Through the Seasons

Transition Out

Before I had Asher I pictured him nestled down in his crib sleeping soundly.  Not long after his birth I realized that was totally unrealistic with this baby if I was really committed to not using the “cry-it-out” method of “sleep training”.  So amidst guilt for not doing it “the normal way” Asher slept with us.

The longer he stayed in our bed and the older he got and the more aware of his surroundings and routines he became, the more nervous I grew about the transition from our bed to his own. The warning we heard most often when we first started co-sleeping was that he would never leave our bed and that eventually he would cry it out.

Over the Christmas break Jonathan and I cleaned out Asher’s room and turned it from a baby room to a toddler’s room.  We packed up the baby stuff and stored it away.  We also put a comforter on his bed that we got for him here.  It features a hippo, zebra, elephant, and giraffe.

After the room transformation Asher just loved his room.  He wanted to be in there all the time.  Finally I asked him if he wanted to take a nap in his “big boy room”.  He jumped, laughed, and did a little dance.  Well.  Here we go I guess.

I didn’t plan when to wean Asher but took his lead for when he was ready and it appeared he was ready to get to his own room as well.  So with fear and trepidation we set out on the big transition. He had a great first nap there so we moved right on to having him sleep there at night.  We figured it was a grand opportunity that we really needed to take advantage of.

Our tactic has been to lay down with him until he falls asleep then leave.  We take turns of who will tend to him if he wakes up at night.  He has even slept all the way through the night since we started this and he still loves his room.  We’re very happy at how it’s been going and are still committed to not laying him in there to “cry it out”.  It may take us time to get to where he falls asleep without us there but we will continue to be patient with his progress.  Soon enough he won’t need us so we’re not rushing through it.  We’re proud of our big boy and love how much he loves his big boy bed and big boy room.  He’s growing up on us!