If I had it my way, I’d still cosleep, but since daddy keeps complaining and friends and family make comments about how I need to get her out of our bed or it’ll only get harder, I figured I’d give transitioning a try with our 15-month-old.
Since she’s too tall for her crib, I decided to order these foam bed bumpers for our old queen bed that’s currently in our daughter’s room so that I know she’s safe from falling off of the bed. They came all rolled up like a sleeping bag in a box. I unrolled them and let them expand to their intended shape for a couple of hours.
After they fluffed up, I stuck them under the sheets and showed her her new bed.
She loved the security feeling of the padded bumpers. She was so excited and happy to be in her new big bed.
So 9 pm rolls around and I breastfed her in her room, but she was too amped up to sleep and wouldn’t settle down until around 11:30 which I then had to give the feeding another try. This time she was tired and decided to stop fighting it, so after she passed out, I put her in her bed and I quietly turned on the baby monitor and went to bed in my own bed with my husband.
I was too worried to sleep though, not knowing if these bumpers would actually work since she often wakes up every 2 hours with us and sits up and falls back asleep in a random position and spot on the bed. I figured she’d sit up, and then plop over the side and onto the floor. luckily it isn’t a huge fall since we don’t have the box spring and mattress on a frame ATM, but still.
I’m waking up every 30 minutes to an hour and glancing over at the baby monitor and she’ll be in a different position a couple times, but she did not fully wake or make one peep until morning, and I had the monitor on full blast so I could hear the slightest sounds over our AC.
I was amazed because she had constantly been waking me up every 2-6 hours to breastfeed since birth besides the occasional few times of sleeping through the night.
Overall…
Getting her into her own bed to sleep was not difficult, as every kid and situation is different. The difficult task for us is going to be weaning, which I’ll try to do around the age of 2 since she’s showing no signs of giving it up yet.
Either way, this is what works for us and has been successful the past 4 nights. I’m thankful it’s been easy, now I can catch up on some much-needed sleep!
UPDATE:
Now that she’s a toddler and weaned from the breast, we lay down with her in her bed until she falls asleep. I don’t like sleeping by myself either, so this is what we do and has actually worked well with our child.
When did you transition your child to their own bed?
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Great great tips for any parents who have let their kids sleep in the bed with them. We never did the co-sleeping thing, but we had a couple of parent friends who did, and the transition was bumpy to say the least.
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This was a tough one for us. My youngest was in our bed till he was 4 years old.
I recently did a segment on life hacks on my local news and I am happy to report that using a pool noodle as a bumper is a great way to help a kid transition to a big bed. Worked for my two boys with zero issues!
I don’t have kids yet, but I can imagine that it would be hard to make that transition!
These are great tips! I was pretty lucky. My kids spent most time in their own beds! My DD4 has recently taken to sleeping in my bed to fall asleep then transfer to her own bed! I love the snuggling!
Our son slept with us until he was seven years old. I know! 🙂 It was a struggle, but glad it’s now over.
Great tips! My kids are 11, 9 and 6 and they still sneak in my bed in the morning. I dont mind to much as i know it wont last forever
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These are great tips for making the transition. My kids did not want to go into their own beds. It took us months.
My kids never slept in bed with me but my daughter let her son for a few months. She really got a lot of criticism for it too which was annoying since it was what she felt was best for her and the baby.
I’m glad that you had an easy time transitioning your daughter to sleeping in her own bed. Hopefully you are all getting a better night’s sleep now.
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My first son who is now four only slept with us if he woke up in the middle of the night or if we had to be somewhere early to be and needed him to settle down. My second son who is now 2 had only been in our bed when he has been sick or not feeling well. He has just always been fine sleeping on his own.
Oh I have been here. It was bitter sweet and somewhat freeing to get our bed back.
Bumpers are a great idea. Our boys all went into big boy beds pretty smoothly, but the youngest is a very active sleeper, we had to build side rails on his bed to keep him in.
Oh gosh… my kids often move into our bed in the middle of the night. We’re still working on it
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I’m glad to hear your transition is going smoothly. I could never cosleep. I didn’t get good sleep. But I know it is helpful for some, just difficult to transition when they need to grow out of it.
My daughter is starting to get too tall for her crib. I’m worried she will try to climb out of it at night lol
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These are great tips! I can imagine how hard it is getting babies to sleep on their own!
These are great advice! I can visualize how tough it is getting babies to nap on their own. Thanks a lot.
Letting our babies to sleep on their own is a big idea. It is their stepping stone as they are growing faster.