Just a word to the wise…if you are thinking of moving your child from their crib to a toddler bed “just ’cause”, please, for the love of sleeping, don’t! Now, if they are potty training or climbing out of their crib like a little monkey, then yes, you need to move them. If you think “it’s time” for no other reason than you want to buy a new bed and sheet set for them, I would strongly and emphatically caution against it.
Unless you like getting woken up in the middle of the night.
I don’t.
I lost count last night, with the number of times baby girl was either standing or sleeping beside my bed. I think she had insomnia or something last night. She was quite the cranky pants this morning. The boy was moving around at some point, too, since he woke up in the guest bed.
What, did you think that you got to sleep all night long once they started sleeping through the night as an infant? Ha haaaaha HAAAA! Um….no, once they are let out of their prisons they are free to roam the night and wake you up. Not every night is that way, but I would say around 60%….hmmmm, well, maybe 75%. We have light sleepers in this house.
Right now the only way I foresee us being able to sleep all night long for multiple nights is to go on vacation…without them.
Really? My kids slept SO. MUCH. BETTER. when I moved them from their cribs to a big bed (they were 15 months old, each one. they could get out of the crib at that age). I think it was because they flipped and flopped around so much in their cribs, they kept knocking their heads or hanging their arms in the slats. Once they had space (they transitioned to a full-sized bed) they could wiggle to their hearts content and not wake themselves up!
Mine transitioned well but I didn’t move them until they were both right around two. And I put a baby gate at their door (I told them it was to keep the dog out of their room.) My 3yo wakes me when she needs to go potty but I do have a potty seat in her room.
I think we just have bad sleepers. Kai never has slept well, and Anya flops around so much. Normally she is our good sleeper so I really hope this isn’t a omen of things to come. Both their cribs converted to toddler beds so they had the little bed. Kai got his big bed in January, and it isn’t cushy enough apparently. What a Diva!
As for putting up a baby gate, I have thought about it. However, since we want them to use the big potty, that isn’t a good idea for us. We don’t have a little potty and I don’t like them since they are just too messy. They both can get on the big potty themselves…it’s just if they choose to be independent that moment or not. Usually in the middle of the night they opt to be helpless. 😉
Zoe’s staying in her crib as long as possible. She will be ready for a big girl bed before I’m ready for her to be ready!!!
hehehehehe
Sorry, that wasn’t nice of me. 😉
I’m right there with you. My oldest was such a good sleeper, until she graduated to her big girl bed. Then she was suddenly waking us up 2-3 times a night. I finally had to make her a “sleep chart.” When she slept through the night without waking mommy and daddy, she got a sticker. When the chart was full (this took a long time) she got a special treat. She’s 4 and I still tell her, “you sleep good tonight, and don’t wake up Mommy and Daddy.” Her 11 month old brother sleeps through the night just fine….for now.
Oh my, ye olde sleep dilemmas. I remember them well. With the Baby Angel it didn’t matter which bed she was in, the 2am transfer to Mum’s bed was a given. I feel somewhat guilty when I think of all the years she slept with me. Initially it started as a baby because we lived at Mum and Dad’s and I didn’t want her crying to wake them up as they were both working at the time. We perfected breast feeding lying down and that was the trap. Over the years we had spates where she would be in her own bed all night but more often than not she was in my bed in the morning. As a single mother and a working one at that I operated in survival mode. 2am, cry, pick up, put in bed with me…everyone goes to sleep and is able to function the next day. When she was about 3 she learned to make her own way to my bed then at about 6 we broke the habit. There was no defining moment, only one night she didn’t come in! Then we started counting days and realised it was no longer an issue. Then we moved to Australia. Unsettled, the midnight trip to my bed started again. We broke it again after a few months and then it became a routine after she’d been to visit dad. I would beat myself up about it and then I thought, oh well, if I meet her needs for security now perhaps she will be better off in the long run. When I met my husband to be of course things changed dramatically. Amazingly, instead of feeling resentful she simply accepted that there was no longer room for her and it has never been an issue since!! (3 years now)In fact I choke up when I think of it. She was so brilliant about it. So, however you’re dealing with those bed time issues, just make it work for all of you in a happy, relaxed, survival way and it will probably turn out ok in the end.
Then again I could be completely wrong!!!!!!
Well, we started out co-sleeping when I nursed the kiddos; however, once they got past that they were in their own beds. Kai is definitely the one we struggle with, but I know that they are only small once so we just deal with the up and downs. Eventually he finds a place he wants to sleep and stays there for the night. I just hope his sister doesn’t learn from him!
Kim, that sleep chart sounds like a good idea…we might have to try that!
I LOVE the crib! Nadia sleeps great in hers, and has ever since we moved her to her own room at about 6 months. She also plays great in there – for up to two hours before going to sleep at night! Once she’s in a bed, I know that’s all over. So I want to keep her in the crib as long as possible. But, Nadia is cery close to climbing out of the crib, so I’m afraid the switch is not far off. I am SO dreading it.
Mt SIL switched her daughter to a toddler bed last week “just cuz.” And now the baby’s not sleeping well and she wonders why. Hmmmm….