My daughter just turned 2 last month. She has been sleeping in her crib through the night for 6 months consistently now. We are moving next week to a new house. Should I change her bed to a toddler bed with her new room or get her use to old bed new room then switch over?
Also how did your toddlers handle the move? She has really never had to deal with major change like this (only change was graduating class and she took 3 days to adjust to new teacher). Not sure what to expect.
Thanks for your help and advice!
Every child is different. My son had so much trouble adjusting to his toddler bed he ended up sleeping on the floor for months! So thinking of my youngest I'd say stay in old bed while she adjusts to new room. My oldest would have been fine with both changes at once. Can you put both crib and toddler bed in her new bedroom and let her choose?
IF she is sleeping well in her crib, LEAVE her there.
Even when you move.
Keep things the SAME.... for her, and her routines, and her loveys she may sleep with, even when you move.
My son, even at 3 years old, was in his crib. He's a long/tall boy and still fit it. He LOVED his crib and slept SO well in it.
Then one day, HE told us, he wanted to be in a bed. So we did. And he was perfectly fine in it. Because he was ready.
There is NO rush, to put a kid in a Toddler bed.
Two major changes at once may be too much. Why not wait a month or so after the move and you are settled, then introduce the toddler bed? Make sure to put a baby gate across her door to eliminate nighttime wandering and childproof her room.
Why the rush to get her into a toddler bed? If you don't need the crib for a coming baby, and she is not climbing out of the crib, just keep her in the crib. She will need some consistency, and a familiar place to sleep will help her adjust to her new surroundings. The toddler bed transition will be difficult enough when the time comes. Once she is out of the crib, you will spend many nights walking her back to her bed over, and over, and over, and over and over again. Make it easier on all of you and just keep her in the crib until it is necessary for her safety to move to a toddler bed. (My oldest was in a crib until he was about 3.5, when he finally learned how to climb out. My 25 month old climbed out of the same crib at 22 mos and now has a crib tent to keep him confined.)
I wouldn't change it now. Let that be the one constant comfort for her during this move.
I'd keep the crib. Yes it will be good for her to have that consistency, etc. but it will also be really good for you!! You'll have a lot going on with the move, unpacking and everything else so I'd probably make it easy on yourself and keep her in the crib where you know she'll sleep well and not get out of in the middle of the night in a strange house!
I agree with everyone on keeping her in the crib until she starts climbing out! It will make your life so much easier! We had to move our daughter to a toddler bed around age 3, when she started climbing out, and life has not been the same since! Now that she has her "freedom", it's so much harder to get her to go to bed, to keep her in bed, and to keep her from getting up so early! So definitely keep her in there!
As for moving, we also just moved, after our daughter turned 3. We just tried to make it sound like an adventure, we explained that the movers were packing everything up in special boxes. We tried to keep her away as much as possible while the move was going on, she wasn't too happy to see things being packed up. Make sure she gets to hang onto a few things that are special to her, that don't get packed up.
Good luck with the move!
