Transitioning Siblings to Sharing a Room + Naturepedic Love

Thank you to Naturepedic of sponsoring today's blog post 

and providing an organic crib mattress for Ruby to transition to her "big girl bed" in! 

Check out our experience below and see why Naturepedic is our #1 choice. 

Just about 2 years ago I shared my story of how we transitioned our daughter from co-sleeping to independently sleeping in her own room, in a toddler bed. Today I'm excited to share the follow up story of the transition of having the sisters share a room!

Safe bed sharing just makes life easy for us; from the first night of welcoming both of our daughters to the world we have slept with our baby in our bed. It encourages on demand night nursing and it is simply how I am the most comfortable sleeping with my children. But all great things must come to an end and shortly before Ruby's 2nd birthday we decided that it was time to transition her to a toddler bed in the same room as her 4 year old sister, Penny.

This was nerve wracking - why make changes to a well working machine? Everyone was getting *almost* a full night's rest and undoubtedly a change as dramatic no longer sleeping with mom and dad every night would turn everything on its head. What if Ruby doesn't take to sleeping in her own bed, what if she cries a lot and that also wakes up Penny? How do I coordinate putting the kids down at the same time? What if Penny isn't quiet enough for Ruby to fall asleep? All of these questions, and more, weakened my resolve. But we finally did it and let me share a few of my tips below.

Tips to make the transition smoother for moving a cosleeping toddler into sharing a room with her preschool aged sibling:

• Have a solid night time routine that includes some wind down time in the bedroom, such as getting dressed in pajamas, snuggling and reading to your children. The more time you spend with you children in their bedroom they will realize that this is comfortable and safe space. Allow the younger child to play in the room during the day and practice getting in and out of their new bed.  At night time we dim the lights in the room for about 5-10 minutes before lights out time, this also allows them to have a visual queue that it's time for bed. 
• Carrying over a few creature habits: Ruby always fell asleep to the sound of our Sleep Sheep, and recently I had introduced a classical music CD to Penny when she was having trouble falling asleep. We combined those two white noise factors for both of the girls' combined bed times so that both of them still were listening to their familiar night time noises. I also slept with her new sheets on our family bed for a few nights to help transfer the familiar scent.
• Night weaning: Ruby was night weaned for about 3 weeks. We still nursed during the day, but my gentle weaning process with both girls starts with night weaning at about 18 months and took about 2 months to have both of us fully committed to milk free nights. We helped this transition by nursing more frequently during the day and longer before bed and nap time. I chose to continue to nurse her through this transition because it's another source of comfort that helped her recognize this as a safe sleep space.
• We payed very special attention to the lighting in the bedroom; from the main bedroom light and lamp down to what electronic devices emit a small light on their power button or display. Take a piece of blue painter's tape to cover button lights if they seem to be a distraction to your child. 
• As with any childrens room, ensure that you have child safe window treatments.
• Finally - the most important thing - the bed! Am I right?

Because children can spend upwards of 16 hours a day in their bed, it's really important to be aware of what kind of mattress they are sleeping on. We have specifically chosen Naturepedic mattresses for our children because of their high level of commitment to quality and intentional sourcing of products that are the best for our bodies while adhering to safety standards. 

Why would you need or want an organic mattress? Recent studies have shown that the flame retardants in both mattresses and sleepware ending up in our bodies, and it's not good. I am already mindful of the foods and products that we use in order to lessen the impact of unnatural chemicals, so including the one product that my child will spend the most time using (her mattress) made sense to me to make sure that it didn't have those harmful chemicals in them. But there are still federal requirements for fire safety in mattresses so Naturepedic took a close look at how to still have their mattresses be fire safe but not use the harmful fire retardant chemicals that other mattress companies rely on. Organic cotton is less flammable than the traditional polyurithane foam found in most mattresses. Polyurithane foam, though inexpensive, is highly flammable and therefore needs to be treated with flame retardants. Through innovative design, Naturepedic has created mattresses that are natural and safe for our bodies and meet Federal and State flammability requirements. Naturepedic mattresses are also made in the USA!

We received Naturepedic's Ultra Breathable 2-Stage Organic Crib Mattress for Ruby.  Penny has been sleeping on the Naturepedic Organic Cotton Deluxe Crib Mattress for 2 years and I was excited to see what the difference was between the two models. Ruby has been successfully transitioned for about 2 months and we have been really happy with the quality of the mattress. Unlike most other children's waterproof mattresses, Naturepedic childrens mattresses aren't NOISY! No scritchy-scratchy noises as your baby moves around at night or when you stealthily ninja out of the room. The mattress is a two-stage mattress so one side if firm enough for safe sleep for an infant and when baby gets older you can flip it to the softer toddler side. Both sides, however, are very comfortable. This is coming from the mom who has slept on the mattress with her transitioning two year old on more than one occasion! This model of mattress also includes a breathable, washable cover and is unbelievably lightweight. 

Because we get the rare opportunity to compare two Naturepedic mattresses side by side, I wanted to include some of the differences that you'll find between the brand new Ultra Breathable 2-Stage Organic Crib Mattress versus the Organic Cotton Deluxe Crib Mattress that we've had for 2 years. 

Both are two stage mattresses with a firm "infant" side and a softer "toddler" size. They are made from the same quality organic materials and do not use harmful flame retardant chemicals.  

• The Deluxe Crib Mattress has inner springs, the Ultra Breathable uses wavesupport™ technology. I personally do not see a difference in comfort between the two though. 
• The Ultra Breathable mattress comes with a removable washable cover and weighs less (thanks to the wavesupport™ technology).

All in all, we love Naturepedic mattresses not only for their quality and commitment to healthy ingredients for the whole family, but also because they are truly comfortable mattresses that my children love to sleep on!

Find them:

Naturepedic mattresses online

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Disclosure: I received product, free of charge, in exchange for my honest review. No other compensation was provided. However, I would not be giving this product 5 stars 

if I didn't absolutely love them too!