The big girl bed dilemma
Ana Isabel, now almost 2 and a half, has finally made the move to the "big girl" bed.
My wife and I worked on the transition for months. (I'll admit it was mostly my wife. But I did paint and move furniture.) We wanted to get it done before my wife's pregnant belly got too big to lift my little 32-pounder in and out of a crib.
One day just before Christmas, Ana blurted out she wanted to sleep in the "big girl" bed in her "big girl" room, once the guest bedroom. So that's how it happened. There were a few nights of Ana walking out of her room and into our room, waking everyone up. Even the cat didn't sleep through the commotion.
We had to revert to the old cry-it-out technique that got Ana to sleep through the night when she was six months old. We locked her in her room and let her cry. It took two nights of her crying for a few minutes before she fell back asleep. It worked, for the most part. Except once a night usually around 10:30 p.m. Ana wakes.
My wife is usually fast asleep and, depending on my schedule, I may be sleeping as well. We hesitate to lock her in her room again for the full night or to make that the permanent solution. But I'm afraid this may be the only way that we'll get uninterrupted sleep.
What do you suggest for getting a toddler to sleep in her "big girl" bed and to stay in her room when she does wake?
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