One of our local experts offered to field this question, which comes up over and over again: For the past few days my son (2) won’t stop climbing out of his crib, and I’m afraid he will get hurt! Does this mean he’s ready for a toddler bed? Won’t he just get out of that too and play with his toys? Any tips will help!

Here’s what Stef from AskaNanny.com said:

Yes, this child is ready, and your child might be as well. For the sake of their safety, and your sanity, when they begin to climb out of the crib it is time. Sure, you may be able to find ways of keeping them in, but toddlers are determined and love a challenge! So I strongly suggest that when your toddler (over the age of 2) begins to climb out of their crib or requests to sleep in a big bed like yours, be ready with a few easy ways to ease the transition out of the crib:

1) Invest in a toddler-sized bed. I know a toddler bed has short-lived role, but it’s a very important one, and will help the most in the transition. By offering a bed that they can get in and out of on their own, you boost their sense of independence and ownership. Toddlers are all about “me do it” and “mine” after all, so play to these motivations and get them excited about their new bed. Other bonuses of the toddler bed: it’s a shorter fall if they roll out or are just fooling around (I would still suggest a thick rug or foam matting though); you can’t fit in there and therefore falling asleep with them in the middle of the night won’t happen; toddler beds are cheaper than a twin mattress set and bed frame; and, you can use all your crib sheets a little bit longer if you chose a frame that works with your crib mattress!

2) Transition at the right time. Understanding what’s happening with their development will help you to choose a perfect time to make the transition. Most “terrible twos” rear their head just before the second birthday, and then again at the tail end of the second year. (So 21 – 23 months and 30 to 36 months they may be less flexible and open to change.) Just-turned-2 year olds are usually rather pleasant and open to new ideas. Of course you know your toddler best, so when you feel like you can come up for air and the pre-2 screaming and tantrums are subsiding, that’s when I would introduce the bed – before the 2.5 tantrums come in. That said, make sure there are no other major transitions happening in their life at the time, like moving daycare classrooms or the birth of a sibling.

3) Let them pick out the bedding. This goes along with #1. Taking ownership is what toddlers do best: once they claim it, it belongs to them and no one else. Awesome! I use this to my advantage when transitioning toddlers for anything, really, by offering a choice. So when they are potty training, you pick two potties and let them choose the one they want. Same with moving to a toddler bed. Pick two comforters you like and have them make the final decision. (Even if you have bedding at home for the toddler bed, it really is important to have them pick a new blanket or sheets for their bed.) Limit it to two choices and offer the choice away from the bedding aisle, or she will automatically want the ones on the shelf and not in your hands.

4) Make a game plan for when they get out of bed. Whatever you decide, install a baby gate on their door. (I would do it before you even introduce the bed to normalize it.) Choices for addressing the exodus: 1) Ignore and let play. With this choice you will need to baby proof the heck out of his room, and then when he passes out on the floor, pick him up and put him in his bed night after night until he just goes there to pass out on his own. 2) Go in and put back in bed. Every time you see him get out, go in and put him back in bed. Do this without much emotion and talking. Just repeat the same phrase “It’s time for you to sleep,” or something like that. This is the toddler version of sleep training (like you may have done when they were a baby, going in every 5, 10, 15 min). Be supportive and firm, but shower with positive attention before bed and in the morning.

These ideas are just the tip of the iceberg! If you would like more tips head over to Stef’s AskaNanny.com post “Ready for a Toddler Bed?”! Stef is the expert nanny behind the parenting advice website AskaNanny.com, where questions about your 0 to 3 year old get answered for free. She lives in San Francisco with her highschool sweetheart and her two boisterous children. Ask her your question today at unravelme@askananny.com or on twitter @askananny #thenannyisin

Related: Kids Bunk Beds; Standing Up in The Crib

This post was sponsored by IntelliBED, a premium mattress company, all tips are my own. My favorite story I heard about the founders — who are all grandparents — is that they were already well into making their adult-size mattress and decided to create mini mattresses for all their grandchildren; when they received positive reports that the children all slept better, they decided to make it a product. I don’t know if that is myth or legend but in this case, necessity was the Grandparent of invention.

Save 10% off a mattress, either large or mini. Or enter to win a child’s mattress (for a limited time)!

There have been so many scary studies about environmental hazards impacting our babies that it can be hard to know where to start when trying to create a healthy nursery. Fear not, new parents. Let me guide you. Before you freak out designing your baby’s non-toxic bedroom, consider three important regions:

1. Walls – look around.
2. Furniture and mattresses – sit down.
3. Floors – get all the way down.

That’s not so bad, right? Let’s go through them one by one.

Beginning with the walls.

Once you’ve pinned the perfect baby room, odds are high you’ll want to change the walls. If you want to repaint, choose No-VOC paints to limit the exposure to dangerous fumes. You know that “new paint” smell? That’s the nasty chemicals. No-VOC paints don’t have that. Alternatively, you can leave the paint that’s already on the walls and liven it up with artwork or decals. But if you’re gonna tackle wall color, let someone else paint your baby’s room (relax, mama!). [Read more: Paint without the fumes.]

A few things about furniture.

If you’re a rookie, you might not realize how much babies and toddlers explore their environments with their mouths. It is 99% certain that your baby will chew on the crib (my own stat) so paints and coatings are especially important.

Also many recent models of cribs have been recalled — like every single drop-sided crib (!) — so pick a new safe one and check the recall lists before setting it up, ok? [Check recalls.gov for your crib and other gear. Make sure you know about the latest crib standards; they evolve to keep babies safe not just to prevent us from saving money with hand-me-downs.]

Baby Atlas from Making a House a Home enjoys his healthy nursery.

Going to the mattresses.

Did you know that a newborn baby sleeps for 14 to 20 hours in the early days? The place he lays his head is super important. The intellIBEDmini mattress is composed of non-toxic, hypoallergenic, anti-microbial intelli-GEL. One of their team members told me that the filling is so safe you could eat it (not that you’d want to, but it’s nice that you could). Atlast (above) enjoys his. [Read more about the links between mattress toxins and infant health.]

Moving down to the floor.

After your baby’s bed, the next place you’ll be spending lots and lots of time is the floor. While it may be tempting to choose a floor covering based on how it matches your color scheme and theme — which I have totally done before I knew better — I urge you to spend your money on a safe choice or just leave what’s already there. Trust us. A brand new synthetic rug may do more harm than good. Hard-wood is good. Eco-flooring is good. Wool rugs are good. [Read more tips on choosing non-toxic flooring from Toxic Free Kids

Save on a new mattress!

Save 10% on any mattress from IntelliBED with the discount code: COIHeatherRookieMoms98. You can enter to win a healthier child's mattress (for a limited time)!

Related:

• Cheat sheet of non-toxic tips and eco-wisdom
• 5 Honey-dos for the nursery

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Disclosure: This post was sponsored by IntelliBED. All mattresses and mattress toppers/wrappers are made from the same material that is used in very high-end hospital beds for burn victims. It is a premium price product and very heavy (which becomes an issue if you have to change the sheets a lot).

[Photos from Whitney, Lana, and myself]

This post about putting my children to bed was sponsored by Huggies.

We recently asked our fabulous facebook community what you’d like to read from us and Kristal said “Bedtime routines, specifically for multiple kids of varying ages and stages without going nuts.” Welp, Kristal, this one’s for you though I can’t promise the without going nuts part.

5:32 Walk in the door. I like to rewind my getting to bed routine back to coming-home-having-dinner because it happens so fast you could miss it. We return home from our various jobs, after-school programs, and daycare between 5pm and 6pm. Ideally, I plant my children — age 19 months, 6, and nearly-8 — in front of a Curious George show (either one mini-episode for 12 minutes or two depending on the time I need to prep dinner).

Around 6:10, my big boys start their table-setting jobs and by 6:15, we’re eating. On a normal night — if there is such a thing — my husband gets home at 6:35 just as the first of us are finishing up. Sawyer is always done first; in fact, we’re lucky if he eats anything but that’s a story for another day. He is allowed to run around for a little while, literally, until I am ready to whisk him off to the next phase.

6:40 moving on. Depending on time available, level of dirtiness, and recency of last bath, I will bathe him or not. Regardless, he will ask for “BATH, BATH, BATH.”

If bath is a go, my toddler throws every toy in the tub as I strip him. I start washclothing as the tub fills. I begin draining the tub once it’s full. And I rarely wash his hair because Daddy does it. He hands me back the toys as the last water swirls away. Done. Sawyer will run around the downstairs in his towel while the other guys finish their food.

By now, it is 6:53. Sawyer and I will head upstairs saying ‘night ‘night to everything we see including the menagerie of animals in the neighbor’s backyard (when it’s time to wake up and return to breakfast, we get to say good morning to all the different items again). Once we make it upstairs, we might ‘night ‘night a few more toys. I find that it helps with his transition toward sleep to say these goodnights a la Goodnight Moon. There may be a song involved. I do what it takes.

I couldn’t resist snapping a picture of the neighbor’s backyard, the ever-changing scene is a constant source of delight to Sawyer.

Speaking of “whatever it takes,” all activities are intended mellow him out: he gets a fresh diaper with booty cream, pajamas, snuggling, 4 oz. milk, books, a huge yawn — I make sure to yawn until he does! — and a song. I hold firm at two books. Lately, I’ve been putting him to bed with a sippy cup of water in the crib (PRO: no more whining for water at night or in the morning; CON: must use the hard core diapers or he wakes up with wet pajamas!).

If all goes well, bed is between 7:00 and 7:15 for the little man. I pat his back as I tuck him in. If he’s happy, I leave him face down with butt in the air snuggled between two loveys by either cheek. If he’s in a bad mood, he may be standing and yelling as I leave the room (just keeping it real, people). I leave the dark room (AKA windowless closet nursery) while loudly shushing him and anyone else who might be within earshot.

Reasons he might be in a bad mood? I gave him the green water cup instead of the blue; I chose the books instead of letting him pick; I wouldn’t let him read while balancing on one foot on the glider ottoman; he’d rather stay awake and play; I sang the wrong song; or just “Daddy do it” on anything. He usually settles himself rather quickly once he realizes I mean business.

If he’s still fussing after 12 minutes, I’ll check on him and make sure he’s okay. That happens very seldom.

Meanwhile, the big kids start their bedtime responsibilities around 7:00. If Rookie Dad Alec is home, we play zone defense and he moves the older children along. They bathe or shower, pee, brush teeth, and read books until 7:40 then pee again. When their dawdling happens — and it does — it cuts into the book-reading time which they treasure. At 7:40, he leads a guided meditation in their beds to dial down the energy level even further.

At 7:45pm. It’s lights out for the big boys. Usually Daddy reads and tucks in the Bigs. When I’m doing their tuck-in, I remind them of their sleep rules. I’m pretty sure they keep whispering for a while afterward, but if that’s the worst that happens, I’m okay with that.

And if it’s just me? One or two nights a week, I’m on my own or vice versa. Most of the routine is the same with a few shortcuts: I skip baths if possible; the big boys finish eating on their own while I put Sawyer to bed; if they’ve cleared up the kitchen, I offer a tiny dessert.

Reasons I might be awakened at night? And our preventions.

• Potty accident. Big kids double-pee before bedtime to increase the likelihood of nighttime dryness. Little one gets super tough diapers.
• Water break. Big kids can get their own small cups in the night. Little one gets a sippy in the crib.
• Nightmares or night terrors. Not much we can do there. We give la pause when we can and rub backs as needed.

Phew. I get tired just thinking about it.

What does bedtime look like at your house?!
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This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Huggies®. To get coupons and other great rewards, visit the Huggies Test Town! Or check out the Huggies® Facebook fan page to learn more now!

Thanks again to Huggies Snug & Dry Diapers with NEW SureFit Design for sponsoring this post and the very true story of how I put my children to bed.

If your baby likes to sleep in the car seat, count your blessings. Better to have a car-sleeper than a car-screamer.

You’ve also got the perfect excuse to patronize nearby drive-through businesses as a destination. My favorites were the slightly-far In-N-Out and the not-very-close drive-through Starbucks.

The real magic can happen when you’re creative and persuasive (and grateful!). You might get normal businesses to serve you curbside if business is slow.

As I was doing our environment a disservice by driving around to keep Holden asleep, I called up a local baby emporium (Baby World on Telegraph Avenue in Oakland) and asked if they could possibly come outside and take my credit card and bring me a size Medium sleep sack and a feeding chair. Score! I’ve had luck with this technique with regular retail stores like kids clothes and non-drive-through restaurants. Most businesses are happy to take your money outside if you’re polite and explain the situation. Finally, cash makes it easier.

If your baby is a car napper, keep the phone number of such helpful businesses in your phone.

This guest post is by my friend Karen from OffTheMeathook.com, about her son, Laz.

We are among the lucky few who had a baby that slept through the night from a pretty early age. We didn’t really do anything to make it happen – but around 4 months old, our son just stopped waking up at 2 AM and started sleeping for a good 10-hour stretch almost every night. If he did wake in the night, we would leave him to cry in his crib and he would very quickly get himself back to sleep. I probably don’t have to tell you that this kind of thing can really lull you into a false sense of sleep security. There you are, getting used to finally waking up all rested and refreshed, thinking you have made it through the hard part.

Ha! It turns out we had merely passed Level 1 of this multi-player game we call sleep training.

Fast forward to 9 months old, and our son had proudly learned to grab onto those crib rungs and get himself to a standing position. He had also, seemingly overnight, developed a hyper-acute Spidey-sense to detect the very moment that one tiny part of his deep-sleeping, limp body hit the crib mattress, which would jolt him awake and set him into a screaming, crying fit. Unlike the sweet little baby of just a few months prior, who would quickly roll over and settle in the crib and get back to sleep, we found that our kid was now standing up in the crib, hanging on to the edge, to continue his tantrum from a fully upright position.

The problem? Once he was standing up, he couldn’t figure out how to get down again. So he would cry standing up, until he fell asleep standing up, at which point the fact that he was standing up would jolt him back awake. And the cycle would start all over again, ad nauseum. We had a few nights of feeling exhausted, frustrated, and powerless before we found a way to wrest back control. Of course, we didn’t know if it would work – but we felt relieved to have something to try.

The plan: to “emotionlessly” and silently lay him down over and over until he went to sleep. The first night it took about 50 times of laying him down before he finally got to sleep, sniffling and sobbing. I don’t have to tell you that it was a super hard night. But the next night, it only took 30 times. And the night after that – 10 times. The fourth night, after laying him down just three times he figured the jig was up, and passed out.

What this experience taught me is that my husband and I can handle these parenting hurdles so much better if we work together on a plan that involves specific actions we can take. We both took so much solace in the idea that we were trying something consistent to solve the problem, even though there were really challenging moments (OK, hours.) Luckily, in this case, it worked out. But if it hadn’t, I now know that the right thing for us would have been to make a new plan and try it until we got it right.

It’s been about a month since all this happened, and it’s still working great. If he needs to be laid down at all, it generally takes fewer than 5 times before he gives up and remains lying down. Last night he was acting up at bedtime and standing sentinel at the edge of the crib, whimpering. I went to lay him down and something fabulous happened – he laid himself down and went to sleep.

I love Karen’s rookie mom stories about Laz. We have more if you want to read them: their international baby travels, their nice stuff, their cute monthly photos!

This is part of our series of posts sponsored by Pediacare.

Ever stay home from work to take care of a sick child, and half-way through the day, you’re wondering where to take him to work out his energy — that won’t contaminate other kids?

Sometimes a fever will make little ones sluggish and ripe for a long afternoon of cuddling and quiet play. Other days, getting sick kids the rest they need is like leading a horse to water. Is it just me? As soon as my child gets in a laying down position, it turns into “let’s pretend I’m a dog” complete with panting and asking for a toy to be thrown for a game of fetch.

Will you brainstorm with me? What tricks do you have to help your bambinos get enough sleep, especially when a cough or cold is in the air?

Here are a few tricks that I’ve seen work:

1. Objects of affection are only allowed in the bed. Once my children stopped napping on the go, their pacifiers and lovies stayed permanently in the crib. They were eager to go to bed at night because they wanted to get their suck on. They were eager to nap as well because their beds represented those soothing items.

2. Ramp it up before you ramp it down. As Heather shared recently, meeting a kid at his own tempo may be less of a struggle than coming at them with a “You are feeling VERRRRRY SLEEEPY” command. Play or dance at a higher energy level for a few minutes and then slowly wind it down until you are both laying horizontally and still. This is an exercise in patience, for sure. Heather’s toddler music playlist will take you from sixty to zero.

3. A special light show. A variety of products project stars or rainbows on the ceiling, intended to help children fall asleep. My daughter’s friend has a light device that’s on a timer and she knows she gets to push it twice before she goes to sleep. Scarlett loved sleeping with her friend and using it. We also had a LeapFrog plush toy that played music for a few minutes, and I know a lot of parents swear by the Sleep Sheep.

Clearly kids don’t know what’s good for them or they would stop putting marbles in their mouths the first time you ask. Sleep is one of the hardest things to force on someone. What tricks do you have up your sleeve?

This post is sponsored by Pediacare.  Take note of their children’s fever reducing product Cough and Runny Nose, plus acetaminophen.

My friend and parenting expert, Julie King, had a rookie baby who would not sleep once he reached the toddler age. Once he figured out that better things were going on in the other room, he resisted.

Together with her friend and co-author, Joanna Faber, they created Asher’s Dance and Rest Tape to trick the savage toddler into napping.

Julie told me:

Joanna came up with the concept and then made the tape for me (and Asher) years ago, when I was having trouble getting him to calm down and nap (and I had his new baby brother to juggle). As a classical pianist who only listens to pop music when someone force-feeds me and have no idea what I’m hearing, I was at a loss when it came to picking actual music, so she came to my rescue.

It has about 30 to 45 minutes of music, and it goes from very lively dance music, to calmer dance music, to soothing, ending with Gregorian Chants.

I would always do it with Asher (or else he wouldn’t do it), and we would start off with wild dancing, and then get slower and slower, and by the time the Gregorian chants came we’d be lying on the floor on a blanket, and he would take his nap on the floor.

Inspired by your comments last time I posted this scenario, I created a Rookie Mom’s Dance and Rest Playlist on spotify. It starts with fast songs (like the move it, move it song) all the way through sleepy songs and chants.

I’d love to hear your feedback if you try it. I tested it on my seven year old and about halfway through, he got bored, so, there’s that.

This post is based on a real-life facebook query we received:

Dear Rookie Moms,
Our 8-month old baby refuses to sleep in a pack n play and is too little for a regular bed. She is way too active to cosleep with us. The city where my family lives doesn’t seem to have any crib rentals or hotels with full-sized cribs.

Considering putting a mattress or just folded blankets on the floor and using a play yard fence around it to improvise a crib, which doesn’t seem very safe, but not sure what else to do!

Our fantastic readers came to the rescue with these suggestions, what do YOU think?

• Jane: We use a pop-up kid tent. Works even better than a pack and play.
• Annika: When my son was about the same age, I had him sleep on the pack & play mattress on the floor. It’s practically flat so no worries about him falling off of it. It seems weird to me now that he didn’t crawl or roll away, but I don’t recall that happening. We also used this go crib.
• Dana: What about your stroller? I’ve done improvised cribs before and somehow my kids would always wind up rolling into an odd corner or escaping.
• Aimee: Look into the peapod. It’s a pop up tent sleeping thing. Not sure how it would work for an 8m old but worth looking into as it is so small u can pack it in your suitcase.
• Lysa: I use a toddler size inflatable bed. It has bumpers so the can’t roll onto the floor.
  
• Shana: We had success with babybjorn’s travel crib. But…I always had to curl up in it to get R to sleep. Thankfully, I’m not that tall, lol!
• Whitney: My baby always slept in his car seat for the first months. We never had a problem.
• Lisa: We use the toddler Aerobed.
• Sarah: We’ve put a mattress on the floor before. Worked okay for our kids.

Related:
Sleeping in a bucket or a bin on a trip
Sleep tips for summer travel

Seriously. Is someone you love napping right now? If you click on one more link, you’re just depriving yourself from an opportunity to lay down.

I do this to myself every day. I’m so so so tired and then the kid’s asleep and I’m clicking away. The few times I’ve been disciplined, it’s been so lovely. You should try it. The second your little monkey conks out, run into your bedroom, rip off your pants and jump into bed. Close your eyes. Stay.

This PSA was originally published in 2006 before I had the nasty habit of taking the phone into every room with me and doing the same addictive clicking on that device.

The book, Bringing Up Bebe, by writer (and mother) Pamela Druckerman made a splash upon its release, most of which was related to the theme of social behavior.  Why do French children eat like adults? Everyone wants to know. How do I get my kids to exercise good manners and accept foods with a variety of  textures and sauces? When will I be able to have an adult conversation without interruption?

Well yes, I want answers to these questions as well, but what I thought might be most helpful to rookie moms in a summary of this book comparing French and American styles of parenting was the portion about sleep.

Here’s a brief excerpt from the book, so you know where the author is coming from. She is an American living in Paris, having married a British man and given birth to a daughter.

Why was it, for example, that in the hundreds of hours I’d clocked at French playgrounds, I’d never seen a child (except my own) throw a temper tantrum? Why didn’t my French friends ever need to rush off the phone because their kids were demanding something? Why hadn’t their living rooms been taken over by teepees and toy kitchens, the way ours had? Soon it became clear to me that quietly and en masse, French parents were achieving outcomes that created a whole different atmosphere for family life… I decided to figure out what French parents were doing differently. Why didn’t French children throw food? And why weren’t their parents shouting?

The answer to all these questions turns out to be wrapped up in one concept: Waiting. Patience. Timing.

The author observes that in every aspect of socializing their children, what the French seem to do differently than Americans is take a beat. Take. A. Beat.

Rather than engaging their children in a cycle of negotiation in which the child learns that crying or whining will grab their parent’s attention and open a dialogue through which the child has an opportunity to bend the parent to his or her will, the French teach their children patience.

They demonstrate that the adult conversation will be concluded before the child can have the floor. They do not give out bags of finger foods at all hours of the day: French children learn to wait for snack time. A little hunger is an acceptable human sensation. Instant gratification is not a priority.

Children learn patience by practicing it.

Ok, so this might all be obvious to you. If we allow our children to be self-centered and whiny, they will have little motivation to behave any other way. If we teach them that tantrums capture our attention, they will use that tool as necessary. Got it. We’ve all got it.

Waiting and Infant Sleep

But when my first little bundle of joy arrived, I wasn’t worried about behavior modification. Babies just need what they need, right? Milk, sleep, human contact, sleep, and dry clothing. And sleep.

Wait, what about that sleep thing? If they need so much damn sleep, why do they have such a hard time falling asleep? And why do they wake up so frequently?

This is the bit of the book I wanted to share. According to the author, it is American parents who expect sleep deprivation in early parenthood. French parents expect the baby to begin “doing his nights” as they say in French, very quickly.

How does this happen? What do they know that we don’t know?

French parents observe their babies, explains Druckerman. They wait a moment. They take a pause. Frazzled new mom Druckerman notes this habit in the park where she sees moms and nannies not responding quite so quickly to baby-fussing that would inspire her to take immediate action. And she’s annoyed by it.

But she learns through her research that there may be something to The Pause.

A baby who cries out in his sleep may settle himself, but we parents can only learn this if we pause to observe the baby, rather than running to scoop him up out of his crib, possibly jostling him all the way awake and then needing to soothe him back to sleep.

Dr. Michel Cohen, who is sort of a celebrity pediatrician in New York City and whose medical degree was obtained in France, tells Druckerman the same thing when she interviews him.

No one ever pointed it out to me, either, and I think it’s a valuable tip.

Does this perspective bring anything new to you?

Note: You can read most of the “Doing her nights” chapter by clicking the “Search inside this book” link on the Amazon page for Bringing Up Bebe: One American Mother Discovers the Wisdom of French Parenting. Also? Random House sent me this book in an Audio CD format. I listened to it in the car.

Related: French Kids Eat Everything, a book in a similar vein that focuses solely on eating.

I am the sleep czar in my house. I believe in bedtime routines, long and frequent naps on a schedule, and lots of sleep. My children can even recite Weissbluth’s “sleep rules” by heart. As we have had more children — and those children have gotten older — things have loosened up, but only a bit. Bedtime was at 6:30 for my son as an infant and is 7:30 now that he’s in elementary school.

This recent study shows that children who get more sleep function better. Duh.

But I take issue with this little quote:

“Going to bed one hour earlier, that’s not a lot to ask a family, can make a big difference in terms of a child’s daytime behavior,” says Dr. Meltzer.

Not a lot to ask a family. Huh? Really?

Let’s look at my kids’ evening routine:

• 5:30 Full-on sprint mode. I make dinner; the 5YO and 7YO watch something on PBS; baby hangs on me or them.
• 6:00 Dinner time. The kids and I are eating by the time my husband gets home at 6:22.
• 6:45 Our 1YO is melting down and we scurry him off to a 7:00 bedtime. Big kids hit the bath or their evening routine.
• 7:00 Baby is in bed. Begin reading to the bigs.
• 7:30 Big kids in bed. Sometimes smooth, sometimes not.

And they wake up at around 6:30am on school days. So, how could we possibly back that up by one full hour?

What’s it like in your house?

We’re excited to be co-hosting a twitter party with BABYBJÖRN to chat about baby sleep and we hope you’ll join us. Please join us so we’re not just tweeting with ourselves. Especially since we’re not even eligible for the great prizes  BABYBJÖRN will be giving away to participants.

Are you an expectant mom with many questions? Or an experienced rookie with a few tricks up your sleeve? What are your best tips to get a baby to sleep? Or the strangest thing you ever tried? Share with us during our #babysleep Twitter Party Tuesday afternoon, September 25th and you could win some goodies (as well as learn some great sleep tips).

The party details:

• When: Tuesday September 25 from 3PM-4PM EST (or 12PM-1PM PST for us)
• Who: Your hosts are @RookieMoms and @BabyBjornUS, with special guest @UHRainbowBabies.
• Where: Twitter with the hashtag #babysleep. No RSVP required.
• What: We will share baby sleep tips from the doctors at Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital and exchange stories and pictures of sleeping babies. We’ll also give away four great prizes: Babysitter Balance Bouncer, Baby Carrier Miracle, Travel Crib Light 2, and the Cradle Harmony.

The launch of the new Cradle Harmony is the inspiration for our Twitter party. It is specifically designed for the first six month’s of newborn sleep. Surrounded by breathable mesh fabric, hypo-allergenic, washable, this portable cradle offers a modern aesthetic. We saw it in person a few weeks ago at a sneak preview and it’s really gorgeous. It also has a custom canopy to complete the cozy feeling and dim the ambient light.

What is a Twitter party? It just means that we’ll be on Twitter with a constant stream of sleep-related chat during a set time period. To participate, tweet or respond to our questions. Use the hashtag #babysleep in each of your tweets so that others who are following can see and respond to you.  At the beginning of the chat, we’ll post a special link that will allow you to see all the #babysleep tweets on one screen.

Shhh…. We’ll be inviting you to post photos of your baby asleep on Twitter during the party. If you want to slip one in now, we’ll re-tweet it during the party! (Don’t forget the hashtag so we know your intentions!)