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Toddler Bed Adventures



     My husband and I have decided that when we do have another child, we are going to put the girls in a room together with a bunk bed.  I figured it was a good time to start getting Lilly used to sleeping on a regular bed, and not in her crib.  Ashley figured out how to get out of her crib when she just turned 2, so it's bound to happen with Lilly soon anyways.   With Ashley, though, she had been in daycare, and was used to sleeping on cots.  Although she still enjoyed the fact that she was able to get up and play in her room, she was able to get the concept of not getting up, pretty quick.



Melissa and Doug

     Since we were just looking for an interim bed, I went to the FB online yardsale sites to find a used one.  I was able to pick up a cheap one for $20 bucks!  When I brought it home, Lilly was really excited and loved playing in it.  She seemed really excited about it!

     I waited to start the new nap routine on Monday (night times were still going to be in her crib for now).  First we did our usual Baby Einstein time, and watched about 10-15 minutes of her video. This usually calms her down, and she knows that sleep time will follow.  When I turned off her show, I got her cozy in her bed, sang a couple of songs, told her "Nite Nite" and closed the door.   The second the door clicked closed, I heard her get out of her bed!  I tried putting her back into bed, only saying "Nite Nite", and leaving the room, over and over again.  This went on for about 15 minutes.  She just was not understanding that she had to stay in her  bed.  I mean, why would she want to, when she has all her toys sitting there right?

     Finally, I decided to go back to my tactics of my daycare days.  I sat next to her, patted her back, and turned my head away so she couldn't make eye contact.  After about 15 minutes, of readjusting her, laying her back down, and patting her, she eventually sucummbed and fell alseep!

     For 1 hour.

     Normally, she sleeps close to 2 hours, if not more.  It was only an hour, but I tried looking on the positive side, it was better than 20 minutes!



     Of course, with the shortened nap, that night she became fussy pretty early.  I moved her mattress back to her crib and put all her blankets and stuffed animals in as well.  Putting her to bed was a little more challenging than normally.  Of course, now she didn't want to go in the baby bed, she wanted the big girl bed!  She cried for a while, continuing to point at the toddler bed.  I told her that sleeping in the big girl bed is only for nap time for now. Once she learns to stay in there for the whole nap, then I'll start training her to sleep in it at night.  Currently, she sleeps 12 hours at night.  I don't want to mess that up!  I know she wakes up every now and again when she sleeps, and I'm sure if she was in the toddler bed, she'd get her cute little butt up and start playing.  I enjoy my full night of sleep and am only willing to tackle one challenge at a time!

     Wish me luck!

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