Transitioning to Toddler Bed - Callahan,FL

That's a tough one. My little girl has ALWAYS been hard to get down since about 18mos. My sister-in-law had the same problem with her little girl, who always went to bed on her own with no problems, crawling out of the crib at about 18 months. Now this may sound strnage, I thouht it was, but it WORKED. She left her in her crib and added a mesh "netting system" to her crib. It goes around the entire crib and over the top so they can't crawl out. Only you can un-zip it to get her out and zip her in. She either got in online or at BabysRus. In this situation it's worth a try. I know what you mean about not being able to lay down with them everytime it's time to go to sleep. That is exhausting and time consuming. GOOD LUCK!!

It sounds like your 18 month old is not ready for the toddler bed since she will bot stay in it. I would try to put the crib back up and get a net canopy to put over the top of the crib since she can climb out with out one. They are designed to keep the baby in but it is a dome shape so they can still stand up. Good luck to you... I hope you find a solution!! :-)

I think you should try keeping her awake during the day so when it gets close to bed time she is ready to sleep anywhere. Trust me it works after being up and active all day she will be ready for a good nights sleep. But if you think she should have a nap during the day maybe not letting her sleep to long but long enough to sleep keep her from being cranky. (Just a suggestion) Good Luck!

first, i would say try putting her to bed a little bit later. she may not be sleepy yet. second, you have to be consistent. if you want to make it a habit to lay down with her every single night, then do that...if you don't want that to be the routine, then stop doing it now!!! get a routine down....change her, sit in the room with her and read a book, sing a song, whatever, and then tuck her in and leave the room. put up the baby gates if you have to...or lke someone else said, switch her handle around so you can lock her, which really sounds mean...but she will get the hint QUICK. when/if she cries...let her. if she cries for a long time (10 mins or more...) go in there, comfort her for a minute, lay her down, tuck her in and leave again. yes, the fisrt couple of nights...this could take a loooong time. but with any luck, and LOTS of consistency on your part..it shouldn't take more than a couple of nights for her to figure out what is expected of her. and the final and possibly most important thing...take everything out of her room except her bed!!! if there are no toys or books for her to play with...she's a whole lot more likely to just fall asleep of boredom than to find herself a reason to stay awake. make sure all of her outlets are covered, and take everything out. it can be a pain in the butt i know...but it will hopefully help you out. good luck!

My advice... put the crib back together... she is still young for a toddler bed... I tell you this because I went through the same thing when my boy (now 18 months) turned a year old. Somebody told me to buy a crib tent and that way he could not climb out!!! IT WAS HEAVEN SENT. He now loves his crib because (i think) he thinks is cool to have the tent, and he can not climb out or (in my case) throw things out of the crib!!!
At this age it is extremely hard for them to stay in a bed with no slats because they want to get down and play, but with the crib tent they cant do that and they get bored and sleepy!!!
Also if you are having problems putting her to sleep by herself, I read a book called the sleep lady, in which she shows you gentle ways to put your baby to sleep by herself... IT WAS HEAVEN SENT AS WELL.
My little boy was always a good sleeper too, never had problems with him until he turned one... my husband and I were baffled and did not know what to do, but once we read that book and bought the crib tent our problems were over!!! now he sleeps by himself from 7 to 7 and takes a two hour nap after lunch!!!
hope this helps, and let me know how it goes
C.

One suggestion that I have is a technique used on Super Nanny. I have not had to use it myself, but have had several of my friends use it with success. It does take patience, so be prepared. When your child gets up you take her back to her bed without any conversation at all. You can sit in the room with her but do not make eye contact or have any verbal conversation. Each time she gets up you put her right back into bed. The first night of this will be rought & can take up to 2+ hours but each night should get a little better. Do whatever you can & keep from actually laying down with her. This will just start a bad habit as you already know. As for her door, if it has a lock on the handle you can switch the handle so the lock is on the outside to make sure she can't get out (as long as there isn't anything she can hurt herself on in her room). I know parents have done this with kids who have a tendency to sleep-walk.

Ok, I think that young children find it thrilling when they transition to a toddler bed because of the freedom that it brings. It allows them to freely move about when they are awake. Here's what I suggest. It may take a couple of days or atleast a week to do this. I would put the baby down for a nap and walk out of the room and around the corner. Give the baby about 30 secs and I am sure that she will be about to or have already climbed out of the bed. Walk back into the room and catch her. I would suggest that you pick her up, put her in the bed and tell her no that she does not need to get out of the bed. Walk out of the room and give her another minute and repeat the above process. It is probably going to take a while to get her to realize that when you put her down for a nap she needs to stay. But the important thing is to show her that you will not allow her out of her bed until she takes a nap. I don't suggest that you use a baby gate at all because it again restricts her to her room and doesn't make her realize that she can't get out of bed. Instead she has the freedom to play in the room all she wants during nap time.

I hope this information is helpful. My grandmother keeps chidren and they nap on a pallet on the floor. But when she first takes them into the room to start napping they are bound and determined to run around and play. It usuallly takes her about a week of constantly checking on the children to make them realize that they are not supposed to leave the nap area during nap time.

BTW, my oldest slept with me until she was three also because I couldn't figure out how to make her stay in her toddler bed. I now have a 4 month old and I don't intend on having my son sleep with me that long at all. But you know with children they are all different. If one thing doesn't work you have to move on to another. I hope this idea helps you.

Me and my husband just transitioned our almost 2 yr old to a toddler bed back in Jan....she also had a crib that she NEVER slept in. from the time she was born she woke up about 1:00 in the morning every night wanting to lay with me......
Anyway she was very excited when we got her a toddler bed we got her her favorite character which is Dora and of course the first night she was exicted she jumped on the bed etc.. We put her down to bed around 8:00 and generally it takes me going back into her room once or twice to tell her to lay back down but then she eventually doses off.

How many naps is your daughter taken throughout the day. She should be taking at least one nap and if she is not then maybe 6:00 is too early and she just is not tired yet. If my daughter takes a late nap I can forget about putting her down at 8:00 that's when I am up till 11:00 fighting with her. It seems like the younger they are they more they want to sleep the older they get the less they want to sleep.

So if she is not down to only one nap a day you might want to get her to take a nap once and then at bedtime just get her into a routine. Maybe read her a book or sing her a goodnight song. She will get use to that routine and then when she goes to bed she'll just know that she will have to lay there....

I don't know if this will help you but I went through the same thing and now I tell her to go to bed and she will give me a hug and go upstairs to her bed by herself.