Corbin, our second child, is due to be here in about 5 weeks. We have set up Michaela's new room but we have a slight problem. She has toys, a organized closet and a "big girl" bed-that she refuses to sleep in! I have tried to get her to take a nap in here but she cries and gets right back up. After every failed attempt, I wait about a week before I try again. 
I wanted Michaela to be in her room before Corbin arrived so she wouldn't feel like he was taking her room. That is clearly not going to happen. I would like to try to get her to at least take naps in here so she can work toward sleeping in her bed all night. Thankfully, he will sleep in the bassinet in our room for a few more months so I don't have to have this situation fixed this month.
Do you have any tips or suggestions on getting your little one to transition to the big bed? She is almost 20 months old right now.
Sleeping in the Big Girl Bed
Posted by Amanda
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 Responses to "Sleeping in the Big Girl Bed"
Sorry I don't have any ideas for you. I think JI was almost 3 before we put him in a big boy bed. I didn't want the fight. :)
Would she feel more comfortable if the bed was in her old room?
We did this in the same room but before we went to the bed, we switched Hannah to sleep in her pack n' play for awhile (it helped she was in this b/c of the move and we were in a new house altogether). At least this allowed her the ability to be in a new bed and she couldn't leave if she cried. If it is nap time, I let her cry until she falls asleep or until the time I set for her is up. Eventually, she gets the point it is time to sleep.
When we transitioned to her bed she kind of did this on her own, at least for naps. When it came time to sleep at night we went through a REALLY rough time for some time that to A LOT of resolve. The challenge is that they are not trapped inside of a crib/pn'play that they can't escape and have to learn to fall asleep without you when it is dark. We extended our routine of teeth, jammies, and 3-4 books, prayer, and 1 song and tried to have the lights out at the same time. After the SET routine was done, I left the room. At first, when she got up out of bed (which was not allowed) I disciplined her. After a bit, I realized that it was me she wanted back inside her room. So, I eventually settled on leaving the room and not coming back in unless something was REALLY REALLY wrong. We had to turn her diapers around because she would take them off in protest. We even turned around her doorknob to have it locked from the outside so she wouldn't get out of her room b/c she figured out how to turn them (we unlocked them once she fell asleep). It took a lot of resolve because she was mad. But, she knew where to sleep, and it wasn't too much to ask of her at that age, we felt. I am happy to say we feel like we are through a very rough time and she goes to bed very well now. If she does cry, it's like for 1-3 minutes and she always goes right back to bed. Just remember to dress her warmly because she probably won't get the covers on her as of now.
Well, that's what we did. Hope it helps. If I were in the same position, I would probably want to fight it out now rather than when you have a newborn that just fell asleep ;)
Thank you for these ideas! I think we are going to start putting the pack-n-play in her room so she can get used to the idea of sleeping in there. I'll let you know if that works.
I hope that was helpful to you and not overwhelming. I want to emphasize what a STRUGGLE it was and I thought I was going to completely give up at one point. BUT, I knew that if I did, she would feel like she was the one in control of me and I did NOT want that happening! I thought the struggle would last forever, but thankfully, it was only a phase for about 3 months and intense for about 1 (I can't even remember). However, that is the longest a new routine has taken for her as it is usually around 3 days for something smaller. So, maybe that will give you hope ;) Glad to have you blogging again! I can't wait to see those new baby pictures!
Post a Comment