Big Girl Bed!!!

Dallas is now sleeping in her "Big Girl Bed"!!! She started climbing out of her crib a few months ago. Sometimes she would climb totally out and other times she would get "stuck" on top and scream for us in the middle of the night. I converted her crib to a toddler bed but that didn't work at all. She would wake up and promptly run to our room and get in bed with Mommy and Daddy!!! There were several nights where we would lay on the floor next to her until she feel asleep. By 2:00 am she would be right back in bed with us!!! Dallas has never been a great sleeper. It took us 7 months just to get her to sleep in her own crib after we got home with her. Even when she does get in bed with us she still is very restless. She gets half of a king size bed and we get the rest!!!

So "Sleeping Boot Camp" began earlier this month. I went out and bought full sized bedding for her and we converted the toddler bed to a "Big Girl Bed". Bye Bye crib!!! Yeah, Mommy didn't handle that too well. The the real fun began with night #1. I ended up sleeping in the bed with her because she would have nothing to do with her new bed. This went on for several weeks. She didn't want Daddy in the bed with her only Mommy. I was functioning on very little sleep. We finally decided to let her CIO. This was the best thing for us and we all sleep much better now. I made sure the furniture was bolted to the walls and that there was nothing she could get into. I moved the video camera to where it could scan the entire room. Finally, we put a gate in her doorway to prevent her from walking around at night. The first week was horrible. Skip would lay in the bed with her until she went to sleep and then go back to our room. When she would wake up and realize she couldn't get in bed with us, she would scream. I would watch her from the monitor in our room. She started taking everything off the bookcase by her bed and throwing it over the gate into the hallway. Then she threw the bedding into the hallway. Finally, she would climb back in her new bed and go to sleep. The next morning she would get up and clean up her mess and act as if nothing ever happened!!! It's been about a month now and Dallas is doing much better. She still doesn't like to go to bed but at least she is sleeping through the night without anymore major tantrums. If she does wake up she will cry for a while and then go back to bed. I think she got tired of cleaning up her mess so she doesn't throw stuff anymore!!! The gate will remain there until she can learn to stay in her bed without running around the house in the middle of the night. I have the monitor by the bed and can check on her at any time. Mommy and Daddy are finally getting some sleep and Dallas is actually sleeping better as well.