Big Girl Bed

Well...today is Matilda's first nap starting in the big girl bed (atm a mattress on the ground next to her cot...) She's been climbing out of the cot and we don't have a bed yet, so I decided today I would put cot sheets on half the mattress & see how we go...

Ok for those who don't know Matilda's sleep history...she co-slept for the first 3 months and then she decided that she couldn't sleep if we were in the room with her. I was devestated & she fought sleep and screamed & I spent a lot of time crying and not able to settle her. Around 14 months she slept through the night for the first time & started getting easier to settle. We'd have one bad night & day sleep a week. Life was great!

Then around 16 months she started getting out of the cot at her family day care, and now she is completely able at 17 months to climb out of her cot & back in and back & forth very quickly. SOOO.... we have put a mattress down next to her cot while we wait for her 'big girl bed" to arrive.

Today I decided to do the mattress for the first sleep & I laid next to her patting her bottom while she drank her milk (we used to have a cuddle before sleep on the rocking chair, but with her climbing out we've had to remove all "fun" distractions LOL). And it took us 20 minutes of up & down and then she climbed into her cot & went to sleep.

I'm okay with that, she obviously feel comfortable in her cot, its just that for the first time in over a year, she's fallen asleep with me in the room next to her.

So, my question for you all is: What could a gentle transition be to the big girl bed?

Christy,

I haven't been through this yet, cos as you know, Olivia is nowhere near as acrobatic as Matilda!

BUT, reading your post reminded me of my SIL who gentrly transitioned my neice from cot to bed, and was worried about it also.

What they ended up doing was having, in her room, the cot and the big-girl bed (sort of at right-angles?). My neice then got to choose which bed she wanted to sleep in when it came to nap time sleeps. 9 times out of ten for the first few weeks she chose the cot, and on the days she chose the big-girl bed, my SIL found herself having to "sleep next to" her daughter to help her lull off to sleep.

This took about a month, with all the other sleeping cues (cuddles/story/music etc) and then apparently one day my neice just started going straight to the big-girl bed, and they got rid of the cot about a week later.

So it took a while, was a bit cramped, but the transition was made gradually with no upsets at all.

HTH Christy!

Thats a great idea Lucy, having both available and if she chooses the cot, so be it, if its the bed then she can have that... :D

Keep us posted on how you go on Christy.

Charlie is a big boy, as you saw the other day, and he is fast growing out of his hammock. And I want him to move into Olivia's cot, to save us buying another cot. SO Olivia will have to move into a big bed soon.........

Well last night was fantastic, I read some stories to her in the big girl bed & then I laid with her while she had the bottle....and then I fell asleep #-o but so did she... I woke up at 9pm when DH got home & we were both asleep...nice.

BUT today she is refusing to sleep...just jumping in & out of the cot & while I am in with her she jumps all over me (so I'm taking a 10 minute break & starting over...)

Well...still no sleep. I tried until 12.30pm again and then decided I would just let her go until she collapses.... but I think now I will just go to IKEA as was planned for after the nap & if she falls asleep in the car, hopefully it will be the way home!

She finally fell asleep at 1.30pm yesterday arvo & slept until 3.30, then we started settling her at night around 7pm and she fell asleep at 8.30pm... so it wasn't too good a day. Today DH tried for an hour & then I said to pick me up from work (I usually walk) and she fell asleep on the way home 8-[ oh well it worked LOL!

Did she sleep in the big bed when she finally went down yesterday Christy? Did she sleep in the big bed overnight?

Yep, we've had to take the cot out of her room now, because it became a safety issue with her. She was jumping in & out of it & landing on her head & neck & we decided it was too scary for us. So she now has her big girl bed & a mattress on the ground. Yesterday we also took everything out of her room. So she only has the bed & mattress & her wardrobe in there... She slept last night until 6am! YAY!

Well...we've had some ups & downs with the Big Girl Bed. We've taken everything out of the room and we have adjusted our nighttime routine and now day nap routine too. So... now when she starts showing tired signs we go into her room & lay on the bed & read 2 stories (sometimes she's jumping all around while I read them, but I close the door to her room & lay down so she understands its quiet time. Then if she is still energetic I will give her a cuddle & talk to her about our day & what we are going to do when she wakes up. Then I change her nappy, go and get her a drink & cuddle & let her drink her milk. Then I put her on her bed & say "Lay down sweetie have a good sleep" I then leave the room. Sometimes she's up for an hour or so up & down and I just keep getting her (when she opens the door only) and pop her back into bed with a kiss. She's done really well with this, no screaming yet only games. She thinks its really fun...but I hope she'll get the hang of it in a week or so. Last night DH put her to bed for the nighttime sleep & she didn't even get out of bed she was sooooo tired. BUT we really tired her out last night, kept her up until she was basically begging to go to sleep 8-[

I put my bub into a big bed at 15 months, she is a climber and at 23 months she climbs and swings of everything and anything she can find. I found putting her into a bed with a rail at 15 months it was the easiest thing, it wasn't even an issue, it was a lot harder with my first 2 kids. I took the rail off at about 19mths, because she thought it was fun to jump over the side of it, it was further to fell over the rail then off hte bed :shock: She did hit her head!

She has only fallen off the bed a couple off times lol

Mary 8-)

How is Matilda going with the big girl bed now Christy?

I wish I could say its been easy...but its been a nightmare. On average the first 2 1/2 weeks took 2 hours to settle her at night & around an hour during the day. She thinks its a game & even if she falls asleep in our arms, 10 minutes later she's jumped up & run to the door & opened it. The first week we tried being in the room with her, the second week it was super nanny style standing outside the door & just putting her straight back into bed and going back out side. Guess what she started doing after the 2nd day of that, she would open the door, giggle & go to kiss up & say "night night" and jump back into her bed. FOR 2 HOURS!!! ](*,)

So this week, Matilda's been sick and on meds for her temp and pain and she's gone to sleep much easier, we've given up on any particular "style" and just do what she wants, some nights she doesn't want us in the room (ie pushing us & screaming anytime we go near her) and some nights she wants a cuddle. But because she has been in a lot of pain and has had a low grade temp for 3 nights so far, we just let her dictate atm....