Changing Rooms for New Baby

The main thing is to not have the transition associated with the new baby but to do what is right for each child. My kids are 20 months apart. My son (the new baby) slept in a basinette in our room for 4 months because my daughter was not ready for a big girl bed. I would have kept her the crib longer but they share a very small room that has room for only one crib. We purchased a toddler bed with side rails when she was two. We moved her into it, calling it a princess bed, and after a rocky night or two she adusted well. We did not move the baby into her old crib for several months after that.

I would say the main thing is not to put the baby into the crib until your older child has adusted to his new bed. If your child is climbing out of the crib he is ready for a bed. If not he can probably stay in a crib for longer, in which case you might want to look into borrowing a second crib for the baby for a while.

good luck

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When we were expecting our second we moved our first into a new room, we were leaving what was to be his old room for the new baby, handing down nearly all the furniture etc.
We began setting up the new room several months before his brother was born. He "helped" pick out his new dresser, bed etc. We'd set it up as we got it in his new room. We started spending more time in there, we'd read books and let him climb on his new bed and so on. Once the basics were in there we started moving his personal things in, putting the clothes in the closet and in drawers, put his new sheets on his new bed. We started putting his brother to be's clothes in the other closet and setting up his stuff in the first room. As we got closer to his brother being born we'd get ready for bed in there, only moving at the very end to sit on his rocking chair in the soon to be old room and he'd sleep in his crib. What turned out to be 1 week before my second's birth we moved his rocking chair and the very last items that were his into his new room and I stripped the crib bare. That night we rocked him down to sleep in his rocking chair in his new room and he slept in there the whole night. It took a few nights to get him used to the whole idea. We'd have to show him how it was his things in the room etc. But it went really smoothly. My son is hard with changes but because we did it in stages over time he did super well and it went amazingly.

1 mom found this helpful

I would transition him into his "big boy room" now. I would keep him in his crib until after the new baby arrives (unless he s starting to climb out of the crib by himself). I would not rush to move him into a big boy bed. My little guys are 22 months apart (they are 2 and 1 right now). Especially when you are busy with a newborn, it is nice to be able to put the older child into a crib (for the night, for a nap, for five minutes while you are doing something else & know he is safe.

I would not make any changes to your older child's routine "closer to the big day". Toddlers thrive on routine and "sameness". This will be especially important when you bring home a newborn and life changes for everyone in a big way.

Congratulations!

T. Y
SAHM of 4 (10 yrs, 8 yrs, 2yrs and 1 yrs)

I would make the new room and new bed one big fun event! My oldest 2 kids are 19 months apart, and we moved the older one out of the nursery into his big boy room (with bed) at the same time. We decorated it in all kinds of sports/balls stuff, and he thought he was really cool! You really could do it anytime between now and mid-January that was convenient I'd say. I would give him about 3 weeks before the baby comes though to get used to it.

I'd move him out now so he's not moving close to baby's birth. So he won't feel he's being replaced by the baby.
Both of mine were 18 months when they moved out of the crib so it is possible. Just put a gate on his door so he doesn't come out of his room after bed time.

My two youngest are also 22 months apart. We were tight on space so we left our 22-month-old in his crib in the room that he was already in (with his older brother and sister) and the newborn slept in his cradle (and his carseat, and our bed) for several months. We got a toddler bed for the older one when the baby was about 4 months old. We moved when the baby was 6 months old and didn't transition him to a crib until then.

As others have mentioned, it's important to make the transition totally unrelated to the arrival of the new baby. If your 19 month old shows signs of being ready to go to a big boy bed (or a toddler bed, whatever you're planning on) now or in the next month or two, then go ahead and do it. Make a big deal out of his new room and new bed and let him help pick out bedding and decor (those wall appliques that you can remove later are great!). If he's not ready to move out of the crib (or out of his room) then have a backup plan for your new baby (a bassinet in your room, for example) and wait a few months until your older one has settled into his role of big brother before working on getting him out of the crib.

Congrats on your new baby and good luck!

I would think that if you do it slowly and before the baby it will be less stress on everyone. you are going to have a lot of changes to deal w/ when the baby comes you might want to get number one used to at least this one thing. it iwll be hard to focus on them if issues arize when you are dealing w/ baby number two. xo good luck and congrats.

We are expecting Baby#2 in May and we had been thinking of this as well. My son is 26 months. Yesterday we took off the side of his crib and gave him a blanket and pillow. He was so excited and didn't want to come out. In a few weeks we are planning on purchasing new furniture and moving him to a new room. I am not sure how that will go but this went surprisingly well.

However, he has been sleeping on an air mattress at my sister's house for a few months. When he first started doing that he would cry for thirty minutes before his nap and then he just accepted it. I think she warmed him up for us.

I would say do it now. Congrats!

I'm expecting a baby too in 6 weeks and my daughter will be 24 months then. We decided to set up a whole new room for her including setting up her big girl bed. I was really worried about how this would go and felt sure she would fight naps and would get out of the bed constantly but she's been in her bed about a month now and it couldn't be going better. She took to it immediately! However, she had really been fighting the crib the couple of months leading up to the switch and we made a big deal about acting like a big girl and staying in bed so she seemed very happy to stay in her bed instead of the crib. I know every child is different but things have gone really smoothly for us doing the whole switch before the baby's arrival.