Bedtime parenting

By Anjali

I have a confession to make.

While many of you parents out there are fretting about transitioning your infant from the bassinet or family bed to a crib, and others are worrying about moving your toddler to a toddler bed or twin bed, and still others are rushing one kid out of a current bedding arrangement to accommodate a newer sibling, we here in suburban Atlanta are taking our own, sweet time.

You see, our nearly 6-year-old, who is actually very tall for her age, still sleeps, quite happily, in a toddler bed. And our 3-year-old? She sleeps in the very same place she's slept since birth –- a Pack 'n Play. That's right, our "baby" never even made it to a real crib!

And while neither one of our daughters can fully stretch out (please don't call child protective services on us), they love rolling onto their sides, crunching their bodies up, and falling blissfully into deep slumber.

Their bedding arrangements are not their fault. You see, my husband and I are just a little behind on things, that's all. Now that we've moved for the fourth and final time in four months, we've finally purchased Big Sister a full-size bed. And as soon as we get around to putting it together, and buy the mattresses to go with it, our eldest will at last be able to rest her head in a bed that fits her body.

As soon as that transition takes place, our 3-year-old will be presented with the opportunity of sleeping in her sister's old toddler bed. But because our little one is pretty attached to what she affectionately calls her "cribby," we’ve no intention of forcing the transition. Instead, we'll set it up in her room next to the Pack 'n Play, and let her decide what kind of sleeping arrangement she prefers.

It's a bit of delayed bedtime parenting on our part, but neither my husband nor I can complain. In the nearly six years we've been parents, we've almost never had difficulty getting either child to bed. And for the past few years, once in bed, we don't hear or see them for the next 12 hours. Now that's what I call a good night's sleep.

Anjali Enjeti-Sydow lives near Atlanta with her husband and two young girls. She looks forward to the day when she can make the transition from a queen-sized bed to a California king.

Comments

[bed rails]

There's nothing wrong with that! As long as they are happy and sleep through the night, everyone is happy. :)

[airbed comfort]

Sounds like an interesting way to do the whole bed thing, even if it wasn't entirely intentional. We upgraded our daughter to a toddler bed right away, and it was a pretty rough time for a little while to get her to sleep.

[Staci Schoff]

You think that's bad -- my kids went from my bed half time and portable crib half time to a futon on the floor at about 12 months. Until my mother (horrified by my neglectfulness) bought them bedroom furniture.

[midlife mommy]

Not shocked at all.

My daughter is still sleeping with us, though she will sometimes sleep in her crib (which still has the rails on it, even though she's 3, because we've never gotten around to converting it to a toddler bed).

When we first moved her into the regular bed with us because she wouldn't sleep alone, I thought I would be a good mommy and get one of those attachable co-sleepers. She never liked it as an infant, but we left it there (instead of a rail) to keep her from rolling out of the bed (she doesn't sleep between us; if she slept next to my husband, he wouldn't be able to sleep at all!). The co-sleeper is still attached, and my daughter loves to leave my side during the night and curl up into it.

Someday, she might actually have her own room, if I ever get around to vacating it (it's the messy place that I use for an office).