Transitioning From Cot to Bed - How We Did It

With Baby Boy due in three short weeks, Mr H and undecided some time ago to try and get Little H into a bed before he arrives on the scene. There seemed no point buying a second cot for the short time H will need one and I didn't want to risk having two babies up through the night if she doesn't settle straight away.
From Mummy & Daddy's Bed

With this in mind we purchased the new bed and last weekend Mr H set about the task of moving her beloved cot into the nursery and setting up her Big Girl Bed. I was quite excited to see her room all rearranged, but anxious as to how the night would go. H has slept through for thirteen hours for some time and I wasn't relishing the prospect of being woken through the night again!

We took her up to her bedroom an hour before she was due to go to sleep to show her the new bed and get her used to it. We had read that it's best to set up the bed in the same position as the cot was, but this didn't work for H's room, so I had to hope she would accept the change. At first she wasn't very sure and kept running away from the bed, making me even more anxious. It was bath night so she had a good splash about and then returned to her room to get dressed. We didn't push the bed on her but she did climb on it voluntarily mid-change and seemed to be OK.

When then did our usual routine of bottle and bedtime story with daddy and she happily laid under her new duvet, head on pillow, listening to her story. When she had finished her bottle she wasn't quite as keen to remain in the bed and kept sitting up. When we turned on the music on her monitor, signalling it was sleep time she did get upset. It's horrible listening to your little one cry, but she has always done this when it has been bedtime so we are familiar with leaving her. As I said I don't enjoy doing this but if we didn't she would never settle so we have to be firm.

Within ten minutes I couldn't believe there was silence. Had she really gone down so easily and quickly on the first try? After half an hour had passed I sneaked upstairs to check she was still in bed and was OK. To my surprise she was still on the bed and had simply laid forward from her sitting position and fallen asleep! I have to admit she looked so cute!

Since then we have had one night where she woke up and got upset so I had to go into her. I sat with her and stroked her head until she calmed down and then left her and she returned to the land of nod. She has even gone down well at nap time, climbing out of the bed once and sleeping on the rug, but I decided for nap time this was harmless.
To her own bed
I am so proud of my little girl. At only 16 months old she accepted the transition so well and we can now relax that we have kept her in her routine ready for Baby Boys arrival. Let's hope he sleeps as well as she does!

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