When I mentioned last week that Ida is finally sleeping in her big girl bed, you wanted know how we did it–so I put together this little post to detail how we went from co-sleeping to the big-girl bed. Let me start off by saying this didn’t didn’t happen over night. We kinda worked this out in stages. It wasn’t all perfect or seamless, but I feel that we waited until the right time for Ida and for our family and now we’ve got this whole sleep game pretty tight.
When Ida was a new-born we knew we wanted to co-sleep. I imagined we’d co-sleep for the first three or four months and then get her to sleep a crib in her room–but it didn’t quite work out that way. With breast-feeding I found it too disruptive to get out of bed two or three times a night to feed her. My solution was to side feed her while co-sleeping during the night and this way I was able to mostly sleep through the night-time feedings. Plus co-sleeping was so cuddly and sweet and I really felt it brought so much closeness to our family unit.
That having been said, over the next year or so we did get her to sleep in her crib quite a few times but we could never deal with her crying for more than twenty minutes, and just gave up. At about twelve months I stopped daytime breast-feeding and also stopped using my boob to put her to sleep like I had been doing before. Instead, Jason read her a story and gave her a bottle of milk before bed and she went to sleep sucking on the bottle instead of my boob, which at the time seemed like a real feat.
At about fourteen months though, I started to feel like she was sleeping on the breast constantly, suckling and suckling for hours on end–and if I took her off she would wake up and cry. It was a tough time. My body felt sore from sleeping in weird positions and my boobs and I were over it. If I was not in bed with her she’d sleep through the night just fine, but if I was there she’d want mommy milk. It was around this time that we decided to bring her crib into our bedroom. We put the crib at the foot of our bed and took down the fourth wall of the crib so that it was open, and she had the freedom to climb in and out of our bed. For the first week or so of putting her to bed in the crib I slept on the living room sofa. When she woke up, Jason patted her back to sleep and in this way we weaned her off the breast and she began to sleep through the night in the crib. Next we started to add water to her bottle at night (around 16 months) until her bottles of milk turned into bottles of water.
At about 17 months we got her this big girl bed and put it in her room where the crib used to be. For about a week we played with her on the bed–we read books, did blocks and puzzles and got her used to the idea that this was ‘Ida’s room’ and ‘Ida’s bed’ a concept that she began to grasp, and even like. Soon we began to put her down for her naps in her bed, and did that for about three weeks until finally one evening when it was time for her to go to bed we just put her in the big bed. We followed our regular night-time routine and she went right to sleep!! (We couldn’t believe it.) She’s been sleeping in her bed for about a month now and sleeps through the night just fine. Most mornings at about 6AM she calls for us to come and get her and we bring her into our bed for morning cuddles, which is awesome. We dismantled the crib and now, just like that, she’s a toddler sleeping in her big-girl bed. She has fallen out of the bed one time so far, luckily we had a yoga mat and a rug there to cushion any spills.
I think one thing that really helped us through this process was explaining everything to her along the way. Also, using transitional items–her favorite blankets and stuffed animals moved with her (even for naps) into her new bed.
If you have any stories or tips on how you went from co-sleeping to big-girl bed I’m quite sure there are many mommies and daddies out there who’d love to here your stories and tips so please chime in below!
Thank you for sharing. My daughter is almost 1 and it looks like we’re at about the same place you were. I’ve started doing her after work feeding in the crib (yes, I climb into that tiny crib) and it has gotten her more comfortable with being in the crib. We’re not sure where to go from there, but it’s a start.
I used to get into the crib too! ha ha. So funny.
glad I’m not the the only crazy one doing that!
We’re at 13m here, still co sleeping and not a single night slept through since birth. Like you I have stopped daytime feeds, but still do feed to sleep for bedtime. I have tried with a bottle but he just won’t take it and isn’t keen on cows milk in general. I have the cot, side off against our bed and he starts off in there but by 1am he is always in the bed and attached to the breast for what feels like the rest of the night. I’m unsure where to go from here because I really don’t want to get to a point where I feel resentful about feeding him. Your way sounds lovely and gentle and good for you all.
love her little room and bed!! so sweet and so happy that you get a good nights sleep! i feel like i am the opposite, my little one was in the crib at 3 months and has been obsessed ever since. i can’t get him (3yrs. old) out of his crib. he is so attached to it. at least you skipped the whole attached to crib and everything phase! thinking of doing a big boy bed before new baby comes. :):) :)
btw love that ikea bed. we have one but its been sitting in our storage. great idea for the canopy.
After sleeping with us for nearly year and half after birth we set up our daughter’s crib in her twin brothers room (actually their closet, well decorated of coarse). Now that we have a larger home she has her own room but chooses even at the age of 6 to sleep with her brother’s in-between their beds on the floor. We fought it for a short while but realized it’s not worth it. It’s just a phase and besides it makes the bedtime routine easier having all three in one place. At least mom and dad have their own space!
We put the crib mattress on the floor and slept with her there, then moved to just holding hAnds at night until she fell asleep. We established a routine of pijamas, brushing teeth, and reading two books of her choosing, and stuck to it religiously. Then we bought favorite cartoon sheets, put stars on the ceiling and declared big girl bed. The same routine also applied and the transition was seamess, albeit at 24 months and change. Should have done it sooner!!