The Sleeping Habits of a Toddler

At the beginning of February, we purchased a toddler bed for Livie. We found one on Craigslist that we thought was a good deal so we snatched it up. We didn't think we would use it right away but figured that if we had it we could use it whenever we wanted. When we picked it up, it was still assembled {which we figured would be the case} so we just decided to set it up in Livie's room right away, even if we weren't intending to use it. We kind of thought that we would just set it up and let Liv get used to it being around before we tried getting her sleep there. Well, Liv had her own ideas about that bed {she usually has her own ideas about everything} and she decided she wanted to start sleeping on it right away. We figured that wasn't a problem and within a day of purchase, it was ready to sleep on.



The first week was especially rough. She woke up two or three times the first night she slept in the bed, and then for each night after, she woke up at least once. We hoped she would get used to it and would just go back to sleeping through the night, as she was doing before, but she hasn't gotten there. It's still pretty common for her to wake up at least once each night. The problem with her waking up so often is that she now has the freedom to move about and she always comes straight to our room once she's awake. Then we cannot convince her to get back into and stay in her toddler bed once she's gotten up. If we put her in her crib {which is still set up} she will stay put, stay happy, and go back to sleep. If we try her toddler bed, she'll immediately climb right back out and start screaming if we try to shut her door. I always thought she was such a great sleeper, but I'm starting to wonder if she's always woken up at some point in the night and just got used to her crib, knew we would leave her there even if she cried, and so she would just go back to sleep. I keep thinking we need to just close her door if she wakes up, but we really don't like making her cry in the middle of the night {this is the joy of having a duplex and having renters live right in the room below hers}. Any suggestions you have for getting your kid to sleep through the night in their own bed would be appreciated!

I just had to snap this photo of Livie during one of her naps. She had fallen asleep in the exact same position I had left her in after her nap time routine - and that never happens! See how she is so sweetly holding her doll? She's so cute. :)

She's really good now about just going to sleep once we put her to bed. If she doesn't go to sleep right away, she just plays for a little while and then goes to sleep. She used to cry every time we put her to bed so the playing is a welcome relief. We have had to learn, however, what it takes to Livie-ize her room. For a little while I was finding the biggest messes after naps. We now have dowels through the handles of her dresser, the laundry basket has a home in the closet, diapers get put in a closed box and the garbage can is on top of the dresser.


For some reason lately, for her naps, she doesn't always sleep on her bed. She will often play and play with her dolls and then suddenly fall asleep wherever she happens to be. The photo above is a great example of falling asleep wherever she was playing. I don't know how she can sleep like that, but I find her like this a couple times each week.

 This photo was one of those shocking moments that was definitely photo worthy. If Liv is going to sleep, it will always be on her terms and only ever in her room if she has no other escape. One morning she was really tired {it had been a long night and she woke up tired} and I wasn't sure we would be waiting very long before she got her nap. After breakfast, I left her to play in the living room while I quickly went to the restroom. When I came out I found her sleeping on the couch. She only slept for about 30 minutes but it still shocked me that she had fallen asleep somewhere other than her room.