Moving to "big bed" and now fighting sleep

Hi guys

A bit of back story.

I am due to have my second baby in 10 weeks so, last weekend we moved our 16 month old into a double bed. It was much earlier than I would have ever thought to but, I couldn't justify spending a heap of money on a cot for what would essentially be a few months. And, I thought it might be better/easier to try and get him used to it before the baby comes along.

Sleep wise, he would usually go down without any fuss or hassle at 7.30pm. Wake once during the night for comfort, up at about 5-5.30am and nap for 1.5 hours each day (all at once or broken into two sleeps).

The first three nights in the bed were great - he slept per usual and actually didn't wake during the night on two of those nights. We then went away for three nights over new year and he had to sleep with hubby and I as there was only one bed in the room.

Back from our trip yesterday and he refused to go down for his arvo nap - he fought and fought it until eventually I laid with him and we both fell asleep! At 7.30pm we put him down for his usual bedtime routine but he didn't want a bar of it. I had to go lay with him at 8pm and he didn't fall asleep until 9pm.

Tonight he did the same thing. We put him down at 7.30pm and 10 minutes later he got out of bed and ran into the lounge room. Again, didn't want a bar of sleep but he was clearly delirious at that point, running around all silly and speaking gibberish. Hubby had to go lay with him tonight at 8pm again; he fell asleep at 8.30.

Have any of you had a similar experience when moving your kids to bigger beds? Is the "defiance" just a type of sleep regression?

He is fiercely independent during the day and always on the go, running around, playing and reading books. He absorbs everything we tell him and repeats things the day after like a parrot! I don't know if maybe he's just doing and learning so much that he's too hyper to sleep or, if it's just him fighting the new bed and trying to play us. Alternatively, maybe his night time sleep is just going to be later from now on...what time does/did your little ones go to bed at this age?

Any help would be greatly appreciated, I would love to get him settled before the next round of sleepless nights hits us!

Thanks so much
Px

Completely normal. Look for a "Stay in Bed" routine that suits you and stick to it. May take a few wks for him to get the message but its all part of the learning.

this is what happened to me as well when we moved DD into her bed. she was never a routine baby but moving to the bed we had to introduce one. this included reading stories when they hop into bed and sometimes you might start off reading like 10! but eventually you just cut back and we got it down to 2 stories and now she goes to bed with one and maybe sometimes one story.

every time she got up we wouldn't say a thing and just put her back there. it worked after a few weeks for us.

good luck

We moved our DS into a bed at 15 months as my DD was due a month later. We were really lucky that he adjusted straight away, but he did drop to one sleep a day at this point. We started his nap in the bed and cot at night then at 18 months moved him at night too. I used a portacot for DD for a few weeks when the bassinet was no longer suitable.

Maybe stick to one sleep a day for your little guy and he might be ready for bed at his usual time still? Otherwise just be persistent with routine and try to avoid staying in there with him, simply pick him up say "bedtime now" and put him back with a kiss.

Hopefully he will learn to love his new bed soon for you!

Just wanted to say a delayed thanks to you guys for replying. The last few nights have been hit and miss, as have been his day sleeps. We just can't seem to get it right haha...ahhhh, the joys!

He sounds exactly like my DS, same temperament and everything smile
We've got DS (20mths old) in his room but DH sleeps in there with him at the moment as I have our 10 week old DD in bed with me. DS goes to sleep in his cot and DH sleeps on the double bed next to him. For his daytime nap I put him to sleep on the double bed, that way he can get up and come out of the room when he wakes up (he loves this independence).
I dread that we will encounter the same bedtime issue as you once he's in there on his own. Sorry I have no solution for you, I think a lot of toddlers do this for a while because they realise they are not trapped in a cot anymore but can get up whenever they want. So maybe just be consistent with returning him to his bed and reminding him that it's sleep time. Good luck smile

honeyspider - I'm pleased to say things have gotten better over the last few days.

Last night I put him down at 7.30 and he didn't get up once, out like a light! He woke twice during the night but, the beauty of the double is that I could lay with him both times and once he was back to sleep, I went back to bed.

I'm starting to think that the 2-3 late/restless nights we had may have been because he was overtired. We used to be able to say "M go nigh nigh?" and he would come towards us to take him to bed. He wasn't doing that so we thought he wasn't tired yet and yet, he was probably overtired. Last night we asked again and he didn't come but he was showing all the signs of tired so I put him down and out he went.

It's really all a matter of trial and error hey?!