Transition to a Big Boy Bed: Advice?

If he is also changing rooms, let him see the "evolution" By the time I had finished painting my daughters room and making her bed any anxiety about the room had worn off. When it was time to use the bed at night, there was no prob. SOO, I guess I disagree about making it a "Jump". I see most of the other responders also suggest some various means of transition time. Also, be casual. Kids pick up when we are anxious over expecting Them to be anxious...make sense? Hope so! and Merry Christmas!

I think it all depends on your child's personality and whether they adapt easily to changes. We just ditched the crib soon after we moved into our new house (my son had just turned two). He helped take the crib apart and we went to the store together and picked out his own sheets(trucks of course). I chose to get him a regular twin size bed as opposed to the toddler size to make one simple transition. He loves it! He has been sleeping in his big boy bed now for about 5 months and we have not had one problem. He never gets out of bed by himself- even in the morning he will just call for me to come get him. As far as removing toys from the room- I don't think that's nessecary as long as everything is put away he won't have too much temptations. Also, let him have a few favorite stuffed animals in bed to keep him company. My son has a wild imagination and will talk to his stuffed dogs until he falls asleep. I would just allow your child to be part of the whole transition so they have some control over what is going on and can understand it all.

When we transitioned our son we just took doen the crib and put it in the soon to be coming babies room. He did not have a choice. I do not think you should take all of the toys out of his room though. Both of my sons were fine with having their toys in their rooms while going to a big bed. I think taking them out would make things harder. Not only will his be bed going but so will his toys. Leave them in there and then if he cannot stay in bed then take some out. Both of mine would not get out of their beds though. Hope this helps.

Take your son to the store and see if there are any bed sets that he really likes, lightning mcqueen for example. That really helped my son.

Show your son the new bed and tell him how exciting it is to be in a big boy bed!

Both of my kids had practically no problems at all. My son woke up the first night and was crying. We still had the crib set up, so we asked him if he wanted to go back to his crib and he said no, and went back to his big bed. That was it. We left his toys in his room and found him playing a couple times, but we would firmly tell him that wasn't o.k. and put him back to bed. It really wasn't that big an issue. We also had to transition him due to our daughter on the way.

Our daughter was even easier. We put her in it about a month ago, and we've had three minor incidents. The first was that she climbed out of the bed and was standing between the end of the bed, the wall and a box fan. She got scared because she didn't know how to get out of the spot. Then once, the bed got pulled away from the wall and she rolled into the gap and got stuck. We pulled her out and put her back to bed, and she was fine. The third was when she rolled out of the bed onto the floor. She was just surprised by it, and went right back to sleep.

I think how you decide to transition depends on your nightly routine. If you plan to change the bed time routine, you might want to do that before changing beds. Then again, some kids just go with the flow . . . :) You know your son. Make an educated guess on what will be easiest for him - a slow transition with an option to still stay in the crib for a little while, or completely transitioning all at once. We gave our son the option. We threw the crib out the day we put up our daughter's bed (it needed to be tossed anyway). As someone else posted, it's always a bigger deal for the parents than the child. :)

Good luck, and sweet dreams!

We were in the same predicament a couple years ago when I was pregnant with our second. We needed the crib, so when our oldest was 22 months old we decided to put him in the toddler bed, not knowing how long it would take for the transition. He was not one to climb out the the crib, but he took right to the toddler bed. I think the first night he got out of it shortly after putting him to bed. We just told him it was time to go to bed and that was his new big boy bed, and from then on he stayed in it. Even after naps, he would just sit there and play as if he were still in the crib, thinking he couldn't get up. I think we were extremely lucky though. Our second is now in a toddler bed, and it took him a few days to stay in bed, naps were the hardest for us to get him to stay in. Just act excited that this is going to be his big boy bed, and play it up that he is so big now. That really helped with our first boy, he likes to hear that he is a big boy, even now :) Good luck!
T.

Make it a fun adventure for him. OOOHH!!! You can take your nap on the BIG BOY bed today, mommy will lie down with you! Let's pick YOUR new sheets for YOUR new bed! WOW! BIG BOYS sleep in the big boy bed! YAY!
Put the mattress of the toddler bed on the floor. It is daunting to kids to see this thing WAY up in the air that is open. Let him get used to playing on it, owning it. Put his favorite toys on it so he has to climb around on it to get used to it. Put his favorite blanket and pillow on the toddler bed. Take the frame of the crib down (put the frame away) and put the mattresses side by side. He will definitely prefer the bigger one after a while.
Definitely don't do it when the bady comes, he will feel like the baby took it away from him. Now is the perfect time to do it.

When we transitioned DD to a toddler bed there were no issues. She was ready and we didn't have any problems with her staying in it. We did put up a small bed rail because she is an active sleeper. She always stayed in bed once she went down. Once we did take the side rail down after potty training, she would sometimes roll onto the floor and sleep there. The bed was close enough to the floor where there was never an injury issue plus we put a body pillow on the floor next to the bed. Just don't worry and thing will go smoothly. The "big" transitions are ALWAYS harder on the parents than the kids. Good luck!

We transitioned our daughter at around 20 months to a twin bed as we were expecting no 2 when she would be 22 months. We had hideaway beds so pulled the lower bed out and hence had no bed rails.
We have now transiitoned both the same way and it was very successful.
Asked them if they want ot sleep in new bed if they said no don't fight it. Let them go to sleep in crib but once asleep move them thru in the night so they wake up in the morning in new bed and in our case in new room also.
Did this for 3 nights, then on 4th put to bed in new bed, rubbed backed to get them to sleep.

Did this for a couple of nights then rubbed back and left when awake and told them would check on them. Ammazingly they only got up a few times. We had a gate on new room so could not wander out. But would go and repeat ritual. At most it was tough for a week when trying to get them to go to sleep alone in new bed without one of us there.
They only fell out of bed once or twice but landed on lower bed so no harm done. Hidaway bed out also makes it easier to get in and out of twin bed. Going direct to twin means only one transition rather than 2 e.g crib to toddler, then toddler to twin or double.

Good luck.

Perhaps you could have your new baby sleep in a cradle or bassinet for a few months while you transition you little boy to his toddler bed gradually. For example, try the new bed just at naptime for a while. He may take to it right away once he realizes he can get in and out by himself.