you abruptly to get you out of bed? That’s right. You wouldn’t be too happy and try to tuck yourself more in bed.
The same goes for your toddlers. A sudden change in the room environment is not at all helpful. Instead, you can create some slight disturbances to wake them up slowly. For example, you can create a small gap in the curtains to let dim light enter the room. Try to massage their hands and feet or slowly rub their backs to make an effort to calm their nerves. Please open the door with more sound than usual to make your toddler aware of their surroundings and let them know it is time to wake up.
3. Lying down with your toddler
Kids always love snuggling with their parents, especially if they are toddlers. One of the best ways to wake up your 02-year-old is to lie down with him in bed and snuggle when he starts waking up. If he is sleeping in a toddler bed, it is easy to lie down and hug him, but if he is in a crib, you can carry him and hold him for a while.
Snuggling and hugging calm down your toddler’s nerves, and he feels happy to wake up in your arms. All the crankiness disappears, and he is ready to start the day without fuss.
4. Talking and playing for a little while
Your toddler is in a deep, peaceful sleep and doesn’t want to get out of bed yet. His mood worsens due to your continuous shaking, and he wakes up crying in anger. What should you do to avoid that?
One of the ways to make sure your toddler wake up with a coherent mindset is to engage them in small conversations. Not too long because he is not in a position to even understand what you are saying. You can start with small words like ‘Good morning’ or ‘Hello dear’ with a smile on your face. He will try to respond to your small interactions, which will help wake him up from his deep sleep.
Meanwhile, you can also play some little games with your toddlers. I used to sing a song and simulate a little mouse/rabbit coming to their bed, starting from their foot and climbing up through the leg and their back, finally reaching the neck and nose, and tickling them a bit. They soon started giggling, and we had so much fun waking up.
5. Playing some music or reading a book
Playing your favorite music while washing dishes or doing other chores makes you happy and excited. The same goes for the kids, and they also like to listen to their favorite ones. You can use this trick to wake toddler up.
Play their favorite songs or any soundtracks from their favorite animated movies in their room before waking them. This will create a pleasant and exciting vibe in their room and help them to get up happy and excited.
Some toddlers are also keen on reading their favorite picture stories or books and carry them all the time, even to their beds. You can climb in bed with their favorite book in your hands and urge them to read it with you. This will undoubtedly wake up their minds as they will like to be with their favorite characters right after waking up!
6. Getting toddler excited
Excitement always works for kids, especially toddlers. They are always curious and excited to do what they enjoy, and you can always use the excitement trick to wake them up!
For example, if your 3-year-old loves to eat fruits, you can tell him that there is a bowl of cut fruit on the table for him or some other favorite breakfast.
You can also urge them to do some activity. For example, hide a little wake-up message card in their cupboard or toy box and encourage them to find it. In turn, reward them like their favorite waffles for breakfast, and it will undoubtedly help them stir their sleepy heads into some activity!
Conclusion
Waking toddler up is by no means an easy task, as in this stage of their life, they are dependent on their parents to manage their sleep and wake-up schedule. So, it certainly will be a little helpful to use some of these tips. You can cuddle with your kid in bed, read their favorite book, play some music, change the room’s environment slightly, or make them excited about something they would like to do. Still, if they find it hard to sleep and cannot keep up their good mood after waking up, you should consult your pediatrician to find a better solution.
About Me
Hi, there. I am Lin. Together with my husband and two kids, we live in the beautiful Netherlands in Europe. I am dedicated to self-development, creating quality time for the whole family, and fully supporting kids with their potentials and possibilities with all I have learned from engineering, MBA, and 10+ years of working experience in the energy sector.
