Toddler Transition to Toddler Bed

Honestly the longer you can put off putting him into the toddler bed the better. Why ruin a great thing? If he goes to bed for you and doesn't climb out let him stay in the crib. I know the feeling of wanting to put him into a big boy bed, but don't rush the process wait until he can climb out. He is only 2 most children don't go into a big boy bed until 3 or after. Plus getting a big boy bed is a wonderful reward for using the potty and being a big boy. Good luck!!!

C. -

For what it's worth, my pediatrician told me not to move my boy from his crib until he was actively climbing out of it.

I would think, though, that if you must move him into a toddler bed, just do it. Don't be anxious about it or worry for your son. He'll pick up on those feelings.

C.

I agree that you should start the toddler bed asap if he is a jumper. My son is almost 22 months. A couple weeks ago, I went into his room to get him out of his crib in the morning and he was leaning over the side of the crib. Well, before I knew it, he leaned over the side and flipped right out. For the grace of God, I HAPPENED to be right there when it happened and was able to catch him before he hit the floor. It scared the living daylights out of me though. I just hate to think how much he could have hurt himself had I not been there to catch him. I had no warning that he could do this either. He had never attempted climbing out of his crib or anything like that. It just came out of the blue. So, my advice is that if you think there's any chance whatsoever that your son might be able to fall out of the crib, that you should switch to a toddler bed immediately and not take the chance.

After the incident with my son, I refused to ever put him back in the crib again. We actually put him to sleep in his pack and play for two weeks until we were able to get a toddler bed. That worked well for us because it was lower to the ground than the crib, and the sides were taller so it was much more unlikely for him to be able to get out. Even so, we still put tons of pillows on the floor surrounding it just to be safe.

We finally got him a toddler bed this past weekend, and he was SO excited to go to bed in it. The first night, he didn't even want to be read any bedtime stories (which he normally wants to read tons of books.) He just wanted to skip all that so he could get in his "big boy bed." And we've had no problems at bedtime. It's just been great.

I will say though that as well as night times have gone in the bed, nap times are a different story. He just thinks nap time is now play time and we've yet to get him to go down on his own in his bed for a nap. So today, I pulled the pack and play back out and put him down for a nap in there. My plan for now is to do the pack and play for nap time and the bed for night time and we'll slowly transition to the bed for naps when he's ready.

Just make sure that when you switch to a toddler bed to make sure his room is baby proofed. We put a gate in my son's doorway so that he can't get up in the middle of the night and wander around the house. We also made sure his room was well baby-proofed.

Good luck to you!

Hi C.,

Put him in the toddler bed asap! If he is a Jumper, that means he's going to jump out of his crib. There have been many kids injured and have actually died (not trying to scare you) from jumping out of their cribs. My son did the same thing and we were at Toy's R Us "that" night and put him in his toddler bed, which also by the way was a Race Car Bed! He loved it. We found him twice on the floor next to his bed, so we ended up taking the wood supports out and setting the mattress down into the bed so he had some protective edges all the way around. My son is now 3 1/2 years old and has moved on to bunk beds. He only sleeps on the bottom though and loves it!
Good Luck!
J.

I know how you feel! My daughter was always wonderful about going to bed. We would put her to bed at 8pm and she would sleep just great until morning. She is an early riser so she was up around 5-6 every morning. That's okay because I'm up at that time anyway with hubby going to work.

Anyway, last month when she turned two we got her a toddler bed. Oh boy! Immediately the problems started. It's been crazy ever since. She refuses to go right to bed at night, now at 8 when I say it's time to go to bed she crawls up in daddies arms to go to sleep. Then he lays her down and she's out for a few hours. But.. then she's up in the middle of the night and coming into our room. I can't get her to stay in her bed. Now she ends up sleeping half the night with us almost every night. Several times she is up in the middle of the night and ready to be up and play! It's been rough. I wish we could have held out longer to put her in a toddler bed, but we have a newborn and I needed the crib for him, I didn't want to buy another crib when we wouldn't end up needing one.

And... she used to be GREAT at taking naps. She used to nape 2 or so hours every afternoon. Since getting the toddler bed that's out the window! Naps are gone! It's horrible. Now she naps here and there when and if she falls over asleep. Or she falls asleep in the car, but our scheduled naps are gone with her crib. I miss them!!

We waited until our son was almost three to make the final change. Our son always went to bed easily in his crib, but started climbing out in the morning. So we tested him on a bed. I think the biggest mistake we made was going for one of those fun styles of beds. We thought it would encourage him to make a smooth transition, and we were wrong. It encouraged him to play instead of sleep, then get bored and come find us. I think part of the problem was also that we opted to go straight to the twin matress. Even when he was exhausted, he just did not want to sleep in that bed. We couldn't leave him in the crib, and risk him hurting himself climbing out. So, what to do? We chose to modify the crib to be more like a crib sized day bed, and returned the "fun" bed. He was happy as can be in his safe little zone again, and had the ability to climb out safely. Now he's four, and sleeps very happily in a standard no frills twin bed.

What all this goes to show you is that he'll show you what he needs one way or the other. Don't make the change until you think he's ready. Also, after our son's adventures, we learned that you can purchase a net tent to attach to the top of a crib, should your son start climbing out before he's trully ready to handle the big bed. Parents magazine also suggested a baby gate at the bedroom door, to prevent nighttime wandering. We did something like that, but only used it when we went to bed too....so that we all knew he was as safe as possible, especially since his bedroom had it's own entry into the bathroom.

I had a hard time switching beds for my son. But I let him bring one thing to bed, and tell him that he can play with it, but he can not get out of bed. If he has a stuff animal or something soft, let him bring that to bed. My son sleeps with his teddy bear every night. And when he losses it, we have to find it. Or else he will sit there and cry, or he will get out of bed and start playing with something else. But encourage him that this is a big boy bed, and that he is becoming a big boy. So that is why he is sleeping in his new bed. And tell him how his cousin, sleeps in the same type of bed. And that he doesn't get up and play; he just goes to sleep. Try and make it happy for him. It will work out!! It might be a few nights, but he will get it. And maybe he will get it on his first night. And if the bed doesn't have a side rale, get one so he doesn't roll out of bed. Then after a little bit, come in and see how he sleeps. If you see that he is not rolling towards the edge of the bed, then you can take off the side. That is what I did!! And it worked out really good. I hope everything will work out for you.

Hi. I have a 4.5 yr old and a 2.5 yr old both girls. I moved my 4 yr old when she was 2 (due to the other one needing the crib). And she never had a problem....I do suggest "taking the crib apart in front of him" and talk to him about it and get him involved somehow)...the more they realize they aren't "babies" anymore it's easier on them to understand a bit. I also made a big deal on finding 2 bed sets and had him pick which one SHE wanted. Now my 2.5 is already in hers...across from her sisters...did the same thing...took the crib down in front of her. They both sleep great at night and there wasn't a problem...once in awhile there's a "bad dream" and wants to come cuddle with us in our bed...but then they both walk back to their beds and go back to sleep.

Hope you have great luck. best of luck!

S.

Talk about procrastination I waited until my son was almost 3. He loved his crib and we had a good think going so I thought why rush him, but he really was to big and eventually my husband took out his crib one day while I was gone. Oddly enough he also has a racecar bed. Anyways my girlfriend recommended a book called Solve your child's sleep problems by richard ferber. It deals with everything from night time waking to transitioning into the toddler bed. It was remarkable, it took about a week. One thing after you read it is consistency and just toughening it out. good luck sincerely
M. banier. p.s please feel free to email me with any questions

Hi C.

I just did the transition this past weekend and it went so amazingly well. My daughter is 22 months and shes a jumper as well has yet to even attempt to climb out of her crib but she did start waking up alot and screaming at bed time and was asking to sleep on the couch alot. SO we did it and when I said Sat night lets go night night she jumped into bed and stayed there all night she did the same thing Sunday.Iwould go for it all kids are different and give signs when their ready and the sign are not always the same as the next child.

M.
www.M..fourpointmoms.com

We put our now 3 year old in a toddler bed right after his 2nd birthday. We were going to put the toddler bed up and leave his crib up also so that he could choose which bed he wanted. He was so excited to sleep in his Spongebob bed that he never looked back. He sometimes would get up and we would put him back in bed with no interaction, no hugs, no kisses, no talking. After a night or two of that he stopped getting up. If you do have problems there is a book called Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Child that I would recommend. Hopefully all will go well with no problems. Good luck
Chris

it is deinately time for the change. Just let it happen. Put him to bed like you normally would. Put him to bed and close the door. Reiterate how big boys sleep in big beds. Now that he is two he will soon be telling you that he is no longer a baby. hope everything goes well for you.

C., it sounds like your son is at a great time for switching from a crib to a toddler bed. My only advice is that if he is use to playing in his crib then I would let him take a few toys to bed with him. I think it is great to have specific toys for bed, for bath time, and for potty time. (I say this a lot on here). Anyway I would recommend picking a few toys, with his help, and make them his bedtime toys. For bedtime toys I would recommend that they are silent toys that will help him calm down... no electronic toys, no toys that require too much attention because he may not calm (ie. things like tv). I always recommend dolls, stuffed animals, and other soft squishy toys that wont cause choking hazzards and also wont cause him to wake up later in the night from rolling over onto a toy.
Hope that helps!!

I read a few replies and I wish my kids were that easy! Both of mine definatly liked being able to get up and roam around. We had to resort to a lock on the outside of the door, because two baby gates (one on top of the other) were being climbed over or somehow knocked down! I also noticed an increased amount of waking up at night too for awhile. But eventually it subsides.

I don't know how to tell you to make it easier in the beginning if your child is more like mine. I don't believe in letting a child cry it out, but we did have to lock the door for a few nights until they realized it was time to sleep. And actually my daughter opted for the floor most nights for about a year! With her we ended up getting a full sized bed and it works MUCH better than the toddler bed.

I do agree nap time can be a lot harder too. I went back to rocking mine to sleep mostly and putting them in the bed for awhile until they got used to the bed.

This helped us at least. I hope your child is easier though. Not that mine was horrible looking back on it, but it wasn't easy at first either. One thing to keep in mind, is that it may not seem like it but it will be over soon! They grow sooo quickly.

Blessings.
M.

I would just set boundaries and make sure you stick to them. For the first couple of nights he will probably try to get out of the bed but once he learns that he has to stay in it, he probably will. What ever form of disipline you use I would put it to use with this transition and not back down. Otherwise you may have a little one walking out of his room whenever he feels like it. My first son listened after the 2nd night, my second son is only months away from the transition. So we will see if my theory is right. :) If you have any questions feel free to message me.