transition to a toddler bed…how to keep your little one in their own bed

Ayven and Woody

It finally happened, Ayven jumped out of his crib and I knew the days of letting him cry it out in the crib were over. My husband and I tried to explain to him that jumping out of the crib would hurt him and it wasn’t a good choice..but that didn’t work for us. We found him on the floor again the following week and now it became a safety issue so we decided to convert his crib into a bed.

For almost 3 months we let him sleep in his bed and around 4:00am he would roll into our room and we would let him sleep in our bed. WORST decision ever! He was sick at first so we gave in..then it became us becoming lazy to take him back to his own room. We finally came to the realization that what we were doing was not working. No one in the house was getting a good nights sleep. We tried a number of things and within 2 weeks we had him back in his room. Here are some of the tips/tricks that we used.

1. Every night spend a little time in their room with them. We read to Ayven every night. He gets to choose his book and right now he wants to read the same book twice which is perfectly okay. Hangin out in their room gives them a sense of comfort.

2. Don’t pat their back or put them to sleep. Tell them they have to go to sleep on their own like a big boy. Offer for them to sleep with a stuffed animal (or 9 in Ayven’s case), sleep with the lights on (and just turn them off after they fall asleep), sleep with music on or anything else. Give them choices so you can avoid the “No” answer from them.

3. When they wake up in the middle of the night, go in the room, don’t pat their back or lay with them. Just tell them mommy is right here and we have been giving Ayven a sticker for him to stay in his bed. Yes we do that in the middle of the night 🙂

4. One thing I have learned if they are in a mode where they can’t stop crying, don’t offer them the same items such as their favorite stuffed animal or blankie, offer something totally random and new. Last week Ayven slept with his spiderman sweatshirt..totally random but it worked!

5. Stay consistent just like sleep training. You let them in your room once, they will think they can do it every night.

6. Try a rewards system. See our Chores and Rewards Post.

7. We didn’t try this but you can put a gate up in their room. That way they cannot get out. We figured Ayven would be able to jump out but it has worked for other parents, so just another idea to try.

Remember there is no such thing as sleeping through the night forever. Kids have ups and downs and we just have to go with the flow but I know a few weeks straight of sleeping through the night feels like a lifetime of sleep 🙂

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *