Is it crazy to go BACK to the crib??

[MonkeeD]

So after all our nap skipping issues....I decided to take the front off of Miss G's crib and turn it into the toddler bed (so that she can get in and out). I thought this might enable me to do "quiet time" in her room for 30-60 minutes each day....and if she wants to nap, she can....but if she doesn't, then she can easily get in and out of her toddler bed and play with the toys in her room. We put a gate at her door, so she can't get out. WELL....it's been three days and I need advice!! All three "nap times" have been a nightmare. She stands at her door for the entire hour and screams. And bedtime has also taken a nose dive :( She was a great bedtime sleeper. Went to bed with no issues between 7:30pm - 8:00pm....and with all the nap skipping, she had been sleeping until almost 8am before the toddler bed (wow!!). Soooo.....on night # 1 of the toddler bed (we hadn't done the gate yet)....we found her asleep at the end of the hallway outside of the laundry room. On night # 2....she woke up at 5am screaming at the gate. And on night # 3....she woke up at 4am screaming, and clung to me like a monkey....I literally couldn't get her off me to put her back in her toddler bed. I just let her sleep with me at that point (ugh...I already regret it). In addition to all this, she has told us several times that she doesn't like the toddler bed and wants her crib back. Her twin brother is still ok in his crib so we didn't switch him.

Soooo.....do I just put the crib back on and forget naps??? And hope that she goes back to her great night-time sleeping?? I don't think I can handle no naps....AND a child who suddenly has all kinds of night time issues too. I also feel bad for her. I don't like to hear all this crying!! Am I just going through the initial growing pains of instituting the "quiet time"....or does it sound like this just isn't going to work for her?? It seems crazy to go backwards to the crib....but it also feels like we made a mistake. Maybe she was just dropping the nap and I should have accepted it instead of switching to the bed to try to save nap/quiet time?? UGH!!! Sorry for the long post. Any advice is welcome!!

[pjs3902]

i think i would go back to the crib! i've not been in that situation, but it certainly seems like that would be the best bet for now!

[Tink]

I think I'd go back to the crib to save your sanity at night.

As for the naps...something I just started today was instead of doing the whole nap time ritual with Owen just for him to throw everything around his room, I told him it was "quiet play time" and put him in his play room and put a movie on the tv down there. Every time I check on him he's playing quietly. Do you have a place she could go instead of her room at "nap time"?

[skusisto]

You can DEFINITELY go back if you want. I have a friend who did it... and if you want to keep her from climbing out of her crib you could put a crib tent on the top... (to keep her from falling of course...)

I will say though... our transition to toddler bed wasn't particularly smooth either. I got lots of different advice, but ultimately I just had to have more will than she did. (My issue was Leah... Jacob still slept for the most part.) I will take a couple of weeks to get through it though. I think I was about ripping my hair out for 2 weeks and then it was another 2 weeks before things were really good again. Up to you if you're up for that or you just want to go back to the crib.

(Some of the advice options were: 1) Keep putting her back in her bed, calming her down and then leaving... sort of like you would for calming down in sleep training. 2) Get a book and sit next to her bed so that she's not allowed out. 3) Lock the door and let her CIO. 4) Give her books in her bed to keep her there and its a quiet time activity. I'm sure there were more, but those are the ones I can remember right now.)

[esarah]

I laid down with my kids at nap and bedtime for the first little while, while they transitioned to sleeping in a bed. I would cut down the time each day until I just didn't lay down with them at all anymore. I had the time to do it and I had to be patient with them but it worked really well with no tears and well adjusted kids.

If you would rather put the crib back though, I don't see why it would be a problem. You will just have to make the adjustment at some point. If the time for that is not best now, put the crib back together.

[MonkeeD]

Thank you ladies!

Sooo...we put the crib back up last night, and she went to bed with no issues and slept until 7:30am this morning. She is also (shockingly) napping in her crib right now.

I came to terms with the fact that I was pushing too hard to preserve the nap. And I also realized that she is way too NOSY to want to be alone in her room for an hour each day with the door closed playing quietly ;) She will either sleep, or not....but Miss G is not the "quiet time" kind of girl ;) LOL!! So, I will continue with our 1pm nap time routine with them both....and if she sleeps that day, then great! And if she climbs out of her crib or continues to cry and yell that she doesn't want to nap that day....then I am ok with just bringing her downstairs with me. I am going to keep the gate at her door, because I think there were days that she would have napped, but since she knew it was so easy to come downstairs...she was more focused on "escaping"....and now she can't ;)

Tink....thank you for the idea. That is actually a great suggestion for us....we have a playroom that is on our first floor. I can put on a video and get out her books and have her sit on the sofa in there. She will be way more likely to stay there than up in her room.

Sku....funny that you have more challenges with your girl too!! I definitely think girls can be feisty :)

[AmandaP]

Monkee - I know you've already made your decision to switch back, but I wanted to let you know that the exact same thing happened for us. I was way too stressed with no naps and horrible night routines when my little girl had always been a good sleeper. Anyways, we went back to the crib and all slept peacefully. We tried again (probably 6 months later) and it went SO much better. Just wanted to let you know that you're not alone!