Transitioning a toddler out of a crib.

[dreamer_dachsie]

How old were your kids when you transitioned them from a crib to a real bed?

Any tips?

Hunter will be 2 1/2 when our second is born, and I had planned to transition him to the queen size bed in the spare room -- it will be his room and bed, but using the big bed still allows guests to sleep over too, he will bunk with his sibling or in our room when they do. Anyways, I am now feeling a little panic at the notion of trying to get him out of a crib at that age, it seems too young!

 

[Pandora II]

I'm still to transition Daisy INTO a crib, but I'm not sure if you are asking from the point of view of a psychological attachment to the crib or from a physically sleeping in a big bed point of view...

If the latter, then Daisy has no problems sleeping in a large bed. I have a rail on the side she sleeps on just in case she was to roll out and a little set of steps from IKEA that she uses to climb in and out.

She sleeps with a thin feather pillow and a goose-down duvet. She doesn't move much when she's asleep but even so we have a large pillow down the middle of the bed in case she was to really roll over.

Unless you want to use 2 bedrails I would put the bed up against a wall.

 

[MonkeyPie]

Have you thought about getting him into a toddler bed? Do you have the space in the room with the big bed? It usually makes it easier, plus if he takes a leap out of the toddler bed he won't hurt himself as badly as he would in the queen.

I admit I am a little nervous about this stage, though it is years away. Micah is SO busy, even in his sleep, I know he's going to fall out of the bed a lot.

 

[swingirl]

We took down my son's crib and put the crib mattress on the floor for about a week. I never thought there was much of a transition. We bought bunk beds that came in a box which my husband and son assembled. My son "helped" and felt really proud. He used his little plastic hammer and whacked at screws. It was so cute.

Both my kids fell out of their beds a number of times but we put some couch cushions around to soften the falls. It seems they'd fall out of bed and just end up sleeping on the floor. Oh well...

 

[dreamer_dachsie]

My concern is primarily teaching him to fall asleep in the new bed and then getting him to stay in the bed all night He is very well trained to sleep in his crib, we just plop him in and say goodnight and out he goes. At daycare he sleeps on a little matress/cot on the floor so he is at least used to sleeping in a different place, but I am not sure how to actually go abouttransitioning him. I also am not sure what age is the best age and whether we should try to do it before the new baby comes or borrow a second crib and transition after baby comes.

Pandora I think we will need 2 bedrails as there is a basboard heater on one wall that means we cannot abut the bed to the wall completely.

MP there is no room for a toddler bed. I think we will need to take our chances with the adult bed. It is on an IKEA frame with no boxspring so it is very low to the ground.

 

[dreamer_dachsie]

We took down my son's crib and put the crib mattress on the floor for about a week. I never thought there was much of a transition. We bought bunk beds that came in a box which my husband and son assembled. My son "helped" and felt really proud. He used his little plastic hammer and whacked at screws. It was so cute.

Both my kids fell out of their beds a number of times but we put some couch cushions around to soften the falls. It seems they'd fall out of bed and just end up sleeping on the floor. Oh well...

How old was he?

 

[charbie]

My parents had us 22 months apart, and then 19 between my younger sister and I, and only had 1 crib, so I had to transition to a twin bed at 19 months. My mom put me in the bed with pillows on the ground, and that was about it. Apparently it was too far for me to want to try and jump down on my own, but the pillows were there for when I rolled out of bed...which I know I did frequently as a child. We have some super cute pictures of me in my big girl bed all sleepy and just waking up, sitting in the bed playing. I remember having pillow pet type dolls that she put in there for me to soothe myself and play with if I was bored.

 

[Jennifer W]

Amelia transitioned a couple of months after her second birthday if I recall correctly. It happened way quicker than I'd planned for, because I put her in her crib for a nap, then ten minutes later she was back, standing beside me. I have no idea how she got out, but it wasn't safe to put her back in the crib. I then had a panic to find a new mattress for the bed in her room, bedding etc asap.

I say transition, but to be honest, we just put her in the bed and said goodnight. We showed her the new bedding, got her to 'help' make up the bed, then went through the usual bath, PJs and book routine. Then we settled her in and turned out the light. She never gets out, which is surprising given her crib escape. I think the key was to get her excited about it and make it a treat. It worked fine for us, here's hoping your transition is smooth too.

ETA, I decided against a toddler bed and just went straight to the big bed. It's a huge antique bed, and quite high up, so I had all sorts of padding on the floor around it at first. She's never fallen out though - she sleeps right in the middle and it's a long way to the edge.

 

[Pandora II]

DD - If you are worried about him falling out then the bed-rails will sort that one.

Daisy fell out of ours twice in total and our bed is not low to the ground and other than giving herself a bit of a shock she was fine. I had put rubber mats either side of the bed just in case. The steps have been a great success - we got them when she was about 13 months and she's used them ever since - she was just sliding herself off before but I felt the steps were safer. She also takes them into our bathroom so she can reach the taps to wash her hands and do her teeth.

I also have an IKEA sofa bed in Daisy's official room and she was thrilled with that when it was out for a visitor and went and tucked herself up in it a couple of times.

Your biggest problem will probably be getting him to actually stay in bed if he's used to bars. I doubt you'll have a problem getting him to fall asleep in it.

I would transition before the new baby arrives - taking him to choose Big Boy bedding etc - otherwise he could feel rather evicted from both his room and his bed.

 

[TravelingGal]

My kid is a massive mover and shaker. I am shortly going to transition her from the ugliest crib set up ever to the ugliest full size bed set up ever.

I saved money on the infant set up in order to really splurge on her real bed. However, I don't know what she will end up wanting and am loathe to buy her the full bed now. We know we are going full size, but don't know after that, and all of the beds seem so high!

So we are buying her the full size mattress ahead of time. As she likes to move around in bed (and sometimes fall back), I bought these at Amazon for $35 each:

http://www.amazon.com/BackDrop-Upholstered-Tribeca-Microsuede-Headboard/dp/B001JAH170/ref=sr_1_14?ie=UTF8&qid=1292530268&sr=8-14

The mattress (probably ikea) will go on the floor, the two "bumpers" in an L shape against the wall. If she falls off the mattress, she won't have far to fall and I'll pad it with a few blankets for the first few weeks. I can use these bumpers later on in different places so we can sit on the floor (which we do a lot of, and lean against the wall for reading and what not).

As Pandora said, I think our issue will be more of keeping her in it when we put her down. She doesn't care for blankets, so we still use a sleep sack. But since I want her in a bed so she can go potty in the morning by herself when she wakes up, I've got a lot of "transitioning" to do.

 

[packrat]

We put London in my old full size bed and moved her into the room she has now from the nursery when she was..um, just over 2. We made a huge production of decorating her room and ohhh a new bed and it's so fun..the first night she cried for a little bit and after that she was fine. We had rails up on it. I think she thought it was like a big crib b/c of the rails, so she never tried to get down and out of her room, she was really good about that. When we were potty training we talked to her about getting up in the middle of the night and getting mommy to help her.

 

[somethingshiny]

JT had just turned 2 when we went to a toddler bed. We were potty training and I needed him to be able to get out of bed and pee if necessary. We had a potty chair in his room. We actually kept all the same bedding and decorations so the only new thing was the bed. He cuddled up with his normal blankets and was quite happy. We kept the noisemaker from his crib too and he would play with that as well. He never tried to get out of bed, he would yell in the morning "is it time to get up?" lol We put a baby gate at the top of the steps so he didn't go down if he did get out of bed but we never had an issue.

JT had a bigger issue going to a twin size bed. We did the whole room over but it seemed that he was a bit uncomfortable in such a big bed compared to what he was used to. For this reason, we will put Lily in a toddler bed before a twin or full size too.

 

[dreamer_dachsie]

I guess I am a bad mom because I am not worried at all about him falling out! haha... we have carpet and the boy has had WAY worse falls on a aily basis playing. But keeping him in the bed. Hmmmm. Maybe it will not be an issue! I guess we can do it a few months before the baby comes. We can make a big to-do about picking sheets and will most likely paint his room the day of the switch because we would be moving furniture anyways.

I think he will keep his current room and we will switcheroo the furniture. His room is the bigger room, and so it makes more sense for the older child. Down the road his room will fit two twin beds, and then the queen will go back in the other room and the kids will double up when guests come. Musical beds.

 

[swingirl]

We took down my son's crib and put the crib mattress on the floor for about a week. I never thought there was much of a transition. We bought bunk beds that came in a box which my husband and son assembled. My son "helped" and felt really proud. He used his little plastic hammer and whacked at screws. It was so cute.

Both my kids fell out of their beds a number of times but we put some couch cushions around to soften the falls. It seems they'd fall out of bed and just end up sleeping on the floor. Oh well...

How old was he?

I think he was about 2, maybe younger. He was a real climber and could easily get in and out of his crib so we figured why keep it up. He was easy to put to sleep. He stayed up rather late for a toddler but once his head hit the pillow he was out like a light. And of course when he'd have a nightmare he'd come into our room and want to climb in, which was fine, since it didn't happen that often.

 

[Mara]

I also am not as worried about J falling out as I am about him STAYING in bed once he's 'free'. His crib transitions to a toddler so we plan to use it with a rail and then just put a very plush/soft rug under the bed area in case he does fall out (we have hardwood). But will he stay in there? This kid roams all over his crib at night, I totally see him falling off his future bed AND climbing out rather than staying in there.

One idea also is just to put the mattress on the floor for him. That way if he falls out it's not very far at all, and he can 'learn' the space before you put it back on the bed rails.

What are tips/tricks to get the kid to STAY in a toddler or regular bed once you transition them out? I always wondered this.

And maybe it's just me but when shopping I thought it was weird to have cribs that transition to toddler to 'queen sized headboard' for future. I was thinking Gee do kids just go to queen size beds now? I only ever had a twin til I moved out! LOL.

 

[agapitor]

My oldest was 1 1/2 when we moved him to a big boy bed since our second son was a "pleasant surprise". We moved him to a double bed and used 2 bed rails - one on the side and one by his feet so I guess it almost felt like a crib. The mattress must have been softer and more comfy than his crib because he slept much longer in his "big boy" bed. There were some issues in the beginning with him getting out of bed because he can, but it only lasted for a week. I also laid down with him to read his books before bed time so soothe him a bit. I don't necessarily encourage this as I still do this now (he is now 6 1/2) But I actually love lying in bed with him before he sleeps. It's the best time to talk about stuff. I'm sure he'll kick me out soon enough. Good luck!

 

[Jennifer W]

I was surprised how easy it was to get A to stay in the bed. She's never got out, just hollers if she wakes up and wants us. Partly because she has a demanding and imperious streak, I think. Supernanny has a good stay in bed technique - the first time the kid gets up, you say something like "it's bed time, good night" and put them back. Second time, just say "bed time" and put them back. Thereafter, say nothing, no eye contact, no drinks, snacks, stimulation or interest-grabbing action of any type, just put them back. I've watched her do it on TV, but never had to try it. It always works (at least on the shows that make it to airtime haha) but sometimes takes a lot of patience.

 

[Pandora II]

Mara, I think parents often put their kids in a bigger size of bed so it can be used for visitors as well.

I also only had a twin until I moved out - and no TV till I was 24!

 

[Jennifer W]

I had a twin bed until I left home too. A's bed is enormous because that's the bed we had in her room before it was her room. It's an antique bed and I didn't want to sell it but I didn't have anywhere to store it. We don't have a guest room anymore. (Well, technically I could give up my study, dining room, piano room, gift wrapping room etc, but I would run the risk of DH's family coming to stay...)

I did think about getting her a toddler bed, but I had to move her into the bed in a hurry after her crib-climbing adventure, so I didn't really have time in the end.

 

[fieryred33143]

Hi all! Am bumping this thread for any tips. Dreamer-did you transition Hunter?

Sophia is 35in which is the max height for her crib. She took full advantage of this by quickly learning how to climb out. We converted her crib to a toddler bed and just went through nap #1.

She would get up almost as quickly as I would put her back in bed. She was very tired but wouldn't stay in bed. We have done CIO before so not against doing it if that's what it will take. But not sure how. Do I just shut the door and let her figure things out? I'm not worried about her getting into things since it's toddler proof. I tried with her nap but she kept trying to open the door, then throwing herself against it and having a fit. I finally decided just to rock her to sleep.

It's stressing me out because FI and I both start our new jobs next week and I really need her to sleep well. P.S. She sttn (8-. Any tips??

 

[TravelingGal]

My kid is a massive mover and shaker. I am shortly going to transition her from the ugliest crib set up ever to the ugliest full size bed set up ever.

I saved money on the infant set up in order to really splurge on her real bed. However, I don't know what she will end up wanting and am loathe to buy her the full bed now. We know we are going full size, but don't know after that, and all of the beds seem so high!

So we are buying her the full size mattress ahead of time. As she likes to move around in bed (and sometimes fall back), I bought these at Amazon for $35 each:

http://www.amazon.com/BackDrop-Upholstered-Tribeca-Microsuede-Headboard/dp/B001JAH170/ref=sr_1_14?ie=UTF8&qid=1292530268&sr=8-14

The mattress (probably ikea) will go on the floor, the two "bumpers" in an L shape against the wall. If she falls off the mattress, she won't have far to fall and I'll pad it with a few blankets for the first few weeks. I can use these bumpers later on in different places so we can sit on the floor (which we do a lot of, and lean against the wall for reading and what not).

As Pandora said, I think our issue will be more of keeping her in it when we put her down. She doesn't care for blankets, so we still use a sleep sack. But since I want her in a bed so she can go potty in the morning by herself when she wakes up, I've got a lot of "transitioning" to do.

Fiery, I have a full video report, but I don't know how to share it on that other site. When I figure it out, I'll post it. I only posted it to my friends, and not the group because it's not all that interesting.

But basically we did not do what I said I was going to do above. I bought her her a twin bed (found secondhand on craigslist), added a rail and ran with it. I got her involved, which I thought would help, but she did absolutely FREAK when it came time for bed. All leading up to it, she was ducky. Totally got into the spirit of it and she saw the crib come down and then the bed go up.

I lay with her for a few minutes to show her how cool a big bed could be. Then I kissed her and left. We haven't looked back since and she stays in the bed. It's actually weird...she knows how to get out, but treats it like a crib in the sense that she'll just hang out and wait when we come in the morning. What also was weird was that once she was no longer in a sleepsack (we use regular pillows and blankets in the bed), she stopped moving around as much as is calm...sleeping on her back most of the time and keeps her head on the pillow. Go figure, I wasn't expecting that at all.

I don't know what to tell you in terms of the kid getting out of the bed. Amelia is obviously a lot older than Sophia so that probably helped. Amelia is completely uncoordinated, so I think that makes her a big giant chicken. Amelia DID want to come out of the bed that first night when I put her in - in fact, she made the fastest exit down the escape hatch that I've ever seen this uncoordinated kid do. When I lay with her after stuffing her back in the bed, it calmed her down, then I left. On quite a few nights these days I'll lay with her for a few minutes because I enjoy it (but not every night so she knows it's not a given). When I first started that, she got very upset when I got out of the bed, screaming and crying. I just told her she had a choice...she could calm down, lie back and I would sing her a song, and then leave - OR she could keep screaming and I'd just leave right then. I made it clear that either way I was going to leave, but if she calmed down, I'd tuck her in nice and tight and sing her a great song. That seemed to do it. After the first day I told her that, she never wigged out again. The second night she protested, but I reminded her, and she chose the song. It's been smooth sailing from there.

Having a successful night seemed to help for the following nights...so....can you skip her nap for one day and put her down a bit earlier? The first night Amelia was in her big girl bed, she skipped her nap (we didn't intentionally do it that way, but she stayed awake during nap time). She settled down much easier I think because she was tired. Maybe if you put her down earlier so she's not OVER tired (as I imagine that might make it worse) might help? Then if she does pass out, you can heap the praise on in the morning and show her what a champ she was.

Also maybe try making the bed REALLY inviting if it's not already. Maybe a new plush toy you can introduce at bedtime and say it's a bedtime friend and she must stay in bed to be with it? One of the moms commented on my video that the Amelia might have stayed in bed because it's a bit nicer than her institutionalized crib...she had the same experience with her daughter who got a much plusher, comfy bed. Her daughter took to it really well too.

Hopefully someone else will chime in and help.

 

[Blenheim]

Er, Fiery, how do you know what the max height for the crib is? G hasn't climbed out of his yet, but he is a boy and is in such a high percentile for height that now I am worried that he's too tall for the crib! He hasn't tried to climb out yet, but eek.

Right now we do our bedtime routine, put him in the crib, say goodnight, and leave the room. About half the time he does about 30 seconds of angry yelling before deciding to go to sleep. I am afraid that if he were not contained, the angry yelling would then turn into climbing out of bed and escaping the room... We just bought a twin frame and were planning on buying a mattress this weekend so that we have a better place to read before bedtime, as he now wants us ALL to cuddle and read together, but I wasn't planning on having him sleep there until the baby's ready for the crib! (He/she will likely be in our room for a few months.)

 

[fieryred33143]

Blen-when we were reading up on converting the crib (it's a 4-in-1), the manual says 35" is the max height for that crib. I think all the cribs are different. She barely reaches the top of her crib at her grandparents.

Tgal-thanks for the input. I think part of the "problem" is that she's still a little too young to really get into the changes. I tried getting her excited about it and she was, but only because I was dancing around and clapping. I almost think that maybe a toddler or twin bed would have worked a little better than a crib without a side.

Last night went ok though it was a rare night. We had family over for dinner and because they wanted to see her, she didn't get to bed until really late. I did the normal bed time routine then put her down and walked away. I left her door cracked. She got up, opened the door enough to fit her body and then just stood there staring at me with her blanket. At one point she kept poking her head out but she never got out of the room. She accidentally closed the door and started crying so I opened it up again and put her back to bed with Elmo. She sat there in silence for a long time and then finally went to sleep.

It was late and the house was quiet. I had on the hallway light and when I shut it off she started to cry. She has a night light on in her room but I think having a light outside of the room makes her feel like she's not alone. So maybe her door open and a light on will help her sleep. The only problem is that she goes to bed at 8pm. Her room is right next to the living room so I will have to get her used to the living room light and TV being on and us talking when she goes to bed. I don't want to end our night at 8pm. That may be a challenge. She'll either stay in bed because she won't feel alone or she'll get up thinking it's time to play.

The other issue is that I didn't hear her wake up at all this morning. My mom is here and sleeping in the living room. She says that Sophia woke up and walked out the room herself. We had a gate placed on the door that she was able to push out. So we'll have to decide to either put the gate really tight and hope she doesn't try to climb over it OR keep her door closed at night.

I'd really like to see the video Tgal if you can post it. It's interesting to me I like the idea of making the bed more inviting. She has a few stuffed toys that she really likes so as part of her routine, I may have her gather them up and put them to bed first.

 

[Tacori E-ring]

She was 3. DH converted her crib which T and I was out of town. Kinda a shock for her. She misses her crib, but I think if you let him pick out his big boy bedding (oops on my part) he will be excited about it. We left off the box spring so it is closer to the ground. No accidents yet.

 

[miraclesrule]

I have always loved this article about trasitioning from a crib to a bed, simply because the author is so damn funny. I think many of you PS'ers will agree.

http://www.dooce.com/archives/daily/02_08_2007.html

 

[LALove]

Jude will be 2 next week and we put him in a toddler bed 5-6 weeks ago. I didn't want to do this so soon but he fell out of his crib and chipped his tooth on the way down and it just scared the living daylights out of me! (He's pretty tall for his age- about 35 inches last time I checked- so has no problem scaling the crib rail.)

We made getting a "big boy bed" a big deal and he helped daddy put the little rail on etc. He was SO excited! He'd run and jump on his bed and hop off and do it over and over. The first night we put him to bed and he promptly walked out. LOL (He slept fine in his crib- put him down, hugs & kisses and leave- no problem.) DH told him it was "sleepy time", walked him back in and tucked him in again. A minute later he came out again. DH just walked him back to his room and put him in bed and closed the door. He didn't get out again.

No problems with him getting out of bed until about 5 days later when he started cutting a molar. He was in a lot of pain and wouldn't sleep without me with him so I had to take him to bed with me for 3 days. That caused a bit of a set back because he really liked sleeping in mommy and daddy's bed. But we just did the same routine- when he came out, we'd walk him back to his bed, hugs & kisses, tell him good night and leave. If he did it again we'd just walk him back to bed and leave. I think he came out of his room 4 times the first night after he returned to his own bed and maybe only once the second night.

Once we had a bad storm and he got scared so came into our room. I let him sleep with us that night. The next night I didn't have any problems with getting him to bed.

I think the key is consistency. We stick to our same routine every night unless Jude is sick or scared or has a bad dream- then we'll let him sleep with us. But we don't let that become the new routine. Once all is well again, we get right back on track.

ETA the only reason we chose a toddler bed instead of a "real" bed is because his crib converts and we don't have a grown up bed for him yet. I wouldn't worry about a bigger bed if you have the side rails to keep him from falling off. Plus you can put pillows on the floor just in case. Good luck!

Also- we purchased a really high gate (comes up to the top of Jude's head) for the hallway just in case he does sneak out at night. This way he can't get to the kitchen etc- only choice is our room or his.

 

[mrssalvo]

kid #1- moved to toddler bed at 18 months to free the crib for kid #2. moved from toddler bed to twin at 3 and never fell out, no rails, no nothing. She didn't start getting up out of bed in the middle of the night until 2 1/2 and we just took her back to her bed. This happened for a loooooooong time. She was never a super sleeper and didn't really start staying in bed all night until she was in kindergarten

kid # 2- right to a twin at about age 2 1/2. no rails, never fell out. slept thru the night, rarely got up, even to this day.

kid #3- moved to toddler bed just over age 2 b/c he climbed with ease out of his crib. Gated him in his room so he couldn't escape in the middle of the night until he figured out how to open/crawl under/climb over the gate. Now, no gate but he still comes to our room a few nights a week. he'll be 3 in April. Consistency is the key. If they do get up, take them back. eventually they get there is no pay off. I'll be moving him to a twin bed in June.

Hopefully yours will follow my kid #2 and not #1

 

[fieryred33143]

Just thought I would update:

We have gone through 4 nights with her in the crib. We put her down in bed and walk out. She can't follow as there is a gate. As long as we leave the door open, she will stay in bed. If she does get out, I go to the door, give her a kiss, and tell her to lay down.

She's not going to bed early though. We put her down at 8pm and no matter how tired she is, she will stay awake for 1-2 hours. She just lays there playing with her stuffed animal. She will dose off but wakes herself up again. Really hoping that stops soon since she's so tired when we wake her up in the morning. But no getting up once she is asleep.

 

[pennquaker09]

Maybe I have weird kids, but mine went from walking to climbing in like no time. Nate woke up to Savannah pulling is hand. Missy CLIMBED out of her crib and made her way down the stairs. I think that was in September. They'll be 3 in May, and we converted their beds in September.