Over the past month or so, Rowan has been working on climbing out of his cot. He can get one leg on top of the bars, and can hop with his other leg. It was only a matter of time before he figured it out, and Gareth and I didn't want him to fall over the bars and hurt himself. So we decided to take the bars off his cot. Rowan is not quite 18 months, so it seemed a bit early, but his aptitude for climbing indicated the time was now.
We took the bars off Rowan's cot last night. It probably wasn't the best timing as we were in the middle of decorating that day, and I hadn't seen him at all the day before due to my work's company meeting*. However, since my Mother-in-Law was staying to help babysit we figured 3 adults around over the night would be good if things went bad. Anyway... we got Rowan through his bath and PJs routine as usual and took him to his room and showed him his 'new bed.' We started reading him his story and he was running all over his room, on and off his bed and I thought he's so hyper now, we're screwed.
Story over, we said good night, popped him on the bed and left. I shut the child-gate over, but left the door open because we have crap doors and a gnat's fart can open them anyway. He was in hysterics for 20 minutes, crying so hard and retching I thought he was going to be sick. I went back up, gave him a hug and reassurance. I picked up another story book and started reading it with him since he was so worked up the 'silent return' method wasn't going to work (he was acting afraid to even sit on his bed at this point). I changed tact and instead of talking about his 'new bed' I told him it was exactly the same bed - same blankets, same mattress, but that he didn't have the bars anymore. After repeating this (and reading the story about 6 times) I left the room again and he tried following me out and he was breaking his heart screaming after me (I have to say, at this point my heart wasn't doing too great either). He went quiet briefly then started crying again This time Gareth went up and lay on the floor in silence with Rowan lying on his bed. Rowan was clearly exhausted and trying to sleep but still woke up when Gareth eventually left his room. Gareth propped our trusty heavy books against the door (these have proven golden on windy days when his door would just blow open!) and left. Rowan cried for about 10-15 minutes then went to sleep. This must have taken about an hour and a half from start to finish.
Before going bed myself, I sneaked into his room to lay a doubled over quilt along the floor by his bed, in case he fell out, and he was fast asleep on his bed; not the floor where I expected he'd be! He slept right through the night, and didn't wake up till 7am.
If I could re-do it, I would have converted his bed during the day so we could play in his room and get him used to it (not just before he went bed!), tell him it was the same bed just no bars instead of freaking him out by telling him it was completely new, and keep his door closed as we always did when he was in his cot.
Today for his nap he cried for less than 5 minutes before climbing into bed, then slept for 3 hours! And tonight he stayed in his bed whilst I read him his story, looked upset when I started to leave his room but he stayed in bed and didn't cry.
Fingers crossed this is it!
We took the bars off Rowan's cot last night. It probably wasn't the best timing as we were in the middle of decorating that day, and I hadn't seen him at all the day before due to my work's company meeting*. However, since my Mother-in-Law was staying to help babysit we figured 3 adults around over the night would be good if things went bad. Anyway... we got Rowan through his bath and PJs routine as usual and took him to his room and showed him his 'new bed.' We started reading him his story and he was running all over his room, on and off his bed and I thought he's so hyper now, we're screwed.
Does this look like a child ready to sleep?
Story over, we said good night, popped him on the bed and left. I shut the child-gate over, but left the door open because we have crap doors and a gnat's fart can open them anyway. He was in hysterics for 20 minutes, crying so hard and retching I thought he was going to be sick. I went back up, gave him a hug and reassurance. I picked up another story book and started reading it with him since he was so worked up the 'silent return' method wasn't going to work (he was acting afraid to even sit on his bed at this point). I changed tact and instead of talking about his 'new bed' I told him it was exactly the same bed - same blankets, same mattress, but that he didn't have the bars anymore. After repeating this (and reading the story about 6 times) I left the room again and he tried following me out and he was breaking his heart screaming after me (I have to say, at this point my heart wasn't doing too great either). He went quiet briefly then started crying again This time Gareth went up and lay on the floor in silence with Rowan lying on his bed. Rowan was clearly exhausted and trying to sleep but still woke up when Gareth eventually left his room. Gareth propped our trusty heavy books against the door (these have proven golden on windy days when his door would just blow open!) and left. Rowan cried for about 10-15 minutes then went to sleep. This must have taken about an hour and a half from start to finish.
Before going bed myself, I sneaked into his room to lay a doubled over quilt along the floor by his bed, in case he fell out, and he was fast asleep on his bed; not the floor where I expected he'd be! He slept right through the night, and didn't wake up till 7am.
If I could re-do it, I would have converted his bed during the day so we could play in his room and get him used to it (not just before he went bed!), tell him it was the same bed just no bars instead of freaking him out by telling him it was completely new, and keep his door closed as we always did when he was in his cot.
Today for his nap he cried for less than 5 minutes before climbing into bed, then slept for 3 hours! And tonight he stayed in his bed whilst I read him his story, looked upset when I started to leave his room but he stayed in bed and didn't cry.
Fingers crossed this is it!
Hopefully we'll see more happy bedtime scenes like this one!
*Part of the day's activities was rock climbing. I was hoping I'd get allocated climbing, not because the other activities were rubbish (they kinda were though) but because I'd never been climbing before and thought it would be something I'd enjoy. I volunteered to do the challenging climb as the easier ones had already been snapped up. Turns out I have an aptitude for climbing! I know that makes me sound arrogant, but the instructor indicated I was good at it too (along with another woman there) and that we may be interested in doing a course in rock climbing. I definitely would be interested, but I think climbing is prohibitively expensive, so I'm not sure how likely it is that I could take it up as a hobby. Plus, I don't have an abundance of spare time right now.
2 comments:
So glad last night was easier, I`m sure when he discovers he can get up and play with his toys at any time he will be really happy!
Love Lynn
Dad and I are fully aware of your aptitude for climbing. lol Mum xxxx
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