I said that once we had a bit more time under our belts I would provide an update on how the transition from crib to big boy bed went for Sawyer and since it has now been a little over a month I thought that this was as good a time as any.
Let me start by saying two things- one, I am so, so happy that we decided to do this before baby girl came and two, this was much more difficult then any sleep training we did when Sawyer was younger. The first night was hard but honestly the whole first week was hard. I had read quite a few different articles, methods, and tips and based on all of the reading decided to place pool noodles under the sheets in his big boy bed (a full size mattress) so that they could help provide a bummer of sorts and help him from rolling/falling out of bed. We also kept his bedtime routine the same except that we started reading to him before rocking him to sleep each night, which wasn't something we were doing before. Once the routine was completed we left the room, closed the door and then one of us would sit outside of his room and hold the door handle shut in case he tried to come out. After long durations of crying and fussing he would finally give up and fall asleep but that took a couple of hours for the first couple of nights. After a couple of nights doing this we wised up and started putting one of our dining chairs under the door handle which enabled us to not have to be right there and kept him in his room. The first couple of nights Sawyer would fall asleep on the floor in front of his door so we would have to go into his room through the other door (the kids rooms share a jack and jill bathroom) and then put him in bed and then remove the chair from in front of the door before heading to bed ourselves. The first couple of mornings he was getting up a tad bit earlier but nothing major. For each of his naps the first week he fell asleep in front of his door.
Sometimes I would go in and move him to his bed and others I would just let him sleep in front of the door for his entire nap. Finally after about a week he started waking up much earlier (4:30 or 5 AM a couple days) and coming out of his room to come and find us or play with his toys so I called our peds office and asked what we should do. She suggested that we keep the chair in front of the door all night long and only remove it when we came to get him in the morning at a time we deemed his wake up time. This has worked miracles and he is back to sleeping til 6:30 or 7 AM after going to bed the night before around 7:30 PM. Therefore I'm happy because I am as well rested as a pregnant woman can possibly be and Sawyer is happy because he isn't up way to early.
I also mentioned that I am so happy that we did this before baby girl arrived and here is why. Sleep training is hard period and I can't imagine having tried to sleep train a toddler while also trying to establish a routine for a newborn. One thing at a time seems to work well for us! Once baby girl arrives and we have her routine established, I plan on starting the potty training process. From the sounds of things, that may be even more difficult then all of our sleep training attempts combined!
Thanks so much for stopping by!
XO,
Bailey
