We decided it was time to move Madelyn into a big girl bed for two reasons:
1. We wanted to make the transition well before our move so we were not combining two major events at once.
2. We wanted to get rid of the pacifier that she still used when sleeping and in theory, it seemed like a good idea to do it all at once.
We made the switch shortly after Darryl got home. He assembled her toddler bed, we set it up with her special blankets, "M" pillow, water bottle, and books. She seemed really excited about the whole thing, and having a big sister talk it up helped too.
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| Excited about being a big girl! |
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| Trying it out! |
The first few nights went okay, she only asked for the pacifier once and was fine when we explained that she is a big girl now and the pacifiers and crib went to some babies. She was falling out of bed in the middle of the night, but luckily after putting her back in bed she fell right asleep. Here she is fast asleep:
A quick fix with a pool noodle under her sheets, and I thought we were good to go. Ha! The honeymoon period was over quickly and things started getting a little crazy. As soon as we'd mention it getting close to bedtime, Madelyn would start saying "no." By the time we got back to her room, she was screaming, flailing her little body around, and refusing to get in bed. Oh boy. We tried letting her cry it out, but hearing my baby crying for me in her room was just more than I could take. The first night I went back in, calmed her down by rocking her a little, then tried again. Backfire! Now she was completely ballistic and Darryl and I are looking at each other like, "whose kid is this?" We never had these issues with Zoe and quite honestly, we weren't really sure what to do with this little girl. That first night she finally fell asleep on Darryl's chest but we knew of course that was not a habit to start.
So here comes night #2- I am already feeling axious not knowing what to expect, but I am also exhausted emotionally and physically (did I mention that she was also not sleeping for naps?!) So after 40 minutes of crying it out, there was silence from the room. Although it was technically a success, we laid in bed that night and talked about how sad it was to end our days with Maddie crying herself to sleep.
For about 4 days this went on- screaming at bedtime and naptime, waking up in the morning crying, waking up from naps crying, seriously, all this poor kid was doing all day long was crying. It was too much for my heart to take, something had to give!
After racking our brains with techniques, ideas, causes, etc, we tried offering to leave her door open. (the only reason we close it is because the house is one story and we don't want to wake her up.) She seemed happy with this option and we explained that she had to stay in her bed and not cry, and we would leave her door open.
Waalaa- it worked!! Not perfectly, of course. It has been a process involving tears, doors being closed and reopened, a little person being walked back to their bed in tears, and a suprise visitor in our room. But, I am proud to say we have stayed strong and consistent and it is paying off. I am probably jinxing myself by typing this, but I think we have fought and won this battle.
And the reason I took the time to journal all this? Because someday we will be dealing with much bigger problems like dating, driving, and curfews, and we will be able to look back and think "Wow, remember when our biggest problems were getting her to sleep in a big girl bed. Don't you wish she were only 2 years old again."
Madelyn- you challenge us every day, but we love every minute of you!
