From a Crib to a Bed

The transition from Aedan sleeping in a crib to a big boy bed has gone so well…this time around.

You may remember a couple of months ago, I mentioned we switched Aedan’s crib to a toddler bed and he was doing really well? Um, well he did great for a week and then not so much. I think it may have been the fact that he was getting in his two year molars at the same time, but all of a sudden he would not stay in bed. He would keep coming out after bedtime and even after he would finally fall asleep, he would wake up and show up in our room at 2 am or other totally random times.

Then there where his naps. Aedan totally takes after Jon in the sleep department. He has always needed a good amount of sleep or he is just super cranky. At 2.5, he still sleeps about 12 hours at night and a good 3 hours for nap time. I have a feeling he will hold on to some form of a nap until he starts kindergarten.

So back when we switched him to a toddler bed, he started taking forever to go down for a nap and waking up early. Looking back I am sure most of that had to do with teething, but at the time I was still pretty sick so if I could rest during his nap time I would. I just didn’t have the energy to deal with him not napping. So after a few days of poor sleeping, we switched him back to a crib and he went back to his typical sleep patterns.

We knew we wanted him out of his crib before the baby comes (I know she will sleep in our room at night for the first few weeks, but I plan on having her nap in her room from the beginning). I also wanted to do the transition before he started preschool in September since I was planning on a couple of rough nights and nap times. I decided the best time would be when my parents brought down his new furniture.

This time around, I am feeling much better and just felt more ready to tackle the transition. And you know what? I think Aedan was more ready as well because he has done great. He was sick with a cold last week and he definitely had a harder time sleeping soundly, but he only gotten out of bed once (the first nap he took in the bed). At first he was taking a long time to fall asleep at night and he was waking up about 30 minutes early (7 instead of 7:30, which actually works out well since he has to get up at 7 when he starts preschool next month).

But after about 3 days, he went back to his normal sleep routine. We put him down around 8 and he is asleep by 8:30. I am guessing this is about how long he stayed up before, but I don’t know for sure since I didn’t usually turn our monitor on until I went to bed. He stays in bed and looks at books until he falls asleep each night. He also went back to waking up at his normal time of 7:30/8.

For naps, he is usually asleep within 5 minutes after I put him down. I read him a book, tell him good night and by the time I remember to turn the monitor on, he is asleep.

While we haven’t really needed it, I did order him a toddler clock this time around. I’m not sure it has made any difference, but it is a cute night light and he likes it. Basically the bunny is asleep until 7am and then again until 3:30pm, which are the minimum times I want him to stay in bed for the mornings and naps. I point out that the bunny is asleep when he goes down and tell him he can get out of bed when the bunny wakes up. He usually tries to scare the bunny awake once before I tuck him in (he is very into Monster’s Inc. right now, haha!).

Anyway, I am happy our transition has been a smooth one. I think he really loves having a bigger bed so that has helped. He likes to pretend to go to sleep several times a day. Now I can get working on the nursery!!

-Lauren-