As if my nap battles are not bad enough, I'm staring bedtime battles in the face. Hughes, you really really have me worried with all the issues you are going through.
Keira still will not nap. I have tried different times, wearing her out, etc. She is a wild one, jumping up and down, etc. She destroyed her crib bumper so that came out. Then she climbed out by using her doll house next to her crib as a step. Or so i though. I since repaired and returned her bumper and moved the house.
Today, during her resistance, I saw her on the monitor head over the crib head first. I ran and was able to catch her before she hit the floor and go over all the way.
She is officially not safe since she is climbing out head first. DH wants her to go to either a toddler bed or big bed right away. (He is against a crib tent.)
Here is my thing. We know she probably will not nap either way, but she's definitely not safe in a crib since she is hell bent on getting out.
Nights are a different story. She will resist a bit, but she DOES sleep. Contained. And I will be delivering this new baby in FOUR weeks and I just cannot battle sleepless nights with 2 kids PLUS no naps with Keira.
I just am at a loss of what to do. I have no idea what the best solution would be.
Holly and Keira seem to have a LOT in common and I can totally foresee what my nights will be like and I'm really not wanting to go there! haha
Re: Freaking Out
No naked playtime? What a buzzkill you are!
Despite all of the stuff we're going through, I honestly really don't regret changing her. I figure we have to eventually, and if 3 is worse than 2, like everyone keeps telling me, then we're going to have issues for awhile regardless. Gone are the days of my angel child, I think, and I just have to deal!
That being said, I really have no advice. Why is your DH against the crib tent? Would she sleep in a PNP for a bit? (and could she get out of one?) The one silver lining I have is that even since being in a toddler bed, Holly will still sleep in a PNP elsewhere. Although my parents just put up a toddler bed at their house and she'll be staying with them in for the weekend in a few weeks. To which I told them, good luck with that. :-)
She might do just fine in a toddler bed though. Holly did so awesome for the first couple of months. I really thought we'd dodged a bullet. Oh, me from a few months ago, you're so naive.
We moved Natalie 1 mo. before Claire arrived and really it wasn't that bad, even with her getting out of bed. I think you just need to strip down her room -- remove toys, etc. so she quickly gets bored with the idea of getting out of bed. And like Hughes said, given the struggles we deal with now that Natalie is almost 3, I am so glad we tackled the bed transition over a year ago.
I get the impress that maybe she does some of her acting up items in the bed because you will come back in the room -- maybe?? Just a thought. If you keep her in the crib with a crib tent or even if you move her to a twin bed, I'd be tempted to ignore her outbreaks (minus the ones that are going to result in her getting hurt of course). I'd remove everything from her crib, move it away from anything she could climb on etc. And don't go back in if she's crying for you etc. But maybe you've already tried this...?
Good luck!
I only go in there if she has not pooped yet because 9 times out of 10, she will and she won't sleep at all if she's poopy. I do put her back after I change her though and refuse to go back in unless she is hurt. She USED to go right to sleep after I changed her with no issue. Now it's like the olympics in there. She can't reach anything now and only has her blanket, a pillow and her lovey with her. If she throws them out, too bad. Although her throwing out her lovey and me refusing to go in there is what resulted in her trying to climb out today. She was yelling for it and I switched on the monitor just in time to see her go out head first. Oy.
I also have to admit that Hughes is scaring the crap out of me. We are going to attempt the big girl bed at the end of April, and now I am freaked. BUT that is good to know about the PNP because when I have my C/S she is sleeping at a friends house and I need her to be in a PNP.
I have read about kids being able to get out with crib tent on or those being tangled in them trying to jump out, so I agree with your DH that I would go ahead and move her now to a big girl or toddler bed. I know you said you can't move her naps but I think your only hope is to potentially try to push it as late as you can. Or, just leave her in her room once the crib is gone for quiet time and you may have to do like Hughes and empty the whole room out. UGG. I am sorry you are dealing with this.
What about stripping her room of everything, as pps suggested, and just putting the mattress of her big girl bed on the floor for awhile? That way you can start the transition to a big kid bed, but she can't really jump or roll out of it and get hurt.
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