Operation Big Girl Bed

I am truly blessed to have a great number of friends who have walked this road before me.  They are chalk full of great advice and I have discovered that there are two schools of thought related to the Big Bed transition.

1. Sit by the child's bed.  Each time she attempts escape, quietly place her back into bed.  Slowly move further and further away from the bed until you are out of the room.  If she tries to escape again, start at the beginning.

2. Child proof the room (if you haven't done so already) or remove everything from the room such as the dresser, toys, etc.  Place her in the bed.  If she escapes, the room is safe.  If she falls asleep on the floor, place her back in the bed.


Andrew and I had different ideas on what we wanted to do.  Sadly, we are doing both of the above options which I am certain will come back to bite us in the behind.

Ellie needs her nap.  She really needs her nap.  Otherwise, the little Bear transforms into an angry, cranky Bear with claws and a ferocious growl come 5pm.   We do not have the luxury of allowing her option #2 because she would never sleep.  Therefore, I do sit next to her bed.  As the days go by, I am finding that I need to spend less and less time in her room.


Bedtime is another story.  Pre-Big Girl Bed, Ellie would typically take anywhere from 15-45 minutes to fall asleep no matter what her bedtime was.  She needed quality blankie time to unwind.  We removed everything from Ellie's room but her dresser and some books.  The door knob has been reversed so that she may not lock herself into her room.  Note: We have a video monitor that covers her bed and part of the crib (we will be taking down the crib soon). The first night she did well.  She climbed out of bed once and put some of her lovies in the crib.  Of her own free will, she climbed back in her big bed to sleep.


The second night, she climbed out of the bed, played for 30 minutes, then climbed into the big bed to sleep.

The third night, she climbed out of bed and played (notice a theme).  When all was quiet, I went into her room to see her sitting on the floor surrounded by books.  She looked ready to passed out so I placed her into the bed.  She fell asleep within 5 minutes.  A short while later, we didn't see her on the monitor so I, again, went into her room and saw this:

In the few days since I started writing this post, The Bear started to do something rather peculiar.  Andrew and I planned to take down the crib this weekend only to discover that Ellie has climbed back into her crib to sleep.  Hmmm.  Any thoughts?