Princess Peach has been a pretty great sleeper since she was born. I’ve shared this before but when I was pregnant I said that I would never and could never co-sleep with my baby or child. I was adamant. Well, once she arrived and I was desperate for sleep I made a few accommodations. For the first 2.5 months of her life, Princess Peach slept in our room. Most nights she slept on my chest, on The Hubster’s chest or in my arms between us in bed. Then we moved her to her room around 2.5 months old. She slept SO well in her crib. No sleep training. Nothing. We had our bedtime routine and she just went down in her crib and slept. We were SPOILED. I knew that but relished in my sleep and my quiet evenings.
Then Princess Peach was hospitalized with a virus and UTI at the same time. Our nights of sleep were suddenly gone. It wasn’t that Princess Peach wasn’t sleeping it was that she was no longer sleeping in her crib the entire night. Some nights she would fall asleep in her crib and then wake up screaming in the middle of the night. Others she would refuse to go into her crib. No matter what we did the only thing that would calm her down and get her to sleep asap was bringing her into our bed. The Hubster and I love our sleep so that’s what we did. When she would get into our bed she would fall asleep so we just let it be. Obviously, there were stretches of time when she would go to sleep and stay asleep in her crib. Sometimes it would last a few nights and others one or two weeks. We had to have Princess Peach free times right? Otherwise I probably would have never gotten pregnant again 🙂
Talk about being pregnant and having your toddler in bed with you. BAD IDEA!! When I started sleeping with my pregnancy pillow, Princess Peach thought it was hers and would often fight me for it and steal it in her sleep. Most nights she would want to snuggle right into my arms which was very hard with the huge belly I was sporting. There were nights where I was kicked and/or punched and some when I had to wake The Hubster up to help me reposition her as she was pushing me off the bed!
I thought about moving her to a “big girl” bed and many people warned me that I would regret it and that I should keep her in her crib as long as possible. Well, what happens if you can’t get your kid into their crib to begin with? So we started talking to her about sleeping in a “big girl” bed and that now that her brother was coming she was a big girl and didn’t need to sleep in a crib anymore.
Three weeks ago my parents took Princess Peach away for the weekend for a grandparent trip. She would be sleeping in a “big girl” bed where they were going so I made the decision that upon her return she would now sleep in her own “big girl” bed. We set up a the mattress on bedroom floor, made her bed, put some of her stuffies on it and put a present on her pillow. When she arrived home from her weekend away she seemed so excited about her new bed. We lay on it, opened her gift, and talked about what a big girl she was. Then came bedtime. We closed our bedroom door and when she realized that bedtime now meant her “big girl” bed she lost it. She cried. Screamed. Clung to our bedroom door handle. Gagged and almost vomited. But I stuck to my guns. I sat on her bed with her milk, and some books trying to entice her to join me. For those of you who are wondering, The Hubster can’t deal with this stuff and would give in so he was hiding elsewhere in the house with Little Dude. Eventually, when she freak out seemed to be stopping, I went and picked her up and she joined me in her bed. She calmed down. We read some books, sang some songs and talked about her weekend. It was a success. I was even able to leave her room and not have to sleep there with her. She’s been amazing ever since. She goes into her bed and we have our bedtime routine which I really love. There is no battle. We read some books, sing some songs, talk about her day, I give her a kiss, I leave and then she rolls over and falls asleep.
Best of all, I love that I have my bed back. I love that I can spread out and not worry about a little person punching me.
Only problem is Little Dude. He’s our newest bedroom guest. He too loves to sleep on my chest or in my arms in bed…….hopefully we won’t be going down this road again.
How was your kids transition to their big kid bed?
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