Big girl bed - interim report update

Thank you all for your thoughts and suggestions on how to help Ms. Magpie transition to the toddler bed. 

She's doing really well. We've gone from her getting up several times a night to now where she often stays in bed all night quietly until the morning, or, less optimally, stays in bed all night but calls for us at some point either because she is scared or because she thinks it's time to get up.

Both are huge improvements from where things were at originally, with her being up and in our room repeatedly, and often ending up in our bed by the morning after we eventually surrendered out of sheer exhaustion. 

We've employed a number of the suggestions that you recommended. 

First and foremost, we introduced a sticker chart:

For every night that Magpie stays in bed the ENTIRE night, she gets a sticker on this chart.

Next we moved on to edible positive reinforcers, in the form of CANDY:

We were pretty tired and desperate, so we worried the sticker incentive might not be enough. So we sweetened the pot, with a prize of a GUMMY BUTTERFLY, which is awarded immediately upon awakening, if Magpie stays in bed the ENTIRE night. This turns out to be a very powerful reward, so Magpie almost always does everything she can to earn a gummy butterfly. Who knew?




Finally, we went on Amazon and bought ourselves a bunny toddler clock:

On the advice of many of you, we purchased a (surprisingly expensive!) toddler clock so that Magpie would know when nighttime is over and she can get up for the day. She is very attuned to what the bunny is doing and really tries with this. She stays in bed almost all the time, but doesn't usually quite seem to get the idea yet that we want her to be in bed and QUIET. So we still need to iron that small but significant detail out.

Last night, for the first time, Magpie didn't call out for us and she got up when the bunny did, but played quietly in her room. When I went in to get her, she was up, had turned on the lights, and had her doll, her Lambie, and a toy tiger all out and surrounding her on the floor. All fine by me. So we are moving in the right direction. Yay for sticker charts, positive reinforcers, and toddler clocks.

Most of all, yay for sleep!!

Thank you so much for your help getting us this far!

 Mo

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Big girl bed! And big girl bed problems

As of the new year, Magpie moved into a "big girl bed" from her crib. She loves the bed. she loves being a big girl. And it is great not to have to lift her in and out of the crib. She is super proud of herself, and we are proud of her too.

But I am also very tired.

Along with the move to a bed has come a move to many more sleep interruptions for the whole family.

I'm so tired that I can't quite quantify it, but I'm guessing she's up at least three times a night now, ultimately ending up crawling into our bed by the third wake up.

And so, I am turning to you - I think we need a toddler clock type device to teach her when she can and can't get up. I looked on Amazon, and there are several options. Are there any specific devices that have worked for you? Any that were a disappointment?

And is there something besides a toddler clock that I should be considering?

Any help is most (yawn!) appreciated!

Mo

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Toddler straight jacket

Little Magpie is a crib climber. I first learned this when she was 18 months old and I heard a crash from her crib, where I thought she was sleeping. Fortunately, she wasn't injured in that long ago fall. But I knew from that moment that she was no longer safe in the crib as things were.

I also knew that she was not the kind of child who would do well at that age in a toddler bed. My Magpie is the kind of child who would have quietly woken up and then gotten into all kinds of trouble if she were able to get out of bed.

So we had to think quickly about what to do, and we ended up deciding to introduce a sleep sack, which I hastily purchased that night. The sleep sack has now become an indispensable part of the nap and bedtime routine, and we have two different weights of sack, one for winter and one for summer. We now use the Grobag, which is a bit pricier than some of the other brands and comes from the U.K., but is really well-made and high quality. And they make a size that goes up to 36 months, that fits Magpie just fine.

It keeps Magpie warm, but it also keeps her contained. She is quite capable of toddling around in it but not able to get enough leg movement to climb, which is fantastic! We will soon hit the point where Magpie needs to be up in the night to use the potty, and I guess that is the point in which we will introduce a toddler bed. She's basically potty trained now during the day, so at some point it will be time to tackle nighttime as well.

Those of you with toddlers: when did you first introduce a toddler bed? any recommendations on how to go about it to make the transition as easy as possible?

I am aiming to get Magpie as close to age 3 as possible before introducing it but will also be mindful of not delaying her development regarding overnight toilet training.

For now, the situation works for us. We've put the sack right into the nightly routine...

Which looks something like this:
1. Dinner
2. Bath time
3. Pajamas and diaper on
4. Tooth brushing (more popular than ever before now that we use special "princess toothpaste")
5. Sack on
6. Reading in the rocking chair
7. Turn on the white noise
8. More rocking and storytelling ("Tell me about my day"!)
9. Magpie goes in the crib and mama sings (usually "Frere Jacques" and "You Are My Sunshine," at her request)

The days are long and demanding, and I am often exhausted by the end of them, but oh I will miss this stage later when she's more self-sufficient and doesn't need us so much.

Mo

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