s/o- transitioning to big kid bed?

[Bernadine]

I think we're going to make the transition soon. Dd will be three in June. She climbed out of her crib the other day, although I realized she pulled the rocking chair over to climb on, so I moved that. But I think we're getting close.

Any helpful tips? I feel like she'll just start walking out of her room all night. Should we do a toddler bed first, or go right to a big bed?

[cabbagecabbage]

My tip is to talk about it with excitement and just be ready for a few days of hiccups. My kids both went into bed easily. We were co-sleeping in a side car crib so our transition was to their own room and a big bed. We went ahead with regular beds because we were setting up the room anyway. It was much easier than I feared both times.

[abs]

The hardest thing was going to the big kid bed meant the end of naps. She started to spend most of her nap time just playing and rolling around the crib anyways so it didn't come to a big a shock. Bedtime though was absolutely no big deal. She loved having all the space of a double bed and slept great. She never got out of bed or anything. Went much better than I thought it would!

[namasteak]

We just childproofed their room and put a door knob cover so they couldn’t get out 🤷🏻‍♀️

[kath16]

we did a twin on the floor, but i know a lot of people who went for a real bed with rails. to me, it was a better option than doing the toddler bed because that meant two transitions.

baby proof everything in the room

with my older kid, we got him used to it by letting him fall asleep in the car and wake up in the bed (we stayed with him at first), but that won't work for everyone. it took a couple weeks for him to really be comfortable, but he's generally an anxious kid who doesn't do great with change. we survived.

[hopecounts]

If 2 or older you can go to a twin bed if under 2 still need a crib mattress so a toddler bed is necessary.

For us it wasn’t bad.
We baby proofed, put up a gate and just stuck with our bedtime routine.

I chose to ignore her antics (playing, sleeping on the floor) and after a few nights she got the hang of it.
She still chose to sleep on the floor but she’d go right to sleep

[ssmjlm]

Her crib came with a half rail, so she was in a toddler bed for almost a year before we went to a big girl bed.

She didn't get out of the toddler bed at all. The big girl bed was another story. We also moved when she transitioned, so we talked it up to her new room, her new big girl bed, etc. Sleep went to shit a couple weeks after she turned 3, but I don't think it was bed related.

[rupertpenny]

We went to a twin mattress on the floor at first. Honestly she was a terrible sleeper (part of the reason we transitioned a bit before two) but even when she woke up she didn’t get out of bed. She just woke up and screamed.

It still takes a lot to get her out of bed now at 5.5. If she is already a decent sleeper I wouldn’t worry about it much. Just deal with issues as they come.

[penguingrrl]

My girls both used the crib converted to toddler bed for a short while then moved to a twin bed. My son moved straight to a twin bed. None ever had guard rails or anything. For the first few nights we put couch cushions down along the side in case they fell, but none of them ever did.

Interestingly for all three of mine sleep got drastically better with the switch and we never had them trying to get out of bed or anything. Two were 16 months, one was 17 months.

The only weird thing that happened was that our middle one never slept in her bed. She always climbed in bed with her sister instead, but both slept well so we were fine with it.

[fivechickens]

Don’t forget a waterproof mattress pad. Seems dumb but the beds we had were either ones we had or a family member gave us so they all came with regular mattress pads. One night two kids peed the bed. I ran out the next day and got waterproof ones.

Other than that, the transition was pretty painless.

[Jalapeñomel]

I just put my kid in a bed, and he only climbed out and opened the door once. He still naps, so no issues there either.

[PatBenatar]

I remember the first night she got out a million times and I would put her back in every time just firmly telling her it was bed time. It got progressively better and then got to the point where she wouldn't get out unless she called for me. She did still nap for about a year after we moved her.

[Susie]

We started talking up the idea of a big girl bed, and got DD a double bed as a 3rd birthday present.  By the time it showed up, with her favorite color bedding, she was super excited about it.  Before that she was capable of escaping her crib (and did once or twice) but she didn't like the hard landings that she had so for the most part she just called us to get up.  

The transition was super easy.  She hasn't fallen out (a double vs. a twin probably helps, but we put her crib mattress on the floor on one side and pillows on the floor on the other JIC).  She also doesn't seem to get up.  She's still in pull ups over night and nap time so she doesn't get up to use the bathroom yet.  It hasn't really affected her sleep (which is good) or her napping (which is hit and miss).

We bypassed the toddler bed because baby #2 is due in June, and I wanted the crib to sit unused for a few mo. before we put the nursery together and baby #2 arrived so she didn't feel like the baby was taking all her stuff.  The next (last) kid I may be more inclined to do the toddler bed route.

[kath16]

Jan 17, 2019 7:54:01 GMT -5 hopecounts said:

If 2 or older you can go to a twin bed if under 2 still need a crib mattress so a toddler bed is necessary.

For us it wasn’t bad.
We baby proofed, put up a gate and just stuck with our bedtime routine.

I chose to ignore her antics (playing, sleeping on the floor) and after a few nights she got the hang of it.
She still chose to sleep on the floor but she’d go right to sleep

I have never heard this. 

[penguingrrl]

Jan 17, 2019 7:54:01 GMT -5 hopecounts said:

If 2 or older you can go to a twin bed if under 2 still need a crib mattress so a toddler bed is necessary.

All three of mine were in twin beds before turning 2. I’ve never heard there’s some reason they shouldn’t be.

[liverandonions]

Both my kids were in the crib conversion toddler bed because we attempted to put my daughter in a twin and she lost her mind. It was too much for her. She felt comfortable in her crib conversion. We started trying her in the twin closer to my son being born because we thought we would need the crib (we ended up buying a used one in a different color) but she was cool with it then. After 5 days of sleeping in the twin with no issues we moved the crib out.

She would wander in sometimes, but wasn't awful. My son however has a pillow in our bed because he comes in every night.

[isabel]

Jan 17, 2019 8:44:13 GMT -5 Jalapeñomel said:

I just put my kid in a bed, and he only climbed out and opened the door once. He still naps, so no issues there either.

Basically this. We took off the rail from his crib. For awhile, I don't really think he knew he *could* get up. It was never an issue though. We eventually moved him to a full and still no issues. He abuses getting out of bed now before going to sleep, but it's mostly NBD. He also still naps without issue.

[gastro]

We just did it. I just said it’s time for the big boy bed and we dismantled the crib. My 3.5 year old still waits in the bed in the morning for someone to get him. I don’t remember any issues with my seven year old when we transitioned. They were both around 2 when we did. We moved them to queen mattresses on the floor at first.

[hopecounts]

Jan 17, 2019 10:32:09 GMT -5 kath16 said:

Jan 17, 2019 7:54:01 GMT -5 hopecounts said:

If 2 or older you can go to a twin bed if under 2 still need a crib mattress so a toddler bed is necessary.

For us it wasn’t bad.
We baby proofed, put up a gate and just stuck with our bedtime routine.

I chose to ignore her antics (playing, sleeping on the floor) and after a few nights she got the hang of it.
She still chose to sleep on the floor but she’d go right to sleep

I have never heard this. 

It’s the current Recommendation due to risks from the softness of an adult mattress.
A crib mattress is made to a specific firmness to prevent entrapment/suffocation etc.
Basically if a 10 lb weight indents the mattress it’s too soft.

www.cpsc.gov/content/cpsc-warns-against-placing-babies-in-adult-beds-study-finds-64-deaths-each-year-from///

[kath16]

Jan 17, 2019 14:06:02 GMT -5 hopecounts said:

Jan 17, 2019 10:32:09 GMT -5 kath16 said:

I have never heard this. 

It’s the current Recommendation due to risks from the softness of an adult mattress.
A crib mattress is made to a specific firmness to prevent entrapment/suffocation etc.
Basically if a 10 lb weight indents the mattress it’s too soft.

www.cpsc.gov/content/cpsc-warns-against-placing-babies-in-adult-beds-study-finds-64-deaths-each-year-from///

I could be reading it incorrectly (I had seen this before) but this seems to speak to cosleeping. Not so much to safe toddler bed.

It’s safe now to put blankets and pillows in with my 20 month old.. I don’t see why a regular mattress would be unsafe. At least based on this article.

Again, I might be wrong or blatantly missing something

[snapoutofit]

We went straight from a crib to a full size bed at about 2.5. We got a rail for the outside of it to keep him from rolling out. There weren’t any issues. I don’t remember if we really even talked that much about it. It was in the same room as his crib so we just started going to sleep in the bed. After about a week we got rid of the crib.

[cleo29]

I would just do a regular bed and get a bed rail. you can get a low profile boxspring which will keep the bed a little lower to the ground. my girls did not really get out of bed on their own in the beginning, but i would just make sure you leave things safe for her.

[LanaLang]

We put a bed tent on his twin bed to give a more contained feel. He did very well with it. His crib was in a closet though, so he was transitioning from partial sensory deprivation to an open room, so the feel was very different and we were afraid he wouldn't be able to sleep.

[cleo29]

Jan 17, 2019 8:41:06 GMT -5 fivechickens said:

Don’t forget a waterproof mattress pad. Seems dumb but the beds we had were either ones we had or a family member gave us so they all came with regular mattress pads. One night two kids peed the bed. I ran out the next day and got waterproof ones.

Other than that, the transition was pretty painless.

Yes! The ones from Ikea are similar to a really expensive brand and work great. i have several so i always have a fresh one ready.