Fast forward to February 2013, another discussion about transitioning the girls out of their cots. My husband and I had decided to use the Easter long weekend to transition A and G to floorbeds. We both felt comfortable with the idea of floorbeds and agreed the Easter long weekend would be perfect. We could both assist with the process without needing to worry about DH needing to go to work.
In a lead up to the "BIG TRANSITION" we implemented a few changes.
- our cots have wheels so I decided to try with one side of the cot off (the side against the wall),
- we wheeled the cots out,
- they would climb into the cots (they loved this part),
- we wheeled the cots back against the wall,
- we would say lie down,
- cover them with a blanket (this was new, as stopped using sleep bags),
- gave them a goodnight kiss and say, "night, night"
- blow kisses to them has we left the room
- switched of their night.
Two and a half weeks into our new night time routine a bad case of nap refusal descended on our house, it was shortly followed by screaming and crying when it was time for night time sleep. This was unusual as A and G have always been very good night time sleepers. The end result, two every tired and grumpy toddlers.
After a week, I was so over it. My two easy going toddlers were nightmare toddlers, crying over the smallest upset, fighting each other and not eating. I figured if A and G were not napping during the day and going to bed at night time was going to be an event we might as well remove the cots and switch to floor beds right away and see what happens. We were currently in a bad place anyway, so why not?
A few days before I removed their cots, I spoke to the both of them about how I was going to remove the cots, how they would have more freedom, but it was expected that they would sleep. They could go for a nap whenever they felt tired. I also told them how I would have to make other changes, including childproofing the room for two toddlers. I told them I would have to remove the book shelf and all books from the room. I couldn't leave books in the room as they could become potential weapons in the hands of an over tired and grumpy toddler. I would also need to empty their wardrobe. I tossed up removing the sliding doors on their wardrobe, but decided on a "let's see how we go" approach instead.
Over three days I childproofed their room. I emptied out the wardrobe first. They thought the empty wardrobe was fantastic and proceeded to play in the wardrobe. It ended in tears when one closed the other into the wardrobe. The next day I removed the book shelf and added our king single mattress in their room (for Mama and Dad Dad to use.) No doubt A and G would need us to model "self settling without barriers" until they came to terms with their new found freedom.
On the third day, after they woke from an unexpected nap, I collected my case of handy tools and gave each child an Allan key and the three of us went to work dismantling the cots. Well, I did the dismantling they attempted to copy. It was very cute to watch. Piece by piece the cots were removed and their cot mattress were placed on the floor. This was a cause for much excitement with each child running from one mattress to the other. What, had I done! The night sleep was going to be a disaster.
We went about our normal nighttime routine and put two very tired toddlers to sleep on their floorbeds. As expected they immediately leaped out of bed. We let them work the excitement out of their system for about 30 minutes. Dad Dad went into the room, put them into bed and then he climbed onto the king single bed. I came into the room and joined dad-dad as I didn't want A or G to come looking for me. Dad-dad had to say, "lie down" and "night, night" a few times, but 25 minutes later they were asleep. We left the door open when we went to bed (our normal arrangement) and we left a lamp on, just in case they woke up and need to see the way to us. Unfortunately the light disturbed them and we ended up with a several night visit. Each time I took them back to bed. The next night we left the light off and they slept the night through. We do not leave any lights on and on the very rare occasion one of them has woken up they have found their way to us without any problems.
We are now into three week of A and G sleeping on floor beds. We spent two weeks modelling sleeping and this week we have removed ourselves from the room. They do leap out of bed, they often bed swap, occasionally they leave their beds to sit in the doorway of their bedroom. We tell them to go to bed, and hear them run and dive onto their floor beds. It can take half an hour to an hour for them to fall asleep, depending on how tired they are. When they do fall asleep, they sleep the night though and wake between 6am and 6:30am.
Naps are a challenge. Some days we all go in the room for quiet/nap time. They tend to have a short nap, 20 to 30 minutes one day and the following day they will nap for 1.5 to 2.5 hours . If we go out in the car, I can pretty much guarantee they will fall asleep. On the days they have a short nap we do not go for car trips in the late afternoon (3:30pm onwards), because if they sleep in the car they won't go to sleep until 10pm at night. Which is my personal version of hell as a result nap time officially ends in our house at 3:30pm to fit in with a 7 pm bedtime.
I hope to post pictures of their room in an upcoming post. The room might seem stark in comparison to some children's rooms, but I think it is rather restful. All in all, the BIG TRANSITION" hasn't been as traumatic as I envisioned. I love how floorbeds give my children more independence and freedom. Yes, naps aren't has routine as they were, but A and G are happier for the change to floorbed and so am I.
