Just a couple of months ago, our little one was still peacefully sleeping in her crib.
Oh, are you wondering how old she is? Looks away, mumbling into my hand She’s… well, she’s 3 and a half. Almost 4, okay?! Yes, she was still in a crib at that age. There you have it.
I know, it’s surprising we haven’t been reported yet. But somehow, this child who fearlessly leaps from playgrounds and performs acrobatics off couches never once attempted to escape her crib. It simply didn’t cross her mind. Without an older sibling around, she didn’t even know there was an alternative. So, we just… kept her there.
It wasn’t just laziness; we genuinely wanted to extend this phase for as long as we could. Many of our frazzled parent friends warned us: Don’t do it. It’s a nightmare. We’ve spent countless nights standing outside Timmy’s room, holding the door closed while he plots his escape. They insisted we keep our daughter in “baby jail” forever. Seriously.
There was something so comforting about placing her in her crib at night. We always knew where she was. Our evenings used to follow a perfect routine: shower, brush teeth, read a bedtime story, and then she’d be in her crib by 8 p.m. Twelve hours later, we’d wake up to her on the monitor, pulling books through the crib bars and entertaining her stuffed animals.
Then came the weekend where we had to stay somewhere that didn’t have a crib. When we returned home, she sweetly announced, in a way that was both polite and utterly manipulative, that she was ready for a “big girl bed.” We fell for it.
Oh, it started off well. She was ecstatic about her new bed and behaved just as she had before. But that sense of security I once felt? Gone in an instant. I was suddenly haunted by nightmares of her wandering out into the night, sneaking into her brother’s room, or somersaulting down the stairs (she had cracked the baby gate code long before she knew about big kid beds).
I’ve never been a heavy sleeper, but now I couldn’t even manage to stay in a light slumber.
Once she figured out that she was no longer confined? It was game over. Our baby still wakes up a couple of times at night, but now the big kid is the tough one. Those miraculous 12 hours of sleep? Completely vanished. Her sleep schedule is all over the place.
The moment we tuck her in, she appears before us at least half a dozen times for various reasons: “I need another hug,” “I’m thirsty,” or “Did you hear that noise?” What used to be precious alone time for my husband and me has turned into a two-hour marathon of running up and down the stairs to tuck her back in.
When the house finally settles into darkness and everyone else is asleep for a blissful 90 minutes, I attempt to catch some rest, only to be jolted awake by the creak of our bedroom door — inevitably right when I finally drift off.
You’ve never truly experienced panic until you’re awoken by a tiny face, mere inches from yours, breathing heavily and staring into your eyes. It doesn’t matter how adorable those cheeks are; when an eerie voice whispers, “Mooommm,” in your ear, you’re guaranteed to be wide awake for hours. And then, at some point in the night, I stumble into the bathroom only to find her lurking in a shadowy corner like a character from a horror film.
This cycle repeats itself several times throughout the night. Last night, for example, it was five times.
Despite her newfound nighttime antics, she rises with the sun. At 6:30 a.m., our door cracks open one last time, only to reveal she has happily roused her baby brother on her way down the hall.
We’ve pleaded, bribed, shouted, and reasoned. We even tried a special alarm clock that worked for two mornings, until she discovered it wasn’t equipped with a “Tase When Disobedient” feature and she could just ignore the pretty changing colors.
In our most exhausted and desperate moments, we’ve even daydreamed about putting her back in a crib. Oh, how we’ve regretted this decision. Why didn’t we just keep her there until college? That would be perfectly normal and socially acceptable, right?
At this point, I’m too tired to care about any of that.
So here I am, your worn-out friend, coffee in hand, urging you: Unless your child is literally catapulting themselves over the crib rails in a wild attempt to injure themselves, hold onto that crib time for as long as you can. There are plenty of other milestones to celebrate. I know they’re growing up, and it’s exciting to see them in a big kid bed, but trust me, they aren’t ready. You aren’t ready. It doesn’t matter if they’re 12 years old; it’s a trap.
Please, I implore you, get some sleep for those of us who are no longer able to.
In Summary:
Keeping your child in a crib can provide peace of mind and extended sleep for parents. The transition to a big kid bed can lead to sleepless nights and unexpected chaos. It’s essential to weigh the benefits of holding onto crib time as long as possible for the sake of both your and your child’s well-being.