How to get your toddler to sleep in his toddler bed
Clayton's mom was wondering how we get Isaac to actually stay in his bed long enough to sleep. I started responding to her comment when I realized I was writing a book that might be of interest to others in the same book, so here is our story right now, a little less than one week into it.
To get him to go to sleep is a bit of a chore right now. We start with our pre-bedtime book reading in bed. We used to do this in his rocking chair, but I think reading in bed helps get him used to the idea that it's time to be there. When we're done, I turn the lights off, but his nightlight on, and help him lay down and tuck him in, with his stuffed doggie and kitty on either side. As soon as the lights go off, he usually starts yawning to indicate to me that yes, he really is tired and ready for bed. Then he lays there fidgeting with his animal buddies while I say his prayers very quietly, maybe with some tummy-rubbing. If he's not out by then, I sing a very quiet song or even just sit there next to his bed until he starts to close his eyes.
So far, we haven't tried leaving him in the room to fall asleep on his own, because it hasn't yet worked. I've read from other mommy blogs that this is probably something one works up to, getting them used to the idea that yes, it is bedtime, and no, though you are capable of getting up it isn't time to do so. However, there have been two nights where I wanted him to go to bed and he was clearly not ready (read: not yawning), in which case I really couldn't keep him there and he went back out with Dada and watched TV until he was more tired. And this morning he woke up at 5 and ran in the living room and poked Dada (asleep on the couch) in the eye until he woke up, too -- our solution to that was to pull him in bed with me so we could fall asleep together, mainly because I was too unconscious to deal with him running out of his bed again.
For the most part, though, I am completely amazed at isaac's instantaneous understanding that his bed was where he was supposed to sleep, and at his cooperation in staying in bed when he really is tired. He is no dummy -- he knows that a bed without walls is where Mommy and Daddy sleep, and he thinks it is so rad that he gets to sleep in a bed like that, too. I'm sure there will be completely awful times of struggling to get him to stay in bed, or putting him back there when he comes into our bedroom and starts breathing his baby-stink-breath in my face, and that will suck really hard. But it has to happen eventually, right? And I know I can say it has made the most enormous difference in the sleeping habits of my sleep deviant, so I am willing to take some lumps with my juicy sleep pudding.
To get him to go to sleep is a bit of a chore right now. We start with our pre-bedtime book reading in bed. We used to do this in his rocking chair, but I think reading in bed helps get him used to the idea that it's time to be there. When we're done, I turn the lights off, but his nightlight on, and help him lay down and tuck him in, with his stuffed doggie and kitty on either side. As soon as the lights go off, he usually starts yawning to indicate to me that yes, he really is tired and ready for bed. Then he lays there fidgeting with his animal buddies while I say his prayers very quietly, maybe with some tummy-rubbing. If he's not out by then, I sing a very quiet song or even just sit there next to his bed until he starts to close his eyes.
So far, we haven't tried leaving him in the room to fall asleep on his own, because it hasn't yet worked. I've read from other mommy blogs that this is probably something one works up to, getting them used to the idea that yes, it is bedtime, and no, though you are capable of getting up it isn't time to do so. However, there have been two nights where I wanted him to go to bed and he was clearly not ready (read: not yawning), in which case I really couldn't keep him there and he went back out with Dada and watched TV until he was more tired. And this morning he woke up at 5 and ran in the living room and poked Dada (asleep on the couch) in the eye until he woke up, too -- our solution to that was to pull him in bed with me so we could fall asleep together, mainly because I was too unconscious to deal with him running out of his bed again.
For the most part, though, I am completely amazed at isaac's instantaneous understanding that his bed was where he was supposed to sleep, and at his cooperation in staying in bed when he really is tired. He is no dummy -- he knows that a bed without walls is where Mommy and Daddy sleep, and he thinks it is so rad that he gets to sleep in a bed like that, too. I'm sure there will be completely awful times of struggling to get him to stay in bed, or putting him back there when he comes into our bedroom and starts breathing his baby-stink-breath in my face, and that will suck really hard. But it has to happen eventually, right? And I know I can say it has made the most enormous difference in the sleeping habits of my sleep deviant, so I am willing to take some lumps with my juicy sleep pudding.
posted by Claire at 8:04 PM
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