[crsta33]

We are trying to transition our 3.5 yo dd into her own sleeping space at night, mostly b/c I'm pg and not sleeping well and need a little more space.

We've been working on it 3 nights. She's not falling asleep in her bed, but as soon as she is fast asleep I move her to her bed, which is right next to my bed, and she is staying there the rest of the night. She has been waking once per night and usually says something about coming into bed with us, but I don't say anything, just pat her and love on her until she settles back to sleep. She's staying in her bed until sometime after 6 and then joining us.

So, are we doing okay? She's really afraid to fall asleep in her bed and voices her worries about it during the day, so we'll wait on that.

Anyway, just looking for some encouragement and some tips on how to make this the least stressful for her.

Christa

 

[gigismom]

I sounds great to me... we are also going through transitional changes in my dd2 sleep because #3 is due the begining of Oct. I think that it is great that you started this early because hopefully she will be set in her new routine by the time baby comes and won't blame the change on the baby. Could you try laying with her in her bed until she falls asleep? This might make her realize that it's ok to do this. My dd is a little younger (will be 3 on july 8) but here is what we did and where we are in the process. She always co slept from day 1. When we found out about the (surprise!!) pregnancy we decided to make some changes. We put a mattress by our bed and I would put her there after she nursed/rocked to sleep in my arms. She immediately cut back on night wakings/nursing with just this little distance. Then a few weeks later we bought bunk beds for her and her sister. She was so excited about this, she just started sleeping there. For about the next 2 months she slept 10 hours per night without waking (!!) She recently went through a week long period of night waking and wanting to nurse and now back to sleeping all night again. I hope also that by Oct she is settled in her space and can fall back to sleep without too much intervention as I am sure to be busy with newborn night need at that point.

Anyway, I think that it sounds like you are doing fine. Don't be discouraged if it is not always as smooth as you would like. It sounds like you are doing a great job of reassuring her and following her cues. She has a long time till Dec to make this transition....
peace

jen

 

[punkrockmommy]

I think that it sounds awesome. One tip that helped me alot is that kids are not like adults, if they roll over in the night or wake up even a bit and there enviroment has changed then they will wake up all the way. The best thing to do is make it so that as little changes as possible. but yeah she sounds like she is doing good.