How Should I Go About Moving My Son to His Own Bed?

Hi A., start him in his own bed at naptime's for a while. After that start at night. I would add a short rail to the bed until he is old enough to not roll out. Toddler beds are small in width and kids love to move in their sleep. At night it may take a few nights of him getting up and crying, but eventually he will get used to it and love it. Just keep at it, and don't get upset and frusterated if it takes a few days. Good luck

Please,Please, PLEASSE pass on any good advice you get- I am in the same boat as you and need to move my daughter into her new bed before I deliver my second in August!

Here's a article I got from AskDrSears.com ( I love this site) and of course every person has their own opinions and their own way and this is their way (his family is a fan of co-sleeping)

HOW CAN I TRANSITION MY 3-Y-O INTO HIS OWN BED?
"My three-year-old won't go to sleep in his own bed. He still wants to sleep in our bed, which we have done for three years now. How can we transition him into his own bed?"

There are two steps to this transition.

First, buy a toddler bed (one that uses a crib mattress and is low to the ground) and put it next to your bed. Make this a fun trip to the store and let your child pick out his "big boy bed." Put him to sleep in his new bed. You may need to either lay in your bed next to him or sit on the floor next to his bed. Expect him to want to crawl into your bed when he wakes up during the night. You can either allow this, or place him back into his bed and shush him back to sleep. The most important aspect for him to learn at this stage is not to stay in his bed all night, but rather that he has his own bed and he starts the night in it.

The second step occurs when he is comfortable with his own bed. Now you move the bed into his room. This may be a matter of months, or it may be a year or three later. Again, you put him to sleep in his bed. He may wake up and stumble down the hallway into your bed. (My eight-year-old still does this without even waking us up. We wake up in the morning a little squished, but it is nice to be able to snuggle with him on occasion). As he gets older, he stays in his own bed through the night more often.

If your child is still coming into your bed a little too often and you really want it to end, you can try a sticker chart reward system for every night he stays in his bed.

As with all stages of a child's life, they grow up way too fast. A few years from now he isn't going to want to snuggle or hug, and you will miss those warm mornings with all of you waking up together. Try not to be in too much of a hurry.

Dr. Bob

Dear A.,
I would say to get your son used to sleeping in the toddler bed in his own room. At least for naps and quiet rest time during the day. No pressure..."This is your bed and this is where you rest" and then just ease into the night time thing. Let him pick out a set of sheets or special new pillow case for his bed. To only be used in his room.
My son was a crazy sleeper. He always ended up with his head at the foot of his bed and would invetably roll out the space that didn't have the rail on it. I know it might sound weird, but I flipped his bed so the headboard was at the foot of the bed, and I just tucked him in, read to him, etc, upside down.
You'd think he would just roll as usual to the opposite end, but he never did. Maybe he couldn't sleep without his head pointing due east, I don't know. But it worked for him.

Best of luck!

Don't worry about the bed frame for right now. Just put the mattress on the floor. Pretty soon, he'll leanr not to fall off of it, and then you can put up the frame.

we loved transitioning to the toddler with it right next to our bed, but that was when my son was one. at 2, you may be ready for a bit more independence. make sure you give him extra support with his night time routine, maybe extra book or extra cuddle time or whatever is important to him. help him know he is not losing any connection. also, for us it was real important that he could find us in the middle of the night without us having to get up. we bought some nightlights for the trip across the house and from the first night he has come into our room on his own when he is ready. we always welcome the cuddles and congratulate him for any time he sleeps until morning in his own bed.

Try putting something on the floor for him to fall onto if you're afraid of him hurting himself. I noticed yesterday that Costco again has some nice folding mats for around $45. One of those would work perfectly for such use if the bed is against a wall on one side. And it could be used later for all sorts of things... an extra place for a guest to sleep, camping, etc. If you don't want to invest in something like that, just look around your house for pillows or other soft material for him to land on. If you have some of the foam mats... the ones that fit together like jigsaw puzzles... those will work fine to cushion a fall. If you get up in the morning and find him sleeping on the floor, it's really not a big deal, as long as he slept and didn't get hurt.

Hi A.,

2yrs is about when we transitioned each of our kids to thier beds also. I found that for the first few nights, and occational nights afterwards, I would have to lie down until the little one got to sleep, but it didn't take long. Of course, the 2nd two were a little easier because they already had a brother in the room, but it was basically the same process.

I used a pillow near the side of the bed. This seemed to prevent each one of them from rolling off the bed.

The sticker idea that Jamie mentioned is great!! We used that for other reasons, like chores, behavior, and stuff like that - but it works great!! We used little smiley face stickers on a calendar. If he got 6 smilies, then on the seventh day he could get a star. If he got a star, he got to pick what the days extra activities would be - the park, hot chocolate, baking something, a movie, playing cars, whatever he decided. It worked wonders as long as we talked about it repeatedly. We'd say, 'so have you decided what you want to do this weekend when you get your star?' - and so he was constantly looking forward to getting that star. :)

Hope this helps. :)

R.
www.HomeWithMy4.com

I read somewhere that one mom bought pool noodles (those long floaty things) and put them under the fitted sheet. It sort of works like a bumper, and would work really well for those crazy sleepers who can sneak out of the space in between the rails that come on a bed. Those rails are so pointless :-) I would put him in your room, he would still fall out, you would just hear him sooner. You could also buy one of those mesh rails that fits under the mattress and you can position wherever you want (like to fill in the space between the permanent rails).

I hope that helps...I am very scatterbrained right now. Blame it on lack of sleep :-)

don't move him to your room, keep him in his own room. they have bumper type things for the bed so kids don't fall out. good luck!

Just put him in it. If he keeps getting out at bedtime, keep returning him in a quiet, calm but firm manner. He may fall out for a week or so. Pick him up give him a hug and tuck him back in. It takes awhile for their bodies to sense where the edge of the bed is. they can't do that if you don't let them practice. If you are worried about them getting hurt put some blankets/ pillows on the floor as a landing pad. I suppose tucking the sheets tightly under the matress before you go to bed may help as well.

A.,

What did you do with the girls? What worked best for them?

Blessings....

You could use a sticker chart and for each night that he sleeps in his own bed he gets a sticker on his chart the next morning. Once he gets 7 or however many nights worth of stickers he can trade it in for a prize. That is what we are doing with our 2 year old daughter, but her bed is in our room. It's just an easier transition for all of us,and less scary for her. Plus we don't have a spare room for her at the moment anyway. Once you have established him going to sleep in his own bed, you will probably have to adjust the sticker chart system to giving him a sticker for every night that he stays in his own bed for the entire night and not crawl back in to your bed.

Good luck:-)
J.