Today is a Backwards edition of WFMW over at Shannon's, where I get to list a problem, and tons of people out in the blogosphere get to offer fun, creative, and totally useful solutions. So here goes...
We have a 2 year old son, Jackson. We put a crib tent on his bed when he was 16 months old because he had figured out how to climb out of the crib, and I was nowhere near ready to have him roaming the house unsupervised. I'm still not ready for it, but I know that sooner or later the crib has to go. I am a tad bit totally overwhelmed about this and I would love to have some suggestions on how to successfully make the transfer to a big boy bed. We would love to just take him straight into a twin bed instead of dealing with a toddler bed if at all possible.
Any ideas on what worked for you, or suggestions on what to avoid? Also, do you have any ideas on how to keep him in his room when he is free to come and go as he pleases.
Sheesh. I'm already losing sleep just thinking about this. Thanks for any suggestions. Bye ya'll!
The Sweetest Season
13 hours ago
14 random thoughts:
we had the cribs that convert into toddler beds, so I'm not sure about changing the beds, we also just took of the rail around age 2 and then they were in the same bed, only without the front rail. Mine always changed over easily. We purchased the baby gates and they each have one at their doorway, they are not allowed to touch the gate or get out and they have always known that, so they don't. We put the gate up at bedtime and take it down in the morning. That way if they wake up, they can play in their room and not be roaming the house.
yes yes yes - go straight to twin!! Why make 2 transitions if you don't need to? We made a big production of it with my girls - for a week we talked about how exciting it would be to be in a big bed, etc. ON the last morning in the crib we said bye bye and had a little talk about how that was a baby bed. Then we sent the kid off with Nana for the day - totally changed the room around and replaced a twin for the crib. I used rails on both sides (plus the wall). They were both excited when they got their big girl beds. I also gated the door with each of them for the first few weeks, so they understood they could not get out. I also gated the top of the stairs, so they couldn't go down (once I removed the door gate). good luck - worked for me!
I would also go straight to a twin bed, if possible. We made the mistake with my 4 year old of going to a toddler bed that he quickly outgrew. We made a big deal of it. We talked up what a big boy he was going to be and all the "new" things he would be able to do. We let him pick out the bed coverings and what he wanted is room to be decorated in...then we went to work. We changed his bedroom theme the same weekend we got the new bed so everything went pretty smooth. We were also able to pass the crib off to a friend that was having a baby and he loved that idea.
Good luck!
We went straight to twin beds at 2 years old. We let the kiddos get used to the mattress & box spring on the floor for a month or two, then put it up on the frame with a step stool. One note in this adventure: Baby Proof the room! My children were so proud of themselves each time they emptied a dresser full of clothes. Grrr.
When we changed from nurseries to big kid rooms they were pretty sparse for a while. Accessories can always come back in, but safety is huge. I picked out their bedding (cause I'm Martha like that, lol) but I let the kids choose their own sheets. I didn't want a whole room themed in Thomas the Train only for begging requests to change it all to Spiderman or Cars 2 months later. Sheets are an affordable way to change up new favorites.
Good Luck & Blessings! ~Whitney
We used a toddler bed. Ours just wasn't ready to go from crib to twin bed. You can find inexpensive toddler beds for the transition and it uses the same mattress.
We made a big deal of the transition. He got to go with us to pick out the new bed and then we told him when it would be his last night in the crib. The next day, the crib was taken down and the new bed arrived. He was excited and we never had a problem. He has a bunk bed, so the bottom bed is a bit lower to the ground than many twin beds. He never had a problem falling out, but we did put pillows on the floor at first just in case. You could use just a mattress and and bunkie board at first instead of the box springs just to keep the bed lower. I also used a gate at first at his bedroom door (especially at night since I didn't want him roaming the house), but we quickly figured out that we didn't need it.
I have not read your other comments, so sorry if I'm duplicating something. We have moved both of our children directly to twin beds and have had pretty good success.
We made a HUGE deal out of them getting 'big boy beds' and new sheets, etc. And bought rails for the non-wall side of the bed. We also use a tension mount gate on the bedroom door to prevent roaming about.
For the actual keeping them in bed and going to sleep part, we started by sitting on the end of the bed until he fell asleep for a few nights, then moved beside the bed, then to the doorway, etc. until finally out of the room completely. It took about 2 weeks with both kids to finally get them to go to sleep easily in their beds. Now at 4.5 and 27 mo. they share a room and we don't have any issues. We still put the gate on the door until the younger one is asleep (it has to come down so the 4 yr. old can go to the bathroom), just so he's not roaming around upstairs when we're downstairs. We have a gate at the top of the stairs as well and when hubby and I go to bed, we take off the gate on their door and make sure all other doors (besides theirs and ours) are closed and the other doors (bathroom and baby's room) have knob lock thingies on them so the little one can't open them during the night.
We liked the security of a toddler bed with our oldest (we had to move her out of the crib at 15 months because her sister was born). However, when child #3 came around, we still had the oldest in the toddler bed and needed the crib, but couldn't afford to buy a new twin bed. We just got a twin mattress and put it on the floor. Wishing we would have done that instead of the toddler bed all along!
We also child-proofed the room and put a gate on the door. As long as they were quiet in their room, we didn't worry too much about what they were doing. Now #3 is 2yo and getting ready to move out of the crib as well. Best of luck! It's really not as scary as it seems!
I am planning on transitioning my daughter to a toddler bed soon. We actually bought a toddler bed but decided not to transition until she seems unhappy with the crib. She's 2.5 but still loves her crib, so we figured why mess with it? (Okay, I realize this is not helping you at all.)
I did want to point out that the reason we decided to get a toddler bed is so we could continue using the mattress--plus it has rails on both sides, which make it more similar to the crib. We thought that would make the switch easier. We got ours used, it's not being wasteful!
Good luck with your transition, and thank you for posting this, as I've learned a lot by reading the advice you've gotten so far!
You may be interested in joining our Thrifty Green Thursday blog carnival over at the Green Baby Guide. Come check it out!
When we transitioned, we just put the mattress on the floor. It was a queen size mattress in our case, the 'spare bed' that didn't get much use. Why buy something new?
Anyway, on the floor it was low enough for her to climb in easy, and no harm if she rolled out in the middle of the night. In a year or so, when she was taller and more durable, we put the box springs under it.
We set the room all up for her, and she started taking her naps in there. Then in a few days we put her to bed in there. It was a smooth transition.
our daughter is 2 (but will be 3 in october) and she just started sleeping in her twin-sized bed. it's mattress/boxspring on the floor with a bed rail.
she hates sleeping in the crib, always has. so we set up the twin bed in her room (the crib is in our room) and told her that she could sleep in her new bed as long as she stayed in it. if she gets out of the bed, she has to go sleep in the crib. i repeated that several times and had her repeat it back to me (what happens if you get out of bed?)
of course the first night she got out of the bed. i gave her a second chance. she got out again and i put her in the crib. she stayed there until she fell asleep. she yelled about it, but she understood what happened and she went to sleep after a few minutes.
i repeat every night, 'what will happen if you get out of the bed?' and she'll say, 'go into the crib.' she hasn't gotten out of the bed since. she will call us to her once or twice, but she doesn't get out of the bed.
Keep. the. crib. Seriously...keep him in there as long as possible. I miss crib days (and nights!)
E-mail me if you decide to try a toddler (although I agree you might as well go straight to the twin)...I might be able to hook you up. I think there's one in my attic.
Don't even bother with toddler beds, go straight for the twin bed. We've done that with all four of ours. With our youngest (he turns 2 in a couple weeks), we already had a bunk bed in the room with his two older brothers. So, instead of adding a whole other twin bed in a very small room, we have a twin trundle that we kept low on the ground (not popped up) and slid the lower half of it under the bottom bunk. That left a toddler-sized bed sticking out and works perfect. We're still working on a triple bunk... Anyway, tips for keeping him from roaming the house. We switched the door handle to a knob so that they had to be taller to be able to reach it and older to know how to turn it. If you aren't comfortable (or he isn't) with a closed door, plan on sitting outside his door every evening for about a week. Bring a book, a hand-held game, a laptop... whatever will help keep you your sanity. Then, everytime he gets up out of his bed, you jump in and either a) put him promptly back in bed with no talking or interaction or b) give a quick swat on his fanny and then put him back in bed. Do this EVERY time. It'll be exhausting, I won't lie. But he will get the picture. And you will have conquered the issue and can move on to better things. =0) It is so worth it. Don't be afraid or stressed about it. Just plan on it taking a good amount of time and plan accordingly.
I just found my post about the big switch with #4 http://runningamuck.wordpress.com/2008/06/10/wfmw-61108/
One more tip, make sure all toys are placed out of view. All the boys' toys are in their closet so we make sure they are all put away. For some reason, as long as they are out of sight, Lil Blue doesn't even think to get out and go looking for them. Hopefully, you little guy will be the same.
=0)
I put glow-in-the-dark stars over my kids' big kid beds. It really distracted them!
As far as dealing with keeping your child in bed, the best advice I could give is that you should consistently put him back in bed EVERY time he gets out. If you ignore it even once, you are reinforcing that behavior.
Good luck!
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