Sunday, May 6, 2012

The Tale of Little Girl's Sleeping Accommodation

I announced in  my Facebook yesterday that my Little Girl has finally slept in her own bed in her own bedroom. She  finally made the long overdue move. This may not be a big deal to some but to us it was a very big moment. We have waited and struggled for this for a long time.  Although this wasn't any fault of her own. I take all the blame. I've been putting off the move, for months. It was a big undertaking on my part. The first 6 months were understandable. It was also the recommendation. But as I was exclusively breastfeeding her (and she asked to be fed almost every 2 hours up to her 9th month) I found it too inconvenient to move her to her room while I would get up several times at night to feed her, hence her sleeping in our room. Plus I also breastfed her until she was 17 months so this gave me the further excuse to just let her stay in our room. But as soon  she was weaned off, we were already in the stage where moving  had become really challenging.  Don't get me wrong, there were times she slept in her room but I would end up putting her back in our room because I lost a lot of sleep. I would keep  checking on her although there was really no need. I was just being so anxious . Or should we say I just could not really let go of my Little Girl.

The  nursery room  I lovingly decorated while pregnant with her was never used

As she slept in our bedroom since her first night at home.

Our room has been re arranged several times to accommodate her.



From crib/moses basket days to big cot days -  which started  about her 2nd  month as she  outgrew her moses basket so quickly.

the cot was really next to my side of the bed

But I did try to move her into her own bedroom.

and  back again to our bedroom after a few days.It became a cycle- asking Dearest Husband to put her cot in her bedroom or in our bedroom and unsurprisingly, he eventually got fed up or should I say exhausted of the assembling/dis assembling. He let the cot stay in her room. I can totally understand. It is not easy to move a cot from one room to another.




We let her slept in a travel cot instead. We thought this would just be for the time being until she would move to her bedroom. Of course it didn't happen right away as what we originally wanted.


And as she got older, it has just gotten more difficult. She would even want to sleep in our bed. Although we never let her and as soon as she's asleep we would put her in her cot. She may be sleeping with us in our bedroom until she was 26 months old  but she never slept with us in the bed. I would not even breastfed her in the bed before for fear of sleeping over her.

And then one day, I finally told Dearest Husband that it  was  about time. I was very ready by then.  This was when she was turning 2 years old. By that time, her cot  (in her room) was already a toddler bed (dropped the sides down as it's a cot bed at the same time)  but she  would not  sleep there. We even sort of camped in her bedroom (by putting a mattress on the floor) just to let her feel she was not alone. Those were nights of struggles,  so finally exhausted,  just let her  carry on sleeping in our bedroom.

Her new bedroom was just waiting for her.  I have had spent time moving and redecorating  her room. Her nursery room before was a smaller one and was across ours. The present one is bigger and just next to ours.  I spent days redecorating her  new room with the Disney Princess theme. I did all the wallpapering myself and the Wall Mural was the hardest part. It came in 12 parts and I have to make sure that they were all pieced together correctly in all its sides.

 And just last weekend, we finally bought her a grown up single size bed. I thought it might help in the moving aspect. And true enough , she immediately warmed to it. She spent her first night soundly asleep and when she woke up in the morning, she did not cry,  just went to our room and  climbed into the bed with us. Although I have to admit I was the one who was very apprehensive. I checked her several times. Even tried  sleeping beside her. In the end, I just left her bedroom door and ours half open and  put on the baby monitor. I was being so silly!! And since then on, she just settled into her new sleeping accommodation so quickly as if she has been sleeping there for months now.



And it just felt so good to have finally our bedroom back to ourselves after a very long 27 months! (as we have of course arranged and put her crib beside our bed before she arrived).

from this - with the travel cot on the side
to this!!!

Anyway, I have to sleep now. And as of this writing, my Little Girl is already in dreamland asleep in her own bed in her own bedroom!! Now, what was that  fuss all about in moving to a new room? I  couldn't be any prouder.

4 comments:

  1. Good job mom! I am sure it was a very difficult task for you to let go more than it was for the little cutie but I assure you, It will be so rewarding to have your own room all to yourselves!:P

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  2. I know what you mean now. Dearest Husband and I could not just believe how spacious are room is! It used to have her crib, cot and changing table before, can you believe that? Although Little girl has to sleep with us last night. She was a bit poorly. Fever and cough. Been crying and very restless. I could not sleep so we decided for her to sleep with us, although in the middle of the night she woke up and said, house mummy - referring to her Hello Kitty cottage in her room. She went to her room and lay down in bed this morning as she soon as she woke up so must have missed her bed.

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  3. big clap to you and Emilia!
    I agree with Mads--it is so rewarding to have your own and I feel that it teaches Emilia to be more independent, so better give her a reward for this progress.

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    1. We always make sure she knows that everytime she does something good, it makes mummy and daddy very happy. We always tell her that. And I always tell her the difference between a baby and a girl her age, the things a baby cannot do and the things a little girl her age should not be doing anymore. Parenting is really very challenging. You want to protect your child so much but you also have to be very careful that they should be aware of the real world where pains and disappointments are part of growing up and everyday life. You will soon understand how it feels.

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