Today I am looking for advice, stories, or opinions on an important matter.
Sleep.
Michael seems like he is either manipulating Josh and me OR he is just ready for a "big boy bed".
I'll tell you the story and then you can comment or vote. (When I get a chance I'm going to us the poll feature that is offered by Blogger.)
A few posts ago, I mentioned that M. likes to take naps in our bed. (By himself, of course...though I do wish I were napping with him daily...) He really seems to enjoy this, he goes to sleep without a peep or an attempt to get up. He never asks me to lay with him, nor do I offer that option.
While we were at the beach, he decided that he wanted to go to bed (for the night) in our bed. Naps, for whatever reason, he was fine with in the pack n play. But when he was put down in the pnp at night, especially when it was dark, he'd freak out? We're talking sad, baby, crocodile tears that break your heart. He did this again last night, here at home; but went to sleep just fine in his crib Saturday night? Once he went to sleep, Josh and I would slip him back into the pnp or the crib, without a peep.
He's been going to bed a little bit later than usual, in that his room is dark, when we lay him down. Which, makes me wonder if he's scared(?) because he can't see his surroundings the way he can in a regular bed. Or, is he just much more comfortable sleeping in a regular bed? Or, is he trying in some way to manipulate us ???
What'd ya think???
Get the little sugar a bed, already? (With a pillow-top mattress and a Brookstone pillow, of course!)
Or, get over it and let him begin his nightly slumber in our bed? That just doesn't seem like a good habit to me, for some reason...
Comment away...or Vote (upper right corner, above the blog links...) FYI: Voting is anonymous, and commenting can be...
To Winter
5 years ago
Posts
5 comments:
I totally think he is ready for a big boy bed...maybe if you make a big deal out of it and let him pick one, he will be totally happy and can start his night there. Does he have a night light in his room? I think if you start letting him fall asleep in your bed you might start some problems that would be hard to break.
This is a tough stage, we had to put a door block on the inside of L's room so she couldn't get out, we made her just call us if she needs us and then we went in there. I just wanted her to be safe.
Good luck with this next stage is MB's life...I'm sure whatever you and J come up with will work great!! He's such a cutie pie. :)
~Melis
oh..p.s. I love the little poll thing...it's so cool. I might have to copy you YET again. :)
Hey Katie
I think a couple things may be going on -- but I have a few questions. Did you share a room with mB? During nap time, he was probably exhausted and would sleep anywhere and if he cried, you could have just left him to cry it out -- but if you share a room at night, that is harder - and he had you in a tougher position. In addition, it was scarier sleeping in a strange place in a crib. You wake up in the middle of the night or in the morning and he probably didn't know where he was.
I definitely wouldn't want to start the habit of letting him sleep in your bed, because it can be a really hard habit to break.
I would put a night light in his room and think about a big boy bed. Our boys were in a big boy bed with gates on the side of the bed (so they can't fall out) at this age. Michael probably stayed in the crib longer, because he liked it -- but by the age of two, the rest of the boys moved into a bed. I did have to spend the first two weeks hovering outside their room after I put them to bed to reinforce that they can't get out of bed, they could only call us if they needed something. I also put a gate at the top of the stairs.
But the reinforcement issue is critical, or you get little ones running out of bed dozens of times -- I have seen kids do it!
Give MB kisses for me!love,karen
Thank you, Karen!
I was wondering about what you and Rob did with your little guys.
We put him in the guest bed last night. I talked to him about the "big boy bed" all day on Monday, just so that I could get him in the mind set of sleeping in a bed.
And, it worked out just fine! He was very happy when Josh and I put him down last night and he went right to sleep. The same thing happened for his nap and going to bed this evening. No problems.
I do agree with you about the not getting out bed reinforcement. Did you just talk the boys about it and monitor them closely? I got the bed rail today and put the bed along the wall last evening. I hope this sticks! He seems much more comfortable...
Eventually, he is going to figure out that he can get out of the bed, which is why I hung around at outside the boys' room for a week or two, to be there the first time they figured out that they had more freedom. I was there to scoop them up and gently admonish them that they were not allowed out of bed -- they had to call me to come if they had a problem. If you can nip it in the bud -- the first few times they try it -- it seems to work better.
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