Dad Does Toddler’s Bedtime In New ‘Big Boy’ Bed, It Doesn’t Go As Planned

A dad tasked with getting his toddler son to sleep in his new, significantly larger, bed ended up falling into a familiar trap among sleep-deprived parents.

Ensuring your child gets a good night’s sleep is a crucial part of being a parent.

The CDC recommends children between the ages of 3 and 5 sleep anywhere between 10 and 13 hours a day, with that range shifting to between 9 and 12 hours a day among children aged between 6 and 12.

Good sleep isn’t always easy to come by though, especially in those first few years. In fact, one study published in the journal Sleep in 2019, said new parents can expect to experience sleep deprivation for the first six years of their child’s life.

Lauren Gallichan’s son is 3-years-old, so is very much in the midst of this disruptive period. Young children need routine at bedtime, so any change brings with it the potential to disrupt sleep.

Gallichan and her husband have recently ushered in a pretty significant change after deciding to upgrade their son’s bed to a full-sized double. It’s the kind of change that has led to disruption for other kids. However, it was a necessary change.

“He had a toddler bed and was starting to outgrow it,” Gallichan told Newsweek. “So we thought instead of just a normal single bed we’ll get him a double bed as then we can sit and read with him better and it’ll last him longer as he grows up!”

But Gallichan has never been especially worried about the impact changing things around would have and has ultimately been proven right. “It’s been a really smooth transition actually, he’s done really well!” she said. “He takes change very well and loves the idea that mummy and daddy can get in bed with him to read.”

That’s not to say that giving her son a double bed of his own has not come without its issues, as Gallichan discovered one evening recently when her husband was supposed to be getting their son off to sleep.

“He was reading him a bedtime story and once he was finished my son had asked him to stay for a bit to cuddle, so my husband stayed and pretended to be asleep. But then he actually fell asleep,” she said.

Between work and childcare, Gallichan said her husband takes whatever chance he can get to catch up on sleep. “My husband falls asleep very quickly, like his head can hit the pillow and he’ll be gone in minutes,” she said.

Gallichan even recalls joking with her husband that “he’d end up falling asleep when it’s his turn to read a book” in their son’s new bed. She was still surprised when it actually happened, but not too surprised that she didn’t have her phone ready to record a video of the fallout.

“I was in my daughter’s room sorting her out then I was heading in to give my son a kiss good night and heard my son say ‘daddy sleeping, ssssh’ so I grabbed my phone,” Gallichan said.

The video, which was posted to her TikTok laurenchlo__, shows her husband, fast asleep in the “big boy” bed next to their son, who is very much awake. As peaceful as her other half might appear, Gallichan was in no mood to let him rest.

“I woke my husband up as my son wouldn’t sleep with him there. My son has never slept with us in a bed, ever so he wouldn’t have settled,” she said. “So my husband got up and then my son drifted off to sleep shortly after.”

Gallichan is pleased to report that her husband has not fallen asleep in their son’s bed again since the incident, but she fully expects a repeat. “It’s only a matter of time,” she said.