If you are in a sleep emergency and your toddler doesn't breastfeed, ask another loving adult to take over for a couple of nights (at least)

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.

If you are the primary carer of a toddler, and you find yourself in a sleep emergency, have another loving adult take over in the nights, if you possibly can. Then you – as the primary carer – would need to sleep in a quiet place, perhaps with earplugs in so that you cannot hear the toddler.

Your small person probably won't like changes in the night, telling you this with crying and screaming. However, you might have now decided it is time to teach your toddler something new in the night - that night time love comes from someone else, too. You may be surprised at how quickly your little one adapts to her other parent or loving adult, who will still be cuddling and soothing and singing your toddler back to sleep.

Regardless of who does night wakes going forward at night, it’s still important to deal with the underlying problems that have resulted in your toddler waking excessively at night in the first place. This means working through The Possums Toddler Sleep Program over the next couple of weeks.

If you have a toddler and you have been using the bottle in the night, this may not be the time to wean from the bottle. We don’t want to add to your family’s challenges right now. But it is certainly a time, if you possibly can, to have another loving adult take over for at least a few nights and hopefully more, while you experiment with this program.

It's also a time to focus on workability, not perfection.