Independent sleep
Betsy of Fluffy Windover's Diary discusses the continuing struggles of trying to get Edwin to sleep "independently" in this week's Toddler Thursday:
We moved Edwin to a toddler bed a couple months ago, and the transition has been a bit shaky (OK, it’s been a disaster). The first few nights were fine, but once he discovered that he could get up out of bed as he pleased, he did just that. And often. We found ourselves putting him back in bed 10, 15 times a night. Some nights he would request that one of us sit in the chair in his room until he fell asleep.
All of this nonsense was really getting in the way of my TV watching plans, so I knew we had to figure out a solution. We turned all the lights off upstairs, closed the baby gate at the top of the stairs, went downstairs and hid out in the kitchen. He only got out of bed once, then realizing that it was dark and boring and lonely upstairs, he gave up and went to sleep. This routine worked for about 2 weeks.
Until last night. We did our usual nighttime routine, said goodnight and came downstairs. After about a half hour, my husband went up to check if Edwin was asleep. What he found was Edwin sitting on our bed with all the lights on, trying to put a DVD into my laptop. The kid had gotten up in the dark, fished a DVD from his shelf, gone into our room, turned on all the lights, opened up the laptop, and settled in for an evening of Baby Einstein. All while we sat downstairs eating ice cream. This is not really what I had in mind when I wanted to teach him "independent sleep."
Think it’s time to put up a baby gate in his room? Or would a straight jacket be better?
Comments
I think some serious baby-proofing is in order, no matter how you approach the independent sleep question!
Posted by: Dahlink | December 23, 2010 8:59 AM
I know the answer is different for every child and family, but if it were me and my son I think I would go through the trouble of putting the crib back together (or a pack n' play if the crib is no longer an option) and put it back in his room. Then I would start putting him down for all sleep (naps and nighttime) in the crib while telling him that big boys stay in their bed and if he can't do it then he needs to sleep in a bed that he can't get out of. (NOT a baby bed - that might cause shame.) Hopefully the motivation of wanting to get back to the big boy bed would change his mind about getting in and out of the bed. Try the crib for a day or two and them attempt the toddler bed again to see if he's made the decision to stay in the bed yet.
Posted by: Genelle | December 23, 2010 10:56 AM