Transitioning from CoSleeping to Toddler Bed Night 1

Hey all I'm back with this week long series. I'll try to get back to my regular posts afterwards but while I was researching sleep training this week, I realized there wasn't much information on transitioning toddlers from cosleeping to toddler beds. A lot of resources have younger infants or older children or cribs or twin beds. For my situation though, I only have a toddler bed and I'm not going to go out and buy a crib or twin bed when his toddler bed is perfectly fine. 

So the purpose of this series is to transition and sleep train an 18 month old toddler from cosleeping to sleeping in a toddler bed in the same room. Hopefully if someone searches those terms, they can find me and get some help. I am going about this is a way that works for us. I don't care about what research says or the books. This is me and my son and what works for us. 

I started by getting the bed ready. We put in an extra soft blanket in addition to his bedding set and gave him some comforting stuffed animals. Nothing crazy but just his favorites. In our case it was a late bubble puppy pillow, a talking Jake doll from Jake and the Neverland Pirate, a stuffed Cubby from the same show, and a soft Mickey Mouse dressed like a bunny (Easter gift from his memaw). This works because it gives him something to cuddle and get comfort from. Normally that role goes to me, but that is what this transition is about. 

At nap time yesterday I layed him in his bed with his drink and put on Frozen. This is the same routine we have for nap time in our bed, just in his. He layed down and watched it for awhile but wasn't interested in actually falling asleep. He stayed there for 20 minutes and then came and layed down with me. After he fell asleep, I put him back in his bed. The reason I did it this was was to get him comfortable with it. I don't want him to hate his bed and associate it with crying and loneliness. So I felt that the length of time he stayed in his bed was sufficient to get used to it and then I made sure the actually process of sleeping would be in the bed. Falling asleep in the bed will come later. 

That night I made sure he was tired and ready for bed. We don't have a specific bed time. I like for him to be asleep by 10 but some nights are better than others. I did our normal routine and got him his cup of milk, his Paci, and some books. I layed him in the bed, surrounded him with his loves, and gave him his milk. We read a couple books with me on the floor and him in the bed. He wasn't a fan of staying in the bed. He grabbed his blanket and took off for the living room many times. I let him explore and them brought him back to bed. At this point I put Frozen on again. It is his favorite movie.

Now I am not condoning TVs in bedrooms and having them on and blah blah blah. I know the studies, I know the tips of having no tv on, but that doesn't work for us. If we didn't have the tv on he would just go to another room where a family member had the tv on. So we have a rule, we watch his movie once and then it goes off or we put on music or the news. Most of the time he is asleep before the movie is over. Do what works for you. 

He did stay in his bed a little but kept getting up. That is the problem with toddler beds and not cribs. If he wants to wander, the only thing you can do to stop him is hold him down. That doesn't turn out well. We struggled like this for 30 minutes. Then he climbed up with me and cuddled for a minute or two. Just enough to relax him and get him sleepy. Then I put him in his bed and gave him his Paci and milk. An hour after we started the process of falling asleep, he finally succumbed to his dreams. On his own. In his own bed. Major stepping stone at that act alone. If he didn't sleep the night in his bed, I would have been happy at that anyways. 

I had trouble sleeping, I was worried he would cry and want me. So I stayed up most of the night. He cried for milk once and his Paci a few times. I did what I do every time while cosleeping and gave him his cup and Paci each time he wanted it. He would turn over and go back to sleep. Two times in the night he got up and climbed up in my bed. I cuddled with him, relished the love of my son, and then took him back to his bed. And he went back to sleep. Both times. And he slept pretty well for being without his momma. At 7 am he climbed into bed with me. I had the alarm. Set for 8 because he has therapy at 9, so I let him sleep with me for that last hour. 

It's been hard in the sleep department with him. It was my fault. He is my first son and for the first 6 months of his life, I was a single mom. So I held him when he wanted it and he slept with me and on me. So I contributed to his dependence of me, but that worked for us. My fiancé doesn't mind him sleeping in the bed. In was my decision to start this transition. We are trying for baby the second and it will be easier to have a baby with Raylan in his own bed. And with a new baby, I will do things differently. But with Ray, I am still learning. I still do it wrong and do it differently. But as long as he is happy and we both get some sleep out of the deal, I am happy with my decision. 

So that was night 1. I will follow this for a week and hopefully by the my little toddler terrorist will love sleeping in his big boy bed. 

Pray for us.