Read here first if you are in a toddler sleep emergency

It's awful to be so sleep deprived that you've had to come to this toddler sleep emergency section first! Not only are your days full to overflowing with the physical and emotional demands of caring for a busy child (so that paid work often feels like a break), but you're not sleeping at night. Sometimes it can seem like your toddler never sleeps at all.

Please see your local doctor if you think either yourself or your little one might have a medical condition or health problem which is affecting sleep. Toddlers may have very disrupted sleep if they have a fever or viral infection, for instance. Some children snore at night and wake a lot because they have enlarged tonsils and adenoids. Also, some primary carers are in such severe sleep crisis that they are best receiving hospital or residential support.

Sometimes, you might be coming to these sleep emergency pages because you're worrying that you're not doing things right with your toddler's sleep. Since you care so much about your toddler's well-being, you find it's in your mind all the time!

You’ll find things in this sleep emergency section to experiment with if you are extremely sleep deprived, or very upset and worried about your toddler’s sleep. You can start these things straight away, then move on to the more comprehensive information in The Possums Sleep Program.

It might help to know that for many parents, what feels like a sleep emergency right now is no longer an emergency after just a week or two of trying out these ideas.

These six topics in the It's an emergency section of The Possums Sleep Program are a place to start if you're in a toddler sleep crisis. To really turn things around over the next couple of weeks, so that the days and nights are as enjoyable as possible, and you're no longer so utterly exhausted and sleep-deprived, please go to the whole of The Possums Toddler Sleep Program, starting here. Or you might like to go to the Brief & simple version first, starting here.