I'm going to start this post off by admitting that I'm very type A and all of the different phases and transitions that Shelby has gone through and will continue to give me great anxiety.
I'm one of those people who has a goal, comes up with a plan, and generally it works.
When it doesn't?
I get super frustrated.
So, probably another reason for us to stick to having one child.
LOL!
In all seriousness though, it's the truth.
I was a mess about having Shelby sleep out of the rock n' sleeper and in a crib because I wanted her to sleep perfect and not be awake all night.
We figured that out quick and it was fine.
Then it was the swaddle. We both were anxious about that one because it was working, but discovered we held on to it too long at 4 1/2 months.
She was awesome once we got her out of it. She actually slept better never waking during the 12-hour period.
She's been great about sleep until the last month or so.
She escaped from her crib one morning which scared us all because I worried about her breaking a bone.
Then, she was waking up around 3am or 4am, and not wanting to go back to sleep.
We checked on her, rocked her, even made the BIG mistake of bringing her to our bed where she thought it was playtime.
That's when we decided to let her cry it out.
I knew it was time for a big girl bed right around Thanksgiving but really wanted to get through the holidays to do it so this week was it!
My parents kept her at my cousin's here in town on New Year's Eve and New Year's night.
It was perfect for us to not only tear down all of our Christmas decorations, but also transition her room to a toddler friendly place along with making it super special.
When she came home there was a BIG reveal!!
We converted the crib into a toddler bed, and had her babies under the covers, bunting up with her name on it, and even Minnie Mouse was in her bed under the covers.
Remember the Christmas tree in her room?
Well, as I had planned, I transitioned it into a Mardi Gras tree.
This was the first time she had seen the change.
I even had her a little gift(Mardi Gras stuff..shirts, tiara, etc) that I gave her to really play up the event of moving to a big girl bed.
She was surprised!!
She at one point made the comment 'bed broken'.
My Mom explained to her that this was a big girl bed.
(Brad was at work)
Then we took her shoes off and she got under the covers and told me to 'go away'.
By this point it was almost 3pm and she had not napped all day.
So, I changed her clothes and proceeded to get her to take a nap.
It was tough.
She wasn't wanting to do it, got mad because she was exhausted, got mean, and finally I let her cry it out and she gave in and went to sleep.
I might mention that we bought the plastic cover for the doorknob so she couldn't get out.
Judge me if you want...
That night she slept 12 1/2 hours straight without getting up or anything.
In fact, she was reading books in bed when I went in the next morning!!
We were thrilled to say the least and SO PROUD!!
But, I knew not to count our blessings too soon....
Last night was TERRIBLE!
She went to bed at 7:30pm and was up at 4:30am.
The plastic cover??
Uh, she figured that out and was in the hall when I opened the door.
FAIL.
I took her back in, changed her diaper and put her back in bed.
She went nuts!
After about 10minutes Brad went in and put her in bed, she went nuts and that scenario went on 3 different times with him.
She finally went to sleep until 5:30am.
It all started again.
I decided to let her cry it out thinking that would work.
NOPE!
I finally went in around 6:15am and put her in the bed over and over again without talking or making eye contact.
She FINALLY went to sleep until 7:30am.
WHEW!
I was exhausted today.
She napped for 30minutes today in there and finally when I went in she was stark naked with her diaper off.
GEESH.
We'll see how tonight rolls........
Stayed tuned and if you have any suggestions let me know.
This sounds like what happened with Trent minus the good first night. He instantly would jump out of bed and come in our room as soon as we'd left. The first night we went through the putting him back in bed routine until 11:00 PM when I finally took apart his door knob and ours and switched them so that I could put a lock on the outside of his door and locked him in. {We had also tried the plastic knob covers and he ripped that off in 2 seconds flat.} Judge away but that was the only thing that worked. It was far from perfect because at first he lost his freaking mind when he realized he was locked in there, but pretty quickly he would get up, try the door, find it locked, and get back in bed. My sister had to do the same thing with my nephew, but I think if you can stick with consistency what would be better would be to just keep with the no eye contact and putting her back in bed over and over {and over} again. It might take a few days {and hours each night} but eventually she will realize you mean business and there's nothing for her to gain by getting out of bed/her room. I also feel you about having anxiety about transitions - it's so hard! You'll get there, I promise! {And now you know why I plan to keep Drew in her crib until she's 16! Ha!}
ReplyDeleteWait, so you are telling me that I'm going to have to cry it out at multiple stages of life?? Ahhhh! Also, we totally waited too long to move Jack out of the rock n play because it was working, he was sleeping. When I tried to move him to the crib he wasn't having it, was totally addicted to the rock n play! I had visions of a teenager with arms and legs hanging over the side of that thingM the first night he stayed in the crib all night I quickly packed he rock n play away, never to be seen against! Lol
ReplyDeleteI LOVE Shelby's Mardi Gras tree and gift! Her room is so beautiful. I had to laugh to the subliminal message to sleep by having her toys under the covers!
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