How do you switch your toddler from the crib to the bed? We have a 2 year old daughter and she will lay in her bed, but she won't actually sleep in it. Her brother is growing so fast and he needs to move from the cradle to the crib. What do I do?
Hello everyone. I just wanted to thank everyone for their advice. It really helped to have so many different ideas. Well, it turnrd out that as soon as I took the crib out of her room, she had no problem sleeping in her bed through the night. At first I thought I would leave the crib in there with her, so if she woke up and got scared I could put her in it. Turned out the crib was what was keeping her from wanting to use her bed. Now my son is sleeping in the nice roomy crib too. We just go through the regular night time routine and everthing is great. It is wierd to wake up to my daughter in my room though. Nice, but wierd.
You might try taking her to pick out her own bed set to celebrate moving to a new bed. It worked with my friend's son.
When we made the switch I took her with me to but new sheets for her new "big girl bed" and I really let her pick what she wanted, cause since she was going to be sleeping in it I said it was all her choice. She was about 2 and choose care bears and then we went home and made a big deal of setting it all up and we just took the crib out of the room and put it away. This worked like a charm!
For you I would suggest taking the crib and decorating with your sons sheets and make a point of calling it his new "baby" bed. She might like the idea of her being a "big girl" instead of a baby.
Best of Luck!
D.
When my son turned 18 months old, bye-bye crib. There was no need for it. The minute he thought it was cool to climb out I went and got a bed. It was one of those toddler beds shaped like a car which he's obessed with. When the bed went in, the crib came down. I didn't give him the choice. I am blessed with a little man who loves to sleep. The first night in his new bed, I sat next to him quietly and if he tried to get out, I put him back in. This is where you go night-night. I didn't allow him to fall asleep in my arms, because that's not where he's supposed to sleep at night. He cried, but I didn't give in. Kid's are very intelligent. They get the picture alot quicker than I think we think they do. They just want everything their way. By the second night he caught on! (a miracle so I'm told!) Now when I say nap time, he climbs up the stairs, into bed and pulls that blanket up over him!
what i did with my daughter is let her fall asleep with me then put her on her big girl bed and every time she came to my bed i let her fall asleep then put her back agin. i took her out and let her pick out her own big girl quilt and stuff that match for her bed then she started sleeping on it.
Hi H.
My children are 2 yrs and 2 mo. apart. My daughter is the oldest, and I left her in the crib until just after her brother was born. I started having her try to take naps on her toddler bed (though she gave up naps just after she turned 2. She would just lay there and look at her books, at night she would insist that she had to sleep in her crib. It got to the point that I had to finally take the crib apart and put it away for a couple of months. I always told her what a big girl she was for sleeping in her big girl bed, and even let her find a comforter for her own big girl bed.
It took a couple of nights before she was comfortable sleeping in it, the crying eventually stopped, and she really did like the freedom that she had from sleeping in her toddler bed. She was upset at first when we put the bed back up for her brother, I had to show her that he was just getting too big to sleep in his old bed, and that he was lucky to be able to use her old bed. I ended up putting them both in the same room as I only had a two bedroom at the time. Soon she was sleeping in her big girl bed, and climbing into her brother's crib to play in the morning. She thought this was great!
Try taking it one step at a time, work her into it and see how it goes. If this doesn't work, then you might have to do the drastic measures like I did and just remove the crib giving her only her new bed to sleep on.
T. C
H.,
I solved my issue by getting a second crib. I bought a beautiful one off Craig's List for $50 (got to yahoo and search "craig's list las vegas" or whereever you are and it will pop up. If your daughter feels safe and comfortable in her crib and she'll sleep in it, I say why mess with success? Or, you could try letting her pick out a special bed or bedding as an incentive if you are really against another crib. Little tykes has several really cute beds that may do the trick and I see them on Craig's list cheap from time to time...
T.
When we switched our son, we just transfered all the stuff from the crib to the toddler bed. Sheets, blankets everything. Getting all new stuff makes it so unfamilar. We had also had the fish aquarium in the crib(music and water sounds) so we just strapped that to the toddler bed as well. We did have to put a gate in his door way for awhile(we did have a stairway-bedrooms were upstairs) and he did sleep on the floor a couple of times, but eventually he got up in the bed and all was good. I think the real key is to keep everything the same!! Good Luck
Start her out taking naps in it, then ease her into nite time sleep. You will be surprized how quickly she will want to switch. This is what I did with my 2 yr old. She sleeps in a full size bed with a rail add to it.
When I switched my son into a toddler bed he was about 15 months old. He didn't want to stay in the bed or sleep in it so I let him fall asleep with me either on the couch or in my bed, then once he was asleep, I moved him into his bed, he woke up quite a bit during the night and would come into my bed, but I just kept at it. Then I started laying on the floor next to his bed with my arm over the side so he could feel me, until he fell asleep, then I left the room. After about a month, he was in his bed. Now he's 3.5 and has been in a twin bed since he turned 2.
That's tough! We have always had problems switching kids from a crib to a bed.
It was a fight every night to keep them in bed, but keep at it and they will eventually sleep in a bed, also we had a small fold up graco playpen/bassinet that we kept on hand, and if they didn't sleep in bed we would put them in the playpen, and they would soon realize that they had more freedom in a bed, so they soon loved it.
Good luck.
Oh My Goodness... I had such a hard time getting my (Now 3 year old ) to switch from her crib to her BIG GIRL BED. I started laying in her bed with her until she fell asleep and then that got old because she'd wake up once I moved to get up or she'd wakes up, realize I wasn't there and start crying. I thought it would be an ever ending NIGHTMARE. Then I noticed that Ashlyn LOVED playing in tents, so I bought one of those Bed Tents that are made just for Children's beds and she loved it. She'd tell me alot that she " Had to go night night in her Big Girl Bed" and here it was 10AM in the morning at times. She loved it and would stay in there playing, and she really LOVED it when I'd climb in there with her and read her stories. Before I bought the Bed Tent I also bought the Cheapy little $20 Play Huts ( like at Target or WalMart) and that fit perfectly over her bed to, but I wanted something that was made for her bed and a friend showed me the Tent Beds and she loved it. Now at 3 years old she has outgrown the tent but we bought her a play tent that she would pretty much rather sleep in on the floor so my husband and I have to go in and move her back to her bed but OHHHHHHHHH it was so nice to see her get so excited about sleeping in her bed. If you want you could try this and see how it works for your little one. That is IF she is a tent lover.....LOL!!!!!!!! Best of Luck to you hun, I hope you find a way for her to be comfy in her Big Girl Bed.
Let me tell you...I LOVE having the toddler bed! My son is 2 1/2 and didn't actually sleep in his crib much...Well mostly the last yr and a half he has been with us...We live with my mom and share our bedroom...UGH! Well A few months ago my son was having issues with fighting sleep! Night time was the WORST!!! 2-3 hours he would fight it and it got to me cause his teachers at daycare told me he was falling asleep in class...I tried it ALL and nothing seemed to work...
So Wal-Mart had this GREAT deal on a Cars themed bedroom set for Toddlers...It has the toddler bed, table and 2 chairs and a toy bin for $100. So I was able to get it out of layaway a month ago and since we put it up...HEAVEN!!! My son falls asleep in NO time at night and sleeps in his bed most of the night...He does eventually crawl into bed with me though...But nap time as well...I tell him to lay down and go to sleep and he puts in a bit of fuss, but eventually falls asleep!!! It has been GREAT!!! I got him a book a while back as well called My Big Boy Bed and he LOVES it! I can't believe it's been this easy!!!
I hope this helps a little???
We moved our 18 month old to a big boy bed, by starting with naps. He had a tough time for about a week or two(where he would come out on his own) and once he was able to stay in there for naptime, bed time was even easier because he was used to it and it was dark in his room.
