Lesson Learned

I previously mentioned that we were getting ready to transition Brogan's crib to a toddler bed. That was last Monday. Tadd took off the front of the crib and put up a half rail...everything else stayed exactly the same. When the time came for Brogan to go to bed, he cried for 10 minutes and then slept through the night. Woohoo! The next day, he fell asleep during his nap like nothing had ever changed. YES! Success!

YEAH RIGHT!

That little stinker decided on Tuesday night that the toddler bed was evil. Tadd and I tried everything we could think of to get him to stay in his bed. I even crawled in the tiny little bed (totally expecting it to break.) He kept waking up like he was fearful of being alone. His cries were pitiful, scared cries and it was breaking my heart. However, we pressed on. Wednesday and Thursday...no sleep for anyone. On Thursday night, Brogan climbed onto his glider and ottoman and fell asleep from pure exhaustion. He looked so uncomfortable but we didn't dare touch him. He slept like that for six hours.

Everyone kept telling us to not give up, that he would get used to his new bed. But we did give up. Friday night, I begged Tadd to put the crib back together. It was killing me to think my baby was scared to sleep. I thought *MAYBE* Brogan would go right back to normal (falling asleep right away with his door shut and no night-light and sleep the whole night through) but I think I've scarred him for life. :( He still acted like he was terrified for us to leave him. We kept his door open, night-light on, and sat beside his bed until he fell asleep. It would take him an hour to fall asleep and then sleep for an hour. On and off all night long.

::SIGH::

Saturday night and Sunday night were a little better. Brogan still cries for a while when we put him in his crib, but not for long. His night-light is off but he still wants his door open. We haven't had to sit in his room since the first night back in his crib. Maybe things WILL get better.

I regret trying the toddler bed 100 percent. The only reason we did it was so that our baby girl could use the crib after she outgrows the bassinet. Brogan wasn't ready and I should have known better. I guess it is one of those mistakes that parents learn from. We had also planned to move Brogan's room to the guest room since it's bigger than his nursery- and that is SOOO not happening now. When Brogan asks why his little sister has a bigger room than he does, I will definitely have my answer. :)

Here's a video (really long, sorry!) of Brogan checking out his bed before the first night.

Brogan and his new bed from Becki Grandstaff on Vimeo.