You are crazy about your child from day one. And by day one I mean from the day you found out you were expecting. And it has been a roller-coaster of emotions, but mostly happiness. You can’t live without your baby and your baby can’t live without you. You both enjoy the closeness and even have a better night’s sleep when you go to sleep together.
But as your baby grows up, your bed can feel crowded, he probably wakes up too much, and by the time morning comes, you both wake up grumpy instead of happy and rested. So you might be thinking that is a good idea to help your child transition to his own bed. But you don’t know if it’s the right time or how to do it.
Out there you will find a lot of mixed opinions about this matter. Some parents think is a good thing to co-sleep until the child is old enough to have a conversation about it. Other parents don’t even co-sleep with their babies at all since birth. And I am nobody to tell you what is right or wrong. But because you are reading this article, I’m going to go ahead and assume you want to transition your child to his own bed.
So what I’m going to do here, is share a few tips from experts I’ve gathered from throughout the web, that might help you and your baby especially if you and him are having a hard time during this process.
Find out the reason why your baby wants to sleep in your bed. It could be a number of reasons. Probably he is scared of sleeping alone. Or simply he is not used to it. Is he having nightmares? Determining the reason is the main thing because that way you will be in a better position to come up with a solution.
Add a lovely to his bed. Help your baby to feel comfortable in his own bed by giving him one (or more) stuffed animal to cuddle with. It could also be a blanket. Or even add a small night-light to his bedroom. Small details like these can make a difference for your child.
Stay consistent. If tonight your child can’t sleep in your bed, but tomorrow he can, he will never develop the habit of sleeping in his own bed. If you give in to tantrums and end up rewarding him giving him what he wants, you are only making things harder for both of you. And you don’t want that, do you?
Make him feel accomplished. When he sleeps all night in his bed, reward him with something small. And if he’s been doing good for up to a week now, reward him with something more significant. Do this for a couple weeks until he gets used to his own bed and then stop with the prizes. He wont need anymore prizes as an incentive since he will feel more comfortable sleeping by himself.
You did it!
