No more cot...but no more sleep

[HappyMumsy]

Hi,

We have just taken out our 17 month old from the cot as suggested by a Montessori teacher.

We went from her peacefully going to sleep in 10 min without us there and sleeping for 11 hours to her taking hours to get to sleep and then waking and coming in twice a night to our room.

My husband puts her to sleep and stays at her bed and will let her fall asleep with him at the moment to make it nicer for her.

Any suggestions of how to get her to stay in her cot and room both getting to bed and staying there?

Thanks

[punkbaby]

all mine were in cots till they were 3 they liked it and stayed put :) dd is 3 in december and shes still in there, the nights shes been in a single at mums etc shes been a terror :)

[EskimoMumma]

IMO they are still young and happy and carefree and well lets face it, still babies!

DS stayed in his cot till he was 3 and thats what I plan on doing with all of my children as well. I hate this sudden rush to have children into big beds so early..but each to their own.

Can I ask why it was recommended you take her out of the cot?

[kirstenriley]

DS went into his bed at 17mths- it was just a matter of constantly putting him back in everytime he got out, and this took a good week or so. Good luck.

[Lucybelle]

Did the teacher give you a reason he/she thought that would be a good idea??

Just wondering as it seems silly to rock the boat....

[SilverStarfish]

That's exactly what I was thinking. Who knows your child's night time routines and behaviour better? You or the teacher?

As a teacher I'd never presume to tell a parent when their baby is ready to move out into a big bed. Daytime naps at Kindy are a whole other ball game to sleeping at night.

If it's not working for you, is there any reason why you can't go back to the cot and try again later when you baby is older?

[veve]

I took my son out of his cot at about 15-16 months ?? ish ??

I was scared as he had started climbing .. and I was honestly worried he would climb out .. and THUMP on the floor ..

we made a big effort with the transition .. a) we took JAck shopping with us for the bed .. b) he helped up assemble the bed (he had his OWN screwdriver :laughing: c) we bought special sheets - with his favourite things on (aeroplanes) .. d) we bought two new things .. the eggnite so that he was never in darkness and a new wiggles cd to listen to.

We haven't had trouble with Jack coming out of bed yet (he has probably come out all of twice .. and we roused .. so he went back) .. he IS allowed as many books as he wants .. and he reads till he falls asleep (with his dummy) ..

maybe your bub just needs motivation to stay put?? a special toy (we only have to say .. mummy take the egg away .. and he gets pouty) .. or special sheets?? not once has JAck asked to go back into the cot ..

good luck .. :fingerscrossed:
xx
Jen

[SilverStarfish]

b) he helped up assemble the bed (he had his OWN screwdriver :laughing:

:laughing: That's so cute!

[OJandMe]

Not saying it works for everyone, but this is what we did. And we moved them both at one time .

We completely got rid of the cots. Just had the beds. We got a fold down side rail for each of the beds to stop them falling out at night.

We bought new doonas (but seeing as they're in toddler beds we still use the cot matresses, sheets and rotate with their cot blankets and stuff)

NIGHTTIME: We do the whole bedtime routine as normal, bath, quiet time and bottle, teeth, stories and into bed. Say "goodnight" and come out of the room.

They kept getting up... so we 'super nannied' them. The first time they came out we just picked them up and said "It's bedtime darling" and put them back in their beds with a kiss, tuck in, goodnight.

2nd time: "bedtime darling".. tuck in, kiss.

3rd time: "bedtime"... tuck in, kiss

4th time and over... don't say ANYTHING.... just pick them up, tuck in, kiss.

We would move to put them back in their beds as soon as they got to the door of their room....

the first night they came out 34 times!! And then they just stayed in their room sitting in the doorway looking at us until they fell asleep on the floor.. we moved them into their beds once they were asleep.

2nd Night they came out 7 times

3rd night they didn't come out at all.

I found for us it worked better if after we put them to bed we just went about our usual night time activities... washing up, having a cuppa, talking... as then they could still hear us and know we were close by.

We have no problems now... the most 'problem' is that sometimes they like us to sit near the room so they can see us out the door.... and on really fussy nights, or days when they're a bit hypo I just sit on the floor in their room and sing to them, or just sit there until they go to sleep. (and the last time they wanted us to do that was over 2 weeks ago)

We leave the bedroom door open and close it once they're asleep. The door is always closed by 7:30pm.

DAY TIME NAPS: completely different kettle of fish. I sit in their room with a book for my own personal reading. Everytime they get out of their bed I put them back without saying anything. And I keep doing this until they fall asleep.

Usually it takes me about 20-30 mins to get them down for a day nap... that's making sure they are both asleep before sneaking out of the room. But that's with 2.... usually one of the boys stays awake and looking at me for longer... some days they're both out cold in 10 mins.

They have a 2 to 2.5 hour day nap.


Hope this helps!! It's what works for us anyway.

[mumma bear]

I moved my DD into a bed at 18m as i needed the cot for my DS however this was a VERY BAD move. We spent well over 9 months re-establishing what had been prior to the move a very good bedtime routine and night sleep. We also lost her daytime nap which ment that we had a very cranky toddler by the end of the day.

If i had not needed the cot for my DS then i would have put her back into the cot in a flash, clearly she was not ready. We did the whole pick out the bed, help set it up etc and it did not work for us.

I will not be rushing to put my DS into a bed!! I will let him take his time and if that means we need another cot so be it.

[little mermaid]

Did the teacher give you a reason he/she thought that would be a good idea??

Just wondering as it seems silly to rock the boat....

My thoughts exactly!!! Why fix it, if it aint broke!!