Transitioning to a "big boy" bed

[gmail]

DS has never tried to climb out of his crib (he'll be 2 on Friday!!!!) and our Pedi said now would be a good time to transition him into a bed.

How, exactly, does this work? Do you put a baby gate on their door? Shut their door? Just expect them to be climbing into your bed at 6AM?

[satama]

We just put DS in his crib converted to the toddler bed with rail, shut the door, and he didn't know he could get out for a while. We did turn the lock around both so he couldn't lock us out and so we could lock it if we were afriad of him getting out at night.

He was around 19 months. He went to a twin bed with rail a couple of months later.

We told him to call for us if he needed something instead of getting up, he is almost 3 and still follows that rule mostly.

[dcrunnergirl]

I know this doesn't answer your question, but I'm keeping my kids in cribs as long as possible. I'm hoping the older they get, the better they'll be about staying in bed.

[mrshandy]

I would wait as long as possible. We transitioned DS at 2 and it was really hard, aka sleeping on the floor for 3 weeks. I miss the crib. The only reason we transitioned was because he could easily climb out of his crib and did.

We changed the door knob so it would lock. Basically our pedi said to treat the room like a crib. So we took out anything dangerous and lock him in every night.

DS could easily climb over a gate so that wasn't an option.

[gmail]

It will be the converted crib-to-bed deal, we just need to get a rail. Did you just all of a sudden do it, or did you make a game of it?

[gmail]

Yeah, he hasn't ever tried to climb out. He likes his crib. But she was pretty insistent upon it, so now DH is all on board.

[satama]

Oh, and we only transitioned that early because of climbing. If that is not an issue, I see no need to.

[vanillacourage]

We waited until DS climbed out twice (to make sure it wasn't a fluke). He was 2.5 and I think the extra time helped him know what was going on. If I recall correctly, we made the bedtime routine more attractive by laying with him (which we couldn't do when he had been in the crib) and waited to leave until he was sleepy and content.

[mollybrown]

I wouldn't transition without a reason. We transitioned DS at 2.5 because we needed the crib. We had no problems at all. He's almost 4, and to this day has NEVER gotten out of his bed until H or I come into his room. We've told him he can get out when he wakes up, but he just doesn't.

He went from the crib to the IKEA Kura bed, which is twin size but is only about 6 inches off the floor. We didn't use a rail, and he never fell out. Even if he did, we weren't worried that he'd be hurt.

[Deleted]

Dec 3, 2012 16:17:12 GMT -5 jenny1980 said:

Lucy doesn't generally get out of bed. She just yells at us when she wants to get up.

We do not have a gate or lock on her door.

This. Especially at first. DS waited for us to come and pick him up out of his toddler bed. it was like he coulldn't see the rails were gone.

We have had stretches of having to re-sleep train where I've had to hold the door closed while he screams and bangs on it. But that is a whole other issue.

[gmail]

Dec 3, 2012 16:17:12 GMT -5 jenny1980 said:

Lucy doesn't generally get out of bed. She just yells at us when she wants to get up.

We do not have a gate or lock on her door.

I don't know why, but I'm in hysterics, picturing this - esp given the face in the sig picture.

[whitepicketfence]

We converted DD1's crib shortly after she turned 2. We just put one of those doorknob covers on the inside handle of her door to babyproof it and kept her door shut at night. We have a video monitor so we could see if she was out of bed and she knew to call for me if she needed something. We got really lucky in that she rarely got out of bed after we tucked her in (we don't keep any toys in her room).

We just recently took the babyproof handle off her door since we moved her sister into her room and didn't want her calling for us/waking DD2 up. Now she just comes out to get us in the morning. She's a month shy of 3.

[CloudBee]

Why does the pedi say now is a good time? Are you potty training?

[drloretta]

IMO there are no hard and fast rules. You do what works for your child, and adjust as you go along.

DD crawled out of her crib. We started by taking one side off. She fell out once or twice and wanted nothing to do with that. So we took the crib apart and put her mattress on the floor. It took her a week or 2 to adjust, but after that she was golden.

This summer we switched to a twin mattress, and over the Christmas holiday we're pulling the trundle bed out of storage and putting it in her room. We're already talking about it so she's ready.

As far as wandering, etc., we had already had a gate across her door. For the longest time we also shut the door, but after our vacation this summer, she wanted the door wide open. We're keeping the gate there for now.

She *rarely* gets into things in her room. We did take out her fan/white noise so she wouldn't stick her fingers in it. She had a brief love affair with her night light, but now barely notices it.