Silent night

I am converting my 17 month old to sleep in a toddler bed. I always dread this stage of life, but I like to do it while my kids are young so that I don’t put it off until they are ten. :)
I have also noticed that they are not as stubborn before they turn two. (Which is why I try to have them potty trained by then as well. They are much more teachable before age two)

It has only been a couple of days of working with her and she is already doing VERY well.
I used the technique I have mentioned before, but I have also noticed a few do’s and don’ts with #4 child that I didn’t learn very quickly with the others.

Do- Put up a baby gate in the door way so the child is not wandering in the night.

Don’t- Put the baby gate up until AFTER the child has fallen asleep.
They don’t like feeling trapped in a room and that can make it harder for a child to calm down and go to sleep. (If it is for nap time and you have more than one child, wait till the child is asleep and then quietly close the door.)

Don’t- get mad if the child wanders out of the room. Just calmly pick the child up and say “night, night” and put them back to bed. The calmer you are, the more your child can calm down and go to sleep.

Do- Be consistent. Do the same thing and use the same words every time. This will help the child understand that every night will be the same; you WILL keep putting the child back in bed if they get out. And because you use the same words, they will remember that.


I can’t stress enough how great this technique is and also how much easier it is to do it when they are younger.