Brody's New Bed - Days/Nights 1-3

On Monday, April 16th, we decided to take the front rail off of Brody's bed and replace it with a smaller bed rail where he could get in and out of his crib all by himself. Our idea was to get him used to the freedom before Karlee gets here and needs the crib and he gets moved to his queen-sized bed. Brody loved his crib and always went to sleep so easily. We could put him down drowsy and walk out and he might whimper or cry, but by the time we were down the stairs (in Cleveland) or down the hallway (in Jasper), he'd be done and put himself to sleep. He slept great and had not tried to climb out yet. I'm thinking if I had to go back and do it again, I would just have waited until I felt he was more ready and just bought Karlee her own crib to sleep in! But, that's not what we did, so I'm trying to make it work. These next few posts are probably not going to be interesting to anybody unless you have gone through this before or are a new parent and wondering how you'll do this with your children in the future. I'm writing these posts more for me to remember and look back on to see what worked and what didn't and what I might do differently when it's time for Karlee to transition out of the crib. Here is what  his "new bed" looks like.

Here is what we started with. 

Front rail taken off. Brody seems to like it. 

New crib rail up. 

Brody, checking out the final product. 

On Monday, we needed to run to Walmart to get some groceries. We took Brody and on the way home he fell asleep. When we got home it was 1pm and he usually takes his nap between 1pm and 2pm. I was not thinking he'd fall asleep before he had even eaten lunch! He usually snacks the whole time we're in Walmart anyway, so I wasn't too worried about putting him to bed with an "empty stomach." Kyle got him out of his car seat and into the house and he didn't budge! So we put him straight to bed. If this nap was a view of what was to come, this new bed thing was going to be a breeze! He was so asleep we even decided to take a picture (with Kyle's phone) with the flash on! Off to a good start!

That night, Kyle put Brody to bed. He rocked him for a while and put him to bed like normal. He cried a little, but stayed in his bed.  He woke up at 4am crying. I went in to calm him down and try to put him back to sleep. When we have to go in the middle of the night (rare), we usually have to stay in there until Brody falls asleep and then sneak out. He'll lay down, but keep checking to make sure we're still there. I stayed in his room trying to get him to fall back to sleep from 4am-4:30am. I thought he had fallen asleep and tried to sneak out, but the door creaked and he woke up screaming. Kyle went in there to see what he could do. He stayed in there from 4:30am-5:30am. He tried laying on the floor with Brody laying on his chest and also sitting next to the crib while Brody tried to fall asleep. He also thought Brody had fallen asleep and tried to leave. Nope! He got out of his bed and proceeded to BANG on the door and scream. I said "No, Sir!" and put him back to bed and left the room. I watched on the video monitor as he got out of bed, but then got back in and slept until 11 am!! I guess being up all night made him tired!! What happened to our wonderful and perfect nap earlier?!

Now on to Tuesday. For his nap I decided to try not rocking him and just putting him in his bed. This worked and he stayed in his bed and fell asleep. Great! 

Now for night-time! Kyle put him to bed again. When Kyle left the room he climbed out and banged on the door. Kyle decided to go back in and stay until he fell asleep. He was able to sneak out without Brody waking up. At 2:50am I heard noise on the video monitor and saw that Brody was out of his crib. He climbed right back in, but I saw that he didn't have his paci. He moved his blankets around looking for it. He then stood up to get the spare that we keep on the crib rail for such instances. He sat back down and moved his blankets some more. He found the original paci, switched that out for the one he had, and fell back to sleep. He woke up around 8:30am. 

Day #3. On Wednesday when I tried to put him down for a nap he climbed right out immediately! He fell asleep on the floor (I assumed because I couldn't see him on the video monitor). I went in and it didn't even wake him up... so I grabbed the camera! I took some pictures before putting him back in his crib to sleep the rest of his nap. 

Wednesday night, I put him to bed. I walked out and he climbed out and started banging on the door crying for mom and dad. I stayed outside the door and told him "No, Sir. It's night-night time. Go to bed." He continued to cry so I went in and put him back in his bed. He cried and went right back to banging on the door. He fell asleep at the door. I was worried that he wouldn't sleep all night and we'd all have a bad night if he slept on the floor and not in his crib, so I went to put him back in his bed. I had to push on the door to wake him up because he was sleeping right up against the door. He woke up and stood up and asked to be held. How could I say no?! I held him for a few minutes until he calmed down. I put him down and tried to walk out. He stood up in his crib and cried with his arms out for me to hold him. I hugged him instead and laid him down. I stayed in there until he fell asleep and snuck out. Not starting a good habit there!! He slept until 8:30am.