On to something else!
Last week Sunday we made the big transition with Jackson from his crib into a toddler bed. Originally our plan was to get a toddler bed, set it up and let him get use to it being in his room and the idea of it. And then ease him into sleeping and napping in his new big boy bed since baby girl would be sleeping in the pack-n-play in our room for about the first 3 months. That seemed like a great plan when Jackson and this baby girl were going to have to share a room but now we are moving 12 days before my due date crazy I know! Between moving to a new house/apartment and having a baby within 2 weeks after we thought we should make those two transitions as easy as possible...hence transitioning into a big boy bed a month before the move.
Last Sunday we went to Ikea, picked out the cheapest toddler bed (ours was on clearance for $50), came home put it together and took down the crib. We were all in with this toddler bed...there was no going back on this decision!
The first night was a little rough and we ended up letting Jackson fall asleep in our arms on the couch and then laying him in his new bed. This was after an hour and a half of laying him down and him crawling out of bed just a giggling because he was so proud that he could get out of his bed all by himself.
The next couple days at nap time and bedtime were pretty much the same type of routine. Since the Man is gone at bed time during the week I was on my own with this bedtime battle. On Wednesday or Thursday I happened to have enough of this routine...I was frustrated and he would fall asleep in my arms, I would lay him down and with in 5 min he was back out of bed. Something needed to change! I needed to lay the smack down with him and get him out of this habit. So that is exactly what I did...it ended up taking almost 2 hours to get him to finally fall asleep on his own, in his own bed but it happened!!! There were a lot of tears and I had to take away his nuk until he agreed to lay down in his bed on his own.
The next night I decided on how our new bedtime routine was going to go:
- try and make sure he doesn't have his nuk for at least an hour before bedtime
- around 6:45 we start to pick up all of our toys in his bedroom and the living room
- after toys are picked up we change his diaper and put pj's on
- Jackson then gets to pick out a book or two to read
- we read his bedtime book/books
- spend a little time cuddling I'm not ready to give that part of bedtime up at all!
- I then tell/ask Jackson if he is ready to go to bed in his new big boy bed, almost every time he has answered with yes
- we then go into his room, he crawls in his bed and lays down, I cover him up, shut the door and leave
The first time I tried the "new" routine he got up 1 time and I took his nuk away until he layed back down in his bed. After that I have had no problems at bedtime...I think it almost is easier than when he was in a crib because now I don't have to carry him and reach over the crib rail to lay him down with this giant belly.
The real test was going to be putting him to bed on Saturday and Sunday because whenever the Man is home Jackson never goes to bed easy EVER! Saturday night I just did my same routine and basically left the Man out of it and Jack went down great. Sunday night the Man decided he wanted the bedtime cuddles and was going to give it a shot....it didn't go as smooth as it had been going for me. Jackson was totally testing the Man's authority and crawled out of his bed just a giggling and even went and grabbed a few toys which he's never done for me about 4 different times. I coached the Man on what worked for me, he did the same thing and almost an hour later Jackson was sound asleep in his bed.
Point: after a week I can honestly say that Jackson is sleeping in his big boy bed all on his own and the bedtime struggles are gone or at a very minimum!! WOOHOO! I really thought this was going to be a much more difficult task than it was...I hope it stays this way when we move into the new house/apartment.
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