Toddler Nightstands: The Why and Wherefore

Why would a toddler need a nightstand? To hold a cup of water, of course! We found a plaster giraffe plant stand at a garage sale last weekend.

Photo of a painted plaster giraffe plant stand serving as a nightstand for Little Miss. A plastic cup rests on the giraffee's back.The giraffe is slightly taller than Little Miss’ twin mattress which lays directly on her floor. The stand is perfect for holding a cup, and not much else.

(She has slept on the mattress since she was 8 months old, and she’s 23 now, with only one roll off the bed… so I’m comfortable having a nightstand next to the bed.) 

A few months ago, Miss began insisting on water at bedtime. It was a stall tactic, one of many requests she unfurled to delay going to bed. So we began keeping a Playtex DrinkUp cup nearby, on a plastic plate for stability.

Today, at 23 months of age, she still sometimes guzzles the water three or four times, drinking and putting the cup away, then grabbing it to drink some more, and so on.

There are some behaviors we don’t entertainâ€”her pleas to read more books after we’ve finished her allotted two bedtime stories, her desire to seek out and say goodnight to the cats again, or her falsely claiming she has pooped her diaper. We let her drink and drink though. A toddler’s bladder is only so big.

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