So we transition to the toddler bed

[Deleted]

I hate this. Our kiddo was great sleeper. Now I have to lay with her until she falls asleep and she's up at 4am.

What am I doing wrong? Is this just my life now?

[aspentosh]

Could you try a clock that shows when it's ok to get out of bed? That would probably help with morning wake-ups and might even help with night time since she'll know it's time to sleep.

When we moved DD to a toddler bed we just reiterated that she needed to stay in her bed and go to sleep. Praised her when she did it, and she got the idea.

[NandaB]

Did you try the walk her back without interaction every time technique?

When my son switched to a bed I put him back 4-5 times the first night and ended up laying with him that first night because he was soioo excited about it, but after that I just walked him back every time. It took about half an hour or 45 min the first few days, but it improved quickly

[noodleskooze]

I am not ready for this!

[Deleted]

How long has she been in the toddler bed? We transitioned DS at age 3. The first week or so was pretty bad. We just walked him back over and over. He eventually got it.

[ilikedonuts]

Was she climbing out of the crib? I can't remember how old she is. 2?

[Deleted]

Apr 27, 2015 9:44:45 GMT -5 JRo said:

Why did you do it? Was she climbing out of her crib?

I have no advice, lol. Your situation is exactly how I would imagine it would go if we ditched the crib right now.

She started climbing out. Last Wednesday she climbed out and then locked herself in her room (I mean, she didn't lock US out, we could get in, but she lost her marbles over that.)

So yeah, it was a transition I would have liked to postpone a few more months (or really, forever) but she kind of forced our hand on this one.

[Deleted]

Apr 27, 2015 9:49:02 GMT -5 @supergreen said:

How long has she been in the toddler bed? We transitioned DS at age 3. The first week or so was pretty bad. We just walked him back over and over. He eventually got it.

Lol, like 3 days. She's not even 2 yet, so I'm kind of at a loss as to what's age appropriate since most of what I'm finding online is geared to older tots.

[Deleted]

Apr 27, 2015 9:42:17 GMT -5 NandaB said:

Did you try the walk her back without interaction every time technique?

When my son switched to a bed I put him back 4-5 times the first night and ended up laying with him that first night because he was soioo excited about it, but after that I just walked him back every time. It took about half an hour or 45 min the first few days, but it improved quickly

I laid with her the first night because she was SOOOO excited about her new bed. She kind of amps up over it. We've kept her bedtime routine the same otherwise, and now she makes a big production of getting her lovies in a row in bed, saying "night night", etc.

We did start replaying her white noise machine, that seems to help a bit.

[jeaniebueller]

Apr 27, 2015 10:02:42 GMT -5 @bettyhomewrecker said:

Apr 27, 2015 9:49:02 GMT -5 @supergreen said:

How long has she been in the toddler bed? We transitioned DS at age 3. The first week or so was pretty bad. We just walked him back over and over. He eventually got it.

Lol, like 3 days. She's not even 2 yet, so I'm kind of at a loss as to what's age appropriate since most of what I'm finding online is geared to older tots.

We switched DS to a twin bed at 20 months old. We did the supernanny thing of walking him back to his bed and the first night, it took about 2 hours and then he went to sleep. THe second night, 45 minutes, the third night, 10 minutes and then nights after that he went to sleep without a peep. The key at that age is consistency. Pick a strategy and stick to it. I would really hate to develop the habit of having to lay with her, but that is just me. For the early wakeups, can you get one of those kiddie clocks that turn a certain color to let her know what time to get up? Or if she is getting out of bed and disturbing you, I would do the supernanny thing again for the early wakeup.

[oswin]

I think with younger kids making the transition, there has to be less reasoning and more tough love. DD forced our hand by escaping from her crib multiple times at 16 months, and there was no reasoning about staying in bed that she would understand or accept. So we basically sleep trained again using a bit of progressive waiting (after a few disaster nights where we tried other things). It only took a few nights to get to the point where she was only grumpy for a little while, and another week or two for her to completely accept it. We also had to put a gate on her doorway (leaving the door open) because she didn't like sleeping with a closed door anymore. And we decided that the battle we wanted to win was getting her to sleep like she used to, not that she had to sleep in her bed. So two months later, she mostly sleeps on the floor or her cot, and has only slept on her mattress twice (just recently - she's making progress). We tuck her into her bed, but she usually gets out and moves her pillow and animal to near the door when we leave, and we just decided that that was a battle that didn't need to be fought, sleeping on the floor won't harm her.

So, pick your battles. Pick a technique, be consistent with it for at least a few days, and hope things get better. I would not recommend letting her form new sleep habits that involve you sticking around until she falls asleep, etc.

[eponinepontmercy]

We have one of those clocks that indicates when she can get out of bed, and that helped. The first week was absolute hell, though.

I set up a sticker chart, and she get a sticker every time she went to bed and stayed there without a problem. She earned some random things with that and it worked pretty well.

It has gotten MUCH better, but that first week or so was awful.

[Deleted]

Apr 27, 2015 10:02:42 GMT -5 @bettyhomewrecker said:

Apr 27, 2015 9:49:02 GMT -5 @supergreen said:

How long has she been in the toddler bed? We transitioned DS at age 3. The first week or so was pretty bad. We just walked him back over and over. He eventually got it.

Lol, like 3 days. She's not even 2 yet, so I'm kind of at a loss as to what's age appropriate since most of what I'm finding online is geared to older tots.

Wow she's young. What did you try to keep her in the crib? Lowering the mattress to floor? Sleep sack to prevent climbing? If the back of the crib is taller, try turning it around?

[NandaB]

Good luck. Let me know your secret when you figure it out, lol. My DD just turned 2 and its happening soon, I just know it. She's already gotten her leg up, she just hasn't taken the plunge yet. It doesn't help that her brother climbs in and out so she's seen him do it. I have a feeling she's going to be more difficult. She's...feisty

[Deleted]

Apr 27, 2015 10:52:27 GMT -5 @supergreen said:

Apr 27, 2015 10:02:42 GMT -5 @bettyhomewrecker said:

Lol, like 3 days. She's not even 2 yet, so I'm kind of at a loss as to what's age appropriate since most of what I'm finding online is geared to older tots.

Wow she's young. What did you try to keep her in the crib? Lowering the mattress to floor? Sleep sack to prevent climbing? If the back of the crib is taller, try turning it around?

We lowered the mattress to the floor, but she's able to monkey climb out of that. She did get her arm caught so that caused us to wig a bit as well. She's been sleeping on the floor in dc since around 10 months so she's used to that, we didn't try a bigger sleep suit.

[sjh722]

We switched DD1 around 23 months. (She climbed out of the babysitter's crib, and we were having a baby and figured better to switch her before the baby showed up.) We just kept putting her back in bed. Eventually, I put a child safety cover on the inside of her knob so she couldn't come out and wander the house. Her room is baby-proofed (everything's tied to the wall and we put a lock on her closet door), so eventually we just let her figure it out. She falls asleep on the carpet in front of the door some nights and we just put her back into bed when we go to bed.

[Deleted]

Apr 27, 2015 10:52:27 GMT -5 @supergreen said:

Apr 27, 2015 10:02:42 GMT -5 @bettyhomewrecker said:

Lol, like 3 days. She's not even 2 yet, so I'm kind of at a loss as to what's age appropriate since most of what I'm finding online is geared to older tots.

Wow she's young. What did you try to keep her in the crib? Lowering the mattress to floor? Sleep sack to prevent climbing? If the back of the crib is taller, try turning it around?

Yeah, I was coming in to offer what we have done but J was 2.5 so I think it was different than at 20 mos.

fwiw, the ok to wake clock has been fantastic for us and he never gets up before it turns green. As far as going to sleep we do lay with him while we listen to his lullaby but before the big bed we rocked him while we listened to it so it's not much different for us and juse part of his routine. He usually passes out within 1 min.


but at 20 mos I'd have been trying all of what @supergreen suggested to keep him in the crib longer.



Eta: just saw you tried mattress on the floor. In that case, I'd pick a strategy and stick with it. I think it do take some adjustment tIme.

[NandaB]

Apr 27, 2015 11:49:11 GMT -5 farmvillelover said:

Apr 27, 2015 9:42:17 GMT -5 NandaB said:

Did you try the walk her back without interaction every time technique?

This is what we are doing. No coddling, no laying together, no more sweet talk, just gentle but firmly walking him back saying “you need to be a big boy and stay in your bed, you have a nice bed, I love you very much and I’ll see you in the morning.” That’s literally all I say, sometimes repeating “I love you and do NOT MAKE ME MAD. GO TO SLEEP.”



2 weeks later, and it’s MUCH better.

After the first few times I didn't say anything except good night. Well, I mumbled inappropriate things to myself, but to him I only said good night.

[itsme]

DD is almost 3 and we're in this battle as well. She was great at sleeping in her bed for awhile then one day it ended and now one of us has to go in there until she falls asleep. She wakes up in the middle of the night and runs to our room. We need to break the cycle somehow. I feel for you!

[brady2012]

We transitioned at 21 months because I wanted her comfortable with the bed before her brother arrived 6 weeks later.  She had also been using a cot at daycare since one year.  We just resleep trained her, although our situation was a bit different. 

She was a horrendous sleeper in the crib and did better in the bed at first.  But she did regress and that is when we went back to sleep training.  She would get out, I would see her and meet her at the door and put her back.  Crying ensued and one night I had to put her back 18 times in a row, but eventually it worked.  I would just put her back without saying a word, kiss her head and then say "goodnight" as I left.

It took a few weeks, but it worked.  Like everything else, illness and teeth would cause her to regress but within 2.5 months she was sleeping through the night...something she never did in the crib.

[ShaysMomma]

This thread is a good reality check for me.

I keep getting the urge to turn DS's crib into a toddler bed but we haven't had the need to. He hasn't tried to escape and we dont need it for any #2 or anything.

I naively think it would be "fun" to transition him to a big boy bed.

Me thinks I will wait awhile....

[jeaniebueller]

Let us know how it goes tonight! I remembered something else, my H sat in DS's doorway and was the one to walk him back to bed every time because I thought I was going to cave because my baby was so upset. LOL Like others mentioned, he didn't even say a word to him and just walked him back to bed and said goodnight.

[Deleted]

How it's gone since 7:30:

She scaled the baby gate we put on her doorframe and skinned her foot. So we removed the gate (bc CHRIST, stop trying to maim yourself) so she just runs to our bedroom sobbing.

She's cried non stop.

She won't stay in her crib once placed. Immediate bee line behind us.

So now H is rocking her to sleep, or at least calm her down from the whole "I'll remove my foot to show you bastards" hysteria.

God, we fail. It's been 1 hour.

[jeaniebueller]

Apr 27, 2015 20:32:49 GMT -5 @bettyhomewrecker said:

How it's gone since 7:30:

She scaled the baby gate we put on her doorframe and skinned her foot. So we removed the gate (bc CHRIST, stop trying to maim yourself) so she just runs to our bedroom sobbing.

She's cried non stop.

She won't stay in her crib once placed. Immediate bee line behind us.

So now H is rocking her to sleep, or at least calm her down from the whole "I'll remove my foot to show you bastards" hysteria.

God, we fail. It's been 1 hour.

Don't beat yourself up. The beeline is normal. Normal, normal, normal. My 20 month old did the same thing. You do just have to do the tough love walking her back to bed and ignore the hysterics. This sounds just terrible, I know, but she will eventually tire herself out and get it.

[Deleted]

It looked like it was going so well too. We did our routine. We read 2 books, she picked out the last one. We said good night to the lovies, we turned white noise on, she laid down, and then FUCK AUTHORITYYYYYYY

[bunch]

My 22 mo old is in a bed now. She started insisting on sleeping on the twin in her room around 19 mos and had a period of sleeping well, then we ramped up to 15 courses of Let it Go and staying with her until she went to sleep. Then she needed the same thing for multiple wake ups. Then we did a really, really terrible night of CIO, dropped her crib to the floor so that she couldn't get out, moved her in with big sis and got a good month of sleep. Then she climbed out of her crib anyway and I woke one saturday with a toddler on my chest. Then we did another round of CIO in the toddler bed. She's doing okay now. She almost always sttn, but often cries before going to sleep. My girls now share a room and we did have to get tough love with no more multiple songs, kisses, hugs and lying on the floor until they (and we) went to sleep. Each bedtime and waking was easily taking an hour. Good luck! I had to force my oldest out of a crib just before 3 and I much preferred that scenario.

eta: the door has to be shut.  if she could open it, I'd put a lock on it.  I don't trust my kids being able to roam the house at night, especially not dd2.  I had to take all books, toys and fun stuff out of the room.  Sometimes I still find her in the morning with socks on that she didn't have when she went to bed.