Monday, March 14, 2011

How to put kids to sleep in their own bed

My daughter used to sleep with me in my bed since she was 8months old. Now that she is 18 months old, I always thought of training her to sleep back in her own bed. Last Friday I was watching Nanny 911 show and suddenly her word strike me real hard. She said to the mother of 3 children : "Why can't you just let your 8 months old baby sleep on her own?" Her word has encourage me (or rather I feel challenged) to start trying to put  my daughter sleep on her own bed right NOW! So I quickly think of my strategy how to go about it.
First, I told my girl that mommy was going to put a new beautiful bedsheets on her bed and that she will be sleeping on it tonight.While i was putting on her new bedsheets, i kept engaging her by asking her if she likes it and asked her to try laid down on her bed.
Next, I kept telling her that she is a big girl now and I trusted that she will be able to sleep on her own. I continued praising her and gave her some toys to play inside the bed.
Then, I told her that I was going to turn off the light but I will be around. When the light is off, she started to feel uncomfortable and wanna get out of the bed. I kept consoling her and hug her but insist not to bring her out of her bed. She cried for a while and I asked if she want to drink some milk. I was able to convince her to lay down on her bed while taking her milk.
After finished her milk, I quickly sang her songs and pat her back slowly so that she won't feel like standing up again. A few minutes later, miracle happen- she finally fell asleep. The whole process took around half and hour but I was so blissful that we had succeed at the first trial.

It has been 3 consecutive days she was sleeping on her own bed (keep my finger crossed :)). I really feel that I am a very lucky mother and I am so proud of my daughter ^-^
                                                                     

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