Baby & Toddler Sleep Survival Guide (What Actually Helped Us Get Through It)

Mama Poe
17 hours ago
4 min read

*Please note: some links provided below are Amazon affiliate links! At no cost to you, I may earn a small commission from the products below if you click on them and make a purchase.

As a mom of 3 under 2, I’ve been through a lot of phases of baby sleep. Right now, I’m managing two 2-year-olds and a 4-month-old. And while that might sound like a special kind of chaos… it’s honestly not as bad as you’d think.

And no—I was not blessed with three magical sleepers. I’ve just done a ton of trial and error, found products that actually help, and stayed consistent with what works.

If you’re deep in the trenches, I’ve been there. This is everything that’s helped us with baby and toddler sleep—so you don’t have to keep scrolling at 3am like I did. (But, side note: if sleep feels like a mess right now, just know it’s temporary. You can get back on track. And some phases are just hard no matter what you do.)

And if you want all of this in one place (plus a little more structure you can actually reference), I put it into a simple, saveable guide. Think of this post as the foundation to baby and toddler sleep, and this guide as the blueprint. Download my Baby Sleep Bible here.

1. Sleep foundations are built during the day, not just at night

Good sleep habits start early—but not in the way people think.

For the first few months (especially that “fourth trimester”), focus less on strict schedules and more on routines. Stick to the same general flow before bed so your baby starts to recognize what’s coming.

For us, that looks like this in the early days:

quick baby lotion massage
into a swaddle or sleep sack
white noise + dim red light

I personally use a Yogasleep Dohm White Noise Machine and the Hatch Rest Sound Machine together for Baby Cam. The Hatch can do both, I just prefer the sound from the Dohm—total personal preference.

Also—don’t underestimate the basics during those early weeks: suck (pacifier), swaddle, shhh (white noise).

And get a portable sound machine. Being able to recreate sleep anywhere makes a huge difference.

2. Overtired babies don’t sleep better—they sleep worse

I know your parents will tell you to just keep them up later. Respectfully… no! (TBH, I am convinced the lack of schedules is why our parent's generation thinks our entire generation "had colic".)

Overtired babies are harder to settle, wake more overnight, and everything just spirals.

Some days my twins are done early—so they nap early. Same with bedtime. Earlier doesn’t mean worse sleep… it usually means better. We follow wake windows as much as we can (more info on wake windows in my Baby Sleep Bible).

Also, not every nap has to be perfect. Some days short naps still lead to better nights than pushing them too far.

3. You don’t have to fix every wake-up

Not every wake-up needs a full production.

Sometimes giving them a minute—or supporting without fully stepping in—helps them learn to settle.

But here's a huge tip: how a baby falls asleep is usually how they expect to go back to sleep. So if they’re always rocked or fed to sleep, they’ll look for that again between sleep cycles. Try to avoid this if you can.

One thing that made a big difference for us in minimizing wake-ups—especially with my youngest—was making sure he was getting enough calories during the day. When babies are underfed during the day, they make up for it overnight. And reverse cycling is NOT something you want to be dealing with.

4. Consistency matters more than perfection

An easy way to stay consistent is with a schedule. You don’t need a perfect schedule—you need predictability.

This means same cues, same general flow, same expectations.

For my toddlers, the Hatch Rest Sound Machine is a big part of that. We use a color system in their room:

green = wake
orange = wind down
red + white noise = sleep

It helps them understand what’s coming without constant reminders. They also love helping us change the colors.

Lastly: you don’t have to do "harsh" sleep training methods like cry it out if that’s not your thing. There are gentler options. I personally love the chair method—it worked really well for us (Myles, I’m looking at you). But honestly— just pick a lane and stick with it. Switching things up every night is confusing for them and exhausting for you.

5. Some phases just suck (and it’s not your fault)

Even when you do everything “right,” there will still be hard nights.

Teething. Illness. Sleep regressions. Separation anxiety. All of it comes in waves.

It doesn’t mean you broke something or need to start over.

Stick with your routine, stay as consistent as you can, and ride it out.

Here's we actually use (and repurchased for Baby #3):

These are the things that have consistently helped us across all three kids:

Nothing fancy—just things that actually made a difference for us.

If you want something a little more step-by-step that you can actually reference during the day (or at 3am), I put everything into a simple guide you can save.