Move from cot to "big boy bed"- help!

[Angela74]

I haven't been on here for quite a while due to DS being pretty good with sleeps etc up till now. Our DS is 2 on Friday, and we are having baby#2 in 8 weeks. We have had DS's new room set up since before Christmas, and only this last weekend he has decided that he wants to sleep in the bed for naps. Yay!

Only trouble is- he takes a long time to wind down. Whereas before I could leave him in the cot and he would do a lot of winding down himself, now I have to stay with him. Today it took 1hr 20 mins before he went to sleep. I have tried bundling him back to the cot, but he cries and wants to go back to the bed. Today he was so, so tired but wouldn't let himself relax enough to go to sleep. I ended up stroking his hair, and telling him to shut his eyes. After 5 minutes he was asleep. (This was 1 hr 15 mins after we had started the whole process!!!).

I am finding it so frustrating. I have tried to keep the same bedtime routine, same time for bed, etc, etc, but he just seems to having trouble associating the bed with sleep. Is it a matter of sticking it out, or should I be changing something?

Thanks for any suggestions!

[sacmommy]

I don't have any suggestions for improving sleeping in the new bed - I'm sorry. My only advice is to wait a bit longer. The new baby likely won't need the crib for several months, and if your lo sleeps so well in the crib I'd stick with it. I understand though - your fear may be that you're dealing with sleep troubles in the new bed and sleep for the new baby all at once. But I think the longer you wait the better the transition will be as your lo will be more mature in a few months. It would be good to hear from others who had more successful transitions than I did with my now 4-yr-old when he was 2 1/2!