Toddlers and Baby Pillows
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by: frankwarehouse
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Word Count: 616
My first child was happy as a clam sleeping in the crib until she was 2 ½ years old. The arrival of her baby brother meant we had to move her to a normal bed. While she was in the crib, we did not have to worry about things like baby pillows and blankets. She happily slept snugly in a sleep sack and pajamas. The sleep sack prevented her from crawling out of the crib, because she couldnt swing her legs up. She was so happy in the crib, I dont think she would have even if she was not wearing one. When we moved her to her bed, there was no drama. She took a couple naps there, then we moved her to the bed for nighttime, as well. We made the bed like we would for an adult. She had two pillows and a big comforter. Because she was almost 3, we did not have to mess with those little baby pillows or toddler pillows.
My son decided not to follow the crib path his sister did. He learned how to unzip his sleep sack shortly after his first birthday. He could easily swing his leg up on the crib rail. He was happy to just do that exercise for months and months. Until one night, when he climbed out of the crib entirely and walked to greet me at the door. We immediately took the crib mattress out of the crib and set it up on the floor.
We had a lot more challenges introducing him to a bed than we did when we did the same with his older sister. It was a rough transition, because he was so young. He wasnt even 2 years old yet. So he would not hurt himself, we had to take a lot of things out of his room. Another parent recommended putting a gate on the bedroom door, which turned out to be incredibly helpful. He was so stubborn that for the first couple days, he would fall asleep sitting in the middle of the wood floor of his room. After a very LONG week, he was back in his routine.
When we finally got him comfortable in his new bed routine, the advice from well meaning people starting coming in. "Oh, he is not old enough to be sleeping in a big bed." "It is dangerous." "Do not use pillows and bedding." Wait. What? He is old enough to crawl out of a crib, but not old enough to use a pillow? What about a baby pillow? Being an overly cautious mom, I checked in our medical baby books and online. Children under 2 years of age should NOT use a pillow or big blanket. Once a child is 2 or they move to a big bed, you can introduce them then.
I decided to introduce one of those baby pillows to the mix. It was so small, like an airline pillow, and I hardly saw the point. It got lost in the full size bed and my son did not seem to know it was really a pillow to put his head on. I think the need to put a pillow and bedding on his bed was due to my own notion of what a bed is supposed to look like. We finally put pillows and a comforter on his bed after about a month. He loved sitting up with the pillows and snuggling like he did in our bed. He was happy to not have that little tiny baby pillow for his head too.
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