kids and big beds/sleep issues

egpitt22

Since it's slow, maybe someone can give some input here.  For the past few weeks, Liam has been waking up even earlier than usual (as in, moving from a 5:15/5:30 regular wake up time to, oh....4:30 or so...yesterday it was 3am!)  Now, the only good thing about it is that most of the time, I can put him in bed with us and he will fall back asleep in there.  we did this the first few times he got up that early just thinking it was a fluke, but now I think we've created a monster and he's probably waking at that time with the expectation of coming into our bed.

On a related note, he's also started complaining about his crib, and saying he's the only one in the "famiwy" without a big boy bed. He's 2.5...we didn't move Jake into a bed until he was a little over 3, and he was sleeping fine in the crib.  so I guess my question is, do you think that it will help our little sleep situation to move him to a bed, or just make it worse?  anyone have experience with this?  or any other suggestions?  I'm all ears. 

Oh and I also want to potty train him over Christmas break (he goes a few times a day on the potty, we just need to bite the bullet), so that's a factor, too. 

amyjoy18

From the time he was 5 months old Nolan was a horrible sleeper.  Waking up multiple times, then when he got older insisting on coming to our bed.  Over the past 6 months putting him to bed was so hard too.  We had to lay on the floor next to his crib with our hand in the crib and then sneak out of the room after he was asleep.  He never seemed comfortable there. 

For his second birthday we got him a big boy bed.  He loves it.  And now sleeps through the night 85% of the time.  It is awesome.  We still lay with him a bit before bed, but we can leave when he is still awake and he will go to sleep on his own. 

MrsAmers

Switch him. What can it hurt? We changed Todd's crib to a toddler bed before his second birthday. His sleep was so bad that it couldn't make it worse and he slept so well at daycare we thought maybe he would like not being "contained".

Personally, I don't think that any sleep habit is "forever". We are now to the point where we can leave Todd's room a few minutes after tucking him in. For longest time we needed to stay until he was asleep. Now he's older and he doesn't need the same presence that he needed a year ago.

If you and B can get back to sleep, then let him come in your bed overnight. If now or later, his presence prevents you from sleeping, them work in getting him back in his bed. Todd's sleep has improved SO MUCH since he was a toddler that I'm a firm believer that no sleep pattern is permanent or needs to be "nipped in the bud" unless mom and dad are miserable.

HTH! :-)

egpitt22

Yeah, my original thinking was "let's just try it, what can it hurt?" then I realized maybe that was opening a can of worms...it could in theory get worse, haha!  but it might be worth a shot. 

The whole coming in the bed thing only bothers me because sometimes I can't get back to sleep, so instead of getting up at 5:15am, I'm up for the day at 4:30am.  not that 45 minutes is a huge chunk of time, but it's enough to make a difference. 

we may just have to suck it up and give it a try, especially if he continues to voice his displeasure at being the baby in the family, stuck in a crib!!

Meghan&Rich

I agree with the "give it a try" approach.  I am on board with any approach that gives mom and dad more sleep.  And ditto Amy on habits.

Garrett was always a good sleeper until this summer.  We tried the toddler bed and a few other things, but nothing seemed to work.  We ended up trying both boys sleeping in the same room, which as been amazing, because not only did it help Garrett's sleep, but Mason actually sleeps through the night in his bed now, which is somethign I never thought I would say!  ha!

AmandaJLewis

i am on team why not. EJ moved to a bed the spring after she turned two. it neither created or solved any of her sleep fun. But it made it easier to lay beside her in her own bed those times she did wake up

BethieB

We switched Ben to a big boy bed right around 2. I don't think it's going to hurt you at all! Good luck!

Amy - I'd love to hear how you broke Todd of having to be with him until he fell asleep. We're stuggling with this with Ben at 2.5 and it's h-e-double hockey sticks!

lala5507

 Every kids is different as I learned recently in my house. 

Oldest dd converted to a big bed just fine.  She wasn't sleeping very well in her toddler bed (just the crib converted).  I rthink it was because her crib mattress was shot.  I know it wasn't comfortable.  As soon as we got her a real bed with a real mattress, all the sleep problems went away.  I honestly think she was just uncomfortable with that crib mattress.  She was about 3.5 at that point. 

Now fast forward to our youngest.  She just turned 3 and we thought she could handle converting the bed.  She hated it.  She was so afraid of falling out that she would wake up screaming at all hours of the night.  She was inches off the ground but she was scared.  She also ransacked her room during nap time.  We decided to put her back in the crib until after Christmas when we can spend the money on a bed rail thingy.  We didn't use one with Isabella. 

I would give it a try and see what happens.  Let him know that if he want a big boy bed he has to act like a big boy and stay in the bed all night (or whatever your rules are). 

bride2003

egpitt22 said:

Since it's slow, maybe someone can give some input here.  For the past few weeks, Liam has been waking up even earlier than usual (as in, moving from a 5:15/5:30 regular wake up time to, oh....4:30 or so...yesterday it was 3am!)  Now, the only good thing about it is that most of the time, I can put him in bed with us and he will fall back asleep in there.  we did this the first few times he got up that early just thinking it was a fluke, but now I think we've created a monster and he's probably waking at that time with the expectation of coming into our bed.

we live with the same monster - Eamon has been waking 3-4am like clockwork, he comes in our bed & I'm the only one left awake. Occasionally he sleeps through but then screams so loud I think he'll wake the girls (never does) so I usually get him.

We have a bed waiting for him (twin regular bed) but he has not asked to sleep in it so I'm waiting until he's closer to 3.  I would say for Liam - try the bed and if he can understand say "ok but you have to stay in it all night vs sleeping with mom & dad" or something like that & see if it works. 

 

egpitt22

Sheila--they are in cahoots working against us!! 
>:P

And I have the same fear, that if I let him carry on in there he will end up waking Jake up...and if I think it's bad having 1 kid awake before 5am, I can't imagine the nightmare of having 2 of them awake!!  So I do let it go sometimes, but then he gets worked up.  I've also tried rocking him and putting him back in his crib, no dice....then by the time one of us does all of that, it's time to get up anyway.  ugh.  vicious cycle!

amyjoy18

egpitt22 said:

Sheila--they are in cahoots working against us!! 
>:P

And I have the same fear, that if I let him carry on in there he will end up waking Jake up...and if I think it's bad having 1 kid awake before 5am, I can't imagine the nightmare of having 2 of them awake!!  So I do let it go sometimes, but then he gets worked up.  I've also tried rocking him and putting him back in his crib, no dice....then by the time one of us does all of that, it's time to get up anyway.  ugh.  vicious cycle!

To us, the benefit of him being in a big bed when he wakes up is that if he does insist on coming to our bed (occasionally in the early morning) I can go to his bed to get some sleep while he is in my bed.  :-P

MrsAmers

BethieB said:

We switched Ben to a big boy bed right around 2. I don't think it's going to hurt you at all! Good luck!

Amy - I'd love to hear how you broke Todd of having to be with him until he fell asleep. We're stuggling with this with Ben at 2.5 and it's h-e-double hockey sticks!

We waited it out. We tried a number of things to solve it and it wasn't working. We took turns in his room and spent time on our phone while we were in there. It took anywhere from 30-90 minutes. The deal was that we would stay as long as he was quiet and we could look at our phones. If we were going to be trapped, we deserve to be entertained.

Sometime after he turned 3 1/2, we made a deal to stay for 20-30 minutes only. DH has traveled for work a bunch this year, so I've done many more solo bedtimes. Having to go back and forth between both kids showed me that T could finally stay in bed while I was in H's room... Which is what led us to shorten our time in there.

So the issue fixed itself by the time Todd turned 4 1/2. Just like his potty issues. Apparently it is a magical age!

BethieB

Thanks Amy! You give me hope with sleep issues, as ususal! I feel like we created a monster with Ben in that we have to lay with him. And we did the Ferber thing with him a few weeks ago and it was going fine until right before he got sick, then the bottom dropped out. it's been 2 weeks of crap at his bedtime. It causes a ton of stress and biquering between Dave and me.

MrsAmers

Once we accepted that we couldn't fix it, we mostly stopped bickering about it and being annoyed by it. Yes, it can be SUPER frustrating when you have other things to get done. But now that I don't have guaranteed iPhone time every other night, I have more trouble staying caught up on blogs. :-p

amyjoy18

MrsAmers said:

Once we accepted that we couldn't fix it, we mostly stopped bickering about it and being annoyed by it. Yes, it can be SUPER frustrating when you have other things to get done. But no that so don't have guaranteed iPhone time every other night, I have more trouble staying caught up on blogs. :-p

Ha!  When I layed on the floor with Nolan in his crib I used to sneak my phone where he couldn't see underneath the crib and play games or check out pinterest. 

lishie

Emmy, Michael had been sleeping with Jackson, and we're having the same issue with him waking in teh middle of the night and wanting to sleep with us. He won't go in his crib at all--he wants to be with either his brother or us. We suggested converting his crib and having him sleep in his own big bed, and he flipped.

Any chance Liam would sleep with Jake as a transition into his own big bed?

We're also hoping to hard core potty train since one of us will be home with the kids every day for 16 days, and I'm afraid, very afraid.

smynings_bride

We have started using a toddler clock called the stoplight sleep enhancing alarm clock and it has worked for the most part to help my daughter stay in her room until the green light comes on.  We have it turn green at 6:30 on weekdays and 7 on weekends.  She loves it and gets so excited when the light turns green.