First thing, choosing what time of bed to get her. We went to a furniture store to see what a “big kids” bed actually looked like. We knew that they usually involved a rail of some sort and were usually low to ground, in case they fell out of the bed. Unfortunately, the furniture store only had cribs on display (that DID transition into toddler beds), but none of them were already set up so that we could see what they actually looked like. They did have a Twin Size bed but we thought that was too big to start her off on. We liked the secure look of a transitional bed with a rail.

We ended up finding one on Amazon.com and went with it. A few days later, it showed up! We built it and put her mattress in it with new big girl sheets. We told her it was her new bed as we were building it. We put a couple of her toys on it and let her explore. We pulled her old crib out of the room and put it into the room down the hall, which will be her sisters room. Lucky for us, we put her in that bed that night and she fell right asleep. I kept the camera on her all night, in freight that she would fall out of the bed, or cry wondering where she was. I must have checked on her a couple times that night. My sweet girl, curled up in her baby fetal position all comfy on her new bed! I even put a big soft pillow against the bed where there was no railing, in case she did tap up against it and accidentally fell out of the bed.

Its been almost 1 1/2 months now in her bed and she hasn’t called out of it once!! SUCCESS! She actually stays in it and doesn’t leave it until we come to get her! We watch her on the monitor and when she starts to get up, she grabs her books and just starts reading to herself. How did we get so lucky? She’s always been a good sleeper since she was 6 months old and this proved that she was ready for her bed all along!

Here is her bedtime routine (usually around 8:00pm start):

1. She gets a bubble bath every night (to her request…she LOVES getting  bath!)
2. We brush her teeth
3. We get her into her pajamas
4. We either go downstairs to let her watch a little bit of cartoons, or we read her some books in her room
5. We lay her in her bed, turn on her Cloud B “turtle” and let the music lull her to complete sleep

Products we use for her:

1. Ava Anderson Non Toxic (Kids): Body Wash + Shampoo, Body Lotion and Diaper Cream
2. Ava Anderson Non Toxic (Smile) toothpaste
3. Ava Anderson Non Toxic (Kids) Monster Spray: An amazing lavender spray for her room! Love the name of the product!

What works well for you in getting your toddler to bed at night? Do you have a good routine to share?

-Kim

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We’ve been using the  Think Dirty app recently and it shows us just how “safe” your personal care products are (are on scale of 1-10) . It lets you know potential health risks in each of the ingredients found in the product. Scary, right?!  You could literally drive yourself crazy looking at all of these .

When thinking of “safer” products that you would want to use for your little one you probably think of soaps, shampoos and diapers, right?  Well, what about wipes? One of the things you probably go through the most on a daily basis (for diaper changes, messy face clean-ups, dirty hands, table top cleaning, etc) are those convenient, pop up wipes! No one ever thinks about what are on those wipes. It’s not just a wet cloth of water.

I did a search on the app for the wipes that we currently use and here is what came up:

Gahhhh…..on a scale of 0-10 (with 10 being a product with high concern), my “Natural Care”, “Fragrance Free” wipes got a 7 !  This totally shocked me.  I didn’t even want to know the results from regular wipes that weren’t “Natural” and “fragrance free”.

With a little investigating, we found a recipe for DIY baby wipes.  We are confident that the ingredients in it are a MUCH safer alternative for your kiddo’s bottom! They do require a little bit of work, but that’s the name of the DIY game, right?

SUPPLIES:

1 Roll Paper Towels

2 cups Distilled Water

2 Tbsp avaBABY Body Wash and Shampoo 

1 Tbsp avaBODY Hand Sanitizer

2 Tbsp Olive Oil or warm coconut oil

A few drops of Essential Oil (Optional). We used Thieves.

DIRECTIONS:

1) Cut the roll of paper towels in half with a sharp kitchen knife

2) Mix all ingredients into a bowl, pour mixture over the paper towels.

3) Let soak and remove inner cardboard.

4) Store wipes in a ziplock bag or reuse an old wipes container. Pull from the middle. Ready to use!

* We’ve been using them for a week now and so far they’ve been great! We used paper towels from Costco. Their Kirkland brand is really heavy duty, so the wipes actually hold up!

-K and J

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