When will things get better

[funnyfarm]

My 21 month old daughter has just moved to a bed (still a mattress on the floor) (we are putting a bed in her room tomorrow and have bought her a new quilt cover set). She used to love her cot until on Friday when a blow fly was in her room and scared her and now she hates it for sleeping.

She has been taking about 20-30 minutes to get to sleep but i either have to be next to her lying down or sitting outside her door until she nods off. At the moment this isn't a huge problem, its just that we used to just put her to bed and walk out and she would go to sleep no problems. I am not used to this and was wondering if i will be doing it for ever or things get easier (as in tuck them in and say goodnight and they go to sleep, i know, it sounds too good to be true).

She is also waking about 2-3am in the morning and i have to lay down next to her to get her back off to sleep. Last night it took about 20 minutes before she fell back asleep.

Help. I am already feeling down about this whole moving to a bed process and am starting to dread her waking up at night and going to sleep. It used to be soo easy and now its not.

I have just found out that i am pregnant again and don't want her to get used to me sleeping beside her as i won't be able to do it in 9 months time.

How long before your children got the hang of things??

Janet.

[rynosmum]

Hi Janet,

Our bubs are the same age and we're looking at transitioning to a bed soon so I'm going to watch your thread very keenly.

Do you think she might be a bit happier when her bed is all set up ?

[funnyfarm]

Hope i can be of some help rynosmum. Not sure if the bed will make much difference. She is currently sleeping on her fold out wiggles lounge which she is very familiar with.

I am thinking that she was not fully ready for a bed and she was showing no signs of hating her cot but that damned fly scared her so she doesn't like her cot anymore ( i suppose she cannot get out of it with the sides up and she realised that she was stuck in there when the fly was buzzing around)

Have tried putting her back in her cot but she just cries hysterically until i move her to the floor.

[Chickadee]

I would love if Chloe fell asleep in 20 or 30 minutes. That would be heaven! Typically it takes 30 to 60 minutes with me either sitting at the door or laying down with her. And like your DD, she usually wakes once in the night but comes into our bed.

I think most kids have a wind-down period of some length after they're put in bed. I know for myself, I don't fall asleep the moment my head hits the pillow unless I'm exhausted (or when I was pregnant). So I keep telling myself it's normal for her too.

What I have started doing for some afternoon naps and bedtime is to not sit with her but just walk past her open door every few minutes. Sometimes it works, but DD has a tendency to play if left to herself so I often wind up having to go in and lay down with her at the end anyways. But at least it means I can be moving around and getting a few things done while she gets ready to sleep.

[Cupcake]

I just wanted to say I had a little giggle, it sounds kinda cute that a blow fly has scared her, poor little angel. My DD squeals and runs when she hears the gecko's!!
I hope that does not sound rude(me laughing at this) but children are such funny little monkeys :thumbsup:

Anyway back to the topic, where you going to change her to a bed this soon or is it that the fly has frightened her and she does not want to go back in her cot?
My friend changed her DD at 20mths and after a week of being consistent and firm her DD went back to sleeping like an angel.

All the best & let me tell you I am not looking forward to this transition either.

[funnyfarm]

Thanks for your replies MarthaM and Lillasmummy.

Today wasn't too bad and she is in a proper bed tonight. Hubby put sides on it so she doesn't fall out and i stuck butterfly and flower pictures on it to match her quilt cover. She was very excited when she seen it being put into her room but was a bit upset when we went to move her cot out so we left it in her room aswell. will probably fill it with her stuffed toys for her to play with for a while.

She seemed relatively comfortable with her cot before the fly episode. She probably would have been in it for a while to come.

Is she too young for a bedtime story to winddown????? What age do most kids like bedtime stories.

Thanks again and keep the replies coming.

Janet.

[draught]

She is not too young for a story at bedtime. Bed time stories have been part of our routine since the girls were about 8 or 9 months. As they get older the only thing to be aware of is the really looooong story that delays bedtime. It is a lovely part of sitting on the new bed, reading to them then tucking them in. I would highly recommend it!

[melbryan]

My son is also 21 mths and has moved from a cot to a bed at 18mths ( I was dreading it). I am also pregnant and due in august so it was now or never.
We had a big bed then bought some wiggle bed linen which he loves. The first few nights he screamed he always hated being left to put himself to sleep but they learn to do this if they are forced. I would let him cry for 40 minutes if you can't handle this maybe go into another room and turn the TV up. I had to do this many times. It is so hard to listen to your child cry. I would try to put him to sleep at 7pm like my friends he would scream for an hour so I kept him up to 8-8.15pm he fell asleep much quicker ( i still hear him bashing around but that is Ok as long as he his not working himself up into a state, when he does this I walk in the room place him in bed and speak firmly 'it's time for sleep I will see you in the morning, no crying, Good night!). I let him have his milk in the lounge with dim lights to get him to settle.
There were times I had to sleep next to him at 3am (not many about 6weeks old) but my husband had to go to work, I didn't want to get into this habit so we let him cry for 40min in the middle of the night we were buggered but after the 5th night he slept through. We now have to not regress and let him fall back into that pattern.
Tonight he went straight sleep no crying or banging on the door to come out we have a rule once you're in bed you have to stay in your room. When he wakes at 5am we feed him more food just before sleep which keeps him fuller for longer.


PM if you want, it's really good to try a range of things cause what works for one person may not work for another.
AT nearly two baby's are learning habit forming behaviours, it feels mean but being tough early on means you will get more sleep and feel better equipt to handle each day at a time.
I feel I have had a tough time with my little boy so feel equipped to handle most situations. He has tested me on many occasions but like you mother's instincts are the best to go by.:ecomcity:
Melbryan 29:ecomcity: