Hello everyone! We need to move our almost 2 year old to a big bed. We have another baby due in March, so we need the crib. We did all the "right" things like letting her help decorate the bed and room, got her excited about it (she loves the bed), and are starting to move her now so she has plenty of time to adjust before the baby comes. Does anyone have any tips on how to go about doing it? I figured maybe start with naps before going for an all nighter. Do I let her cry till she falls asleep? She is a great sleeper and can put herself to sleep. She can't open the doors yet, so I don't have to worry about her leaving the room. I would appreciate any suggestions. Thank you!
Just wanted to thank everyone for their help. We moved her into her bed at night. Nap time wouldn't work. And she has been an angel in it. No problems at all. Thank goodness!!!
Jenni --
You can start at naps, and if she's comfortable, just go for it. The worst thing to do is confuse her. Don't have the crib in the room where the big bed is. Also, give it a few nights.. since it's a big difference with all that open space compared to the crib. If she's a good sleeper, it probably won't take very long..
Good luck!
Hi Jenni,
Have her take naps in the new bed, to help her get used to it. We put a gate at our kids door so they could not wander out at night and fall down the stairs. Talk it up as a "big girl bed" and how you're so excited she's a big girl now. Good luck :)
Jenni - Good luck, I have been transitioning my 21 month old this past week, since I was home and not working. The first few days I did the naps in the big boy bed and than the crib at night. I will tell you get ready to hear screaming and crying. My son is one of those boys that when you lay him in his crib - he goes right to sleep - no questions, comments or crys. Within five minutes he's sound asleep. However moving to the big boy bed have been tough on him and me. Friday, Saturday and Sunday....I got the same results as the crib. So my suggestion is play up the big girl bed. Close the room with the crib in it so she can't see it at all. And hang in there...my pediatrician said that, if he gets out of bed and sleeps on the floor....that's his choice. However the first few times he got out of the bed and was standing and crying at the door. I went in encouraged him and told him he's a big boy and this is his bed. Please lay down and go to sleep. He then cried for about a half hour, but remained in the bed and finally fell asleep. That was the first time he napped in his new bed. After that I decided that I would go in only once and place him back in the bed other than that I would allow him to cry or scream and sleep on the floor if necessary. It was really tough on me and him the first three days....but by day four he went right down. So good luck...and if you find a better way let me know for my next baby...I'm also due in March. Thanks and Good Luck!!
I was totally worried about moving my now 2-yr old to her big bed when she was 20 mos old and it was totally no big deal. She was all excited about her "big girl bed", but she went to sleep like it was just another nap. My daughter was mostly excited b/c she could climb into her bed by herself. We started with a nap, because I was worried how she'd handle it, but she did fine and slept in there from that time forward. I think she was a bit atypical, but she would lay in bed when she woke up and call me like she did when she was in her crib. She didn't figure out for about a month that she could get out by herself. I think it's more traumatic/a bigger deal for the parents than the kids.
I have a 4 year old and 23 month old twins, so my son was 27 months old when the twins were born. I didn't want to have to fight him while trying to get the babies to sleep as well, so I borrowed a crib from a friend for a few months. When our routine was settling down with the new babies, I bought special sheets for my son's big boy bed. As soon as he saw them, he wanted out of his crib and never went back. He was about 33 months though so was old enough to reason with and explain the rule that he was not to get out of his bed without calling to us. He still doesn't get out of bed (although now I wish he would so he would go to the bathroom by himself!).
Good luck!
I posted this in another spot about ~2 yr olds in big beds too, so pardon the redundancy...
Try getting her a study pillow (we used to call ours our "big chair for books") and a little reading light. Let her take books to bed and tell her she can stay up and look at them as long as she wants, but she can't get out of bed. I guarantee you, she'll be asleep within 30 minutes. The first few days she will play with the light but that novelty will wear off quickly. I don't know why we think that kids should be able to instantly fall asleep when we put them to bed... after all, I like to read until I get sleepy too.
Hi There,
I can only tell you what worked for me! Every child is different...but at first I put up one of those guards so the child doesn't fall out....so that kind of restricts them from going anywhere. I had that up for about a month because I figured my daughter would fall out. I was in the same dilemma as you...I needed the crib because my girls are 22 1/2 mos apart. So what I did was just sit next to her for the first few days...you know....closed my eyes and pretended to sleep. And each day I would get closer and closer to the door....and eventually I had her go to sleep on her own. I had to do it for about a week.
But that worked for me. Hope that helps!
A.
I agree completely with Amelia. One day, just put her to sleep there. (Nap or bedtime). I did this with both my sons, no fanfare other than to comment how exciting it is to have a "big boy bed", and they stayed right on schedule. I did make sure the room was childproofed though, and I kept the toys out of there so there weren't any distractions. There were one or two times I had to poke my head in and my child to get back in bed because he wanted to look in his drawers. But I tried to be short and matter-of-fact about it when I did this, and in each case my son listened well. Each soon figured out there wasn't anything exciting in the room to do so they stayed in bed. Good luck!
Just a funny story for you: my daughter's bedroom is on our first floor, so it also serves as a playroom. There are a ton of toys in there, of course all accessible to her. Before I put her down for her first sleep in her big girl bed, I made sure everything was put away so the toys wouldn't look so inviting. Well, I shut the door and heard no sounds, so I thought everything was going great. I peeked in about an hour later to check on her, and there she was, in the middle of the floor, surrounded by all her toys and about half her clothes!! It was hyterical, but I new if I laughed that I'd have this happening again, so I held it together. Instead, I told her in a very sterm voice that she was NOT allowed to get out of her bed without me in the room and that if she needed something she had to call for me. I think my voice came out more stern than I intended it to because I was also trying to hold in the laughter. But I think this turned out to be a good thing because to this day (and she turns 4 soon), the child still wil not get out of her bed unless I tell her it's ok!!
On small piece of advice - I would choose bedtime over naptime because that's when my daughter gets to sleep the quickest. She takes longer to fall asleep at naptime. I would suggest that you choose whichever time you find your child falls asleep more quickly and easily.
Good luck to you! Before you know it, she'll be in the big girl bed without a problem.
