Leah's Sleeping Problem

Recently Leah's sleeping habits have been disrupted. We still have the same bedtime routine that includes reading books, singing and dancing. I've even added a few surefire calming tricks like rubbing her back and reading to her in bed instead of in my lap. But even though 7 p.m. is bedtime, there are nights where she won't be asleep until after 9 p.m.

About six weeks ago, we converted her crib into a toddler bed. The difference is that the high front railings of the crib come off and are replaced with a small rail that is designed to keep her from rolling out of bed while she is asleep. That new rail also doesn't stretch all the way across the crib, which allows Leah to get out of bed and play instead of going to sleep.

And play she does. She gets into her dirty clothes hamper and strings shirts and pants across the room. She pulls the diapers down from her changing table and piles them up on the floor. Toys are scattered from corner to corner. On more than one occasion Leah has actually come out of her room to come play with us. And then there are the books…

Sometimes in the evening she will start to cry and when we go to check on her we find that she is upset because she has covered her bed with books and has left nowhere for herself to lay down. We find random pages laying on the floor obviously torn from a book the night before. And on more than one occasion, we have found her asleep on the floor next to a stack of books.

Our nightly routine now involves a late-night check to make sure she is in fact in bed. We also take the time to pick up all of the items that need not be in bed with a sleeping child. The picture above was taken on the morning after her first night of toddler-bed freedom.

Somehow I don't think she looked that peaceful 10 minutes before she actually fell asleep.

-Sefton