Another Big Boy Bed Question...

I had the same situation. When it came time for our second child we needed the crib so we went and picked out a car bed for him. It happened during xmas so I went and filled the car will all kinds of wrapped presents for him being a Big Boy now! He still remembers "opening" (we, oops sorry...Santa... covered the bed with a sheet until we were ready to open presents) his bed! And the presents where plentiful but cheap. He didn't care what they were! It was soo cool watching his face though! Even if it wasn't full of stuff it would have been a great day! Enjoy this milestone!

The first thing we did was let them pick out a new sheet and blanket set of their own. A rail helped two of our kids feel more secure, but the others didn't want it. We've always given lots of hugs and kisses at bedtime and each of our kids had a song they liked sang to them for awhile. Our oldest was the only one that really had transition issues. He would get up throughout the night and come in our room to sleep on the floor. As a compromise we got him a sleeping bag and told him he could sleep in his doorway. After awhile the sleeping bag moved further into his room, and eventually he moved to his bed on his own. I have heard other people say that their children preferred the floor for awhile too. So you may need a sleeping bag. A bit of wandering is normal, because all the sudden there is more freedom to move around. Just keep putting him back and eventually he will stop. We always allowed our kids to come in and cuddle with us if it was after 6 am. None of them do anymore though. We went through one brief period where one of our kids wandered around constantly. We locked their door. Before anyone freaks out- it was only for a little while. As soon as they got done being upset and laid down in bed, it was opened. I certainly don't condone locking your child in their room for long periods. I know people who have used baby gates in their child's doorway too. We tried that briefly and it got climbed over and knocked down to the point that it tore up the wall. We had one blocking off the kitchen that attached to the wall. It got climbed over enough that it actually ripped big chunks of drywall out of the wall when it came down. But baby gates do work for some people.

With my daughter we switched cold turkey, when she was 18 mo. We sold her crib (she is our only & last child), & she immediately went to the twin futon. We had sleep issues with her since she was born, had made progress & had to start over again. She is not 3 yr. sleep issues pretty much resolved although she frequently wakes in the middle of the night for chocolate milk. she knows how to open our door, so she does & comes to my side of the bed.

Ideal situation--- no, but it works for us.

We started by just using a mattress on the floor with the rail so that our son could get used to not having the slats like on the crib. Then after about a month we put the mattress on the bed frame.
We do use a gate at the door, particularly because our little one likes to have his door open at night. For those that say that they want their little one to get out in case of an emergency, I think that it sounds silly since there are far more safety risks with a child wondering around a house at night.
Our son has never gotten out of the bed, but we did safety proof his entire room so that if he were to get up and wonder around his room he would be completely safe.

The most important thing (imho) is to not change your bedtime routine at all. Only change the actual bed, lol. Do everything else exactly the same. If you want to make a "big deal" out of him getting a big boy bed, be careful that you don't make such a big deal that it creates stress for him.

We also put up a guard rail on the bed... didn't ask my son's opinion, just put it there like it was part of the bed. Push one side of the bed right up against the wall and use a guard rail on the outside side. That seems to help them still feel "cozy" and keeps them from accidentally rolling off the bed, AND helps deter them getting up out of the bed after you tell them goodnight. :)

You can let him help you pick out a new quilt or sheets, too.

Do you plan to let him keep his room? Or are you moving him into a new room (along with a new bed)? If possible, I would put the new bed in the same room he is currently in.

Ooohhh... I just remembered. We, too, kept similar type bedding. He had Winnie the Pooh stuff and so I bought pale green window pane sheets and a pale blue/green bed spread that practically matched his Winnie the Pooh stuff. Then continued putting the WtP crib comforter on top of the bed. He also had some blankets that were crocheted by my mom that he loved, and we kept using those also.

We didn't have any transition issues at all. All the problems with him getting up out of bed came long before the big boy bed, lol. (He was crib climbing by one year, and so his crib mattress was on the floor fora good 6 months before putting in the twin bed).

With both of my kids, we moved straight from crib to twin bed as well. I tried my best to keep their new bed as similar to their crib set up as possible. Like with my son.....his crib had a green sheet and all his little stuffed animals in it along the sides and he used a certain blue blanket every night. So, when I set up his twin bed, I put it along the same wall as his crib was, put the same color green bottom sheet on it, lined the sides with his same little stuffed animals and covered him up with his same blue blanket. I also put a safety rail along the side of the bed that wasn't up against the wall. It was one of the white mesh ones....I slung one of his other favorite crib blankets over it and also put some of his stuffed animals up against it.........creating that illusion of the crib walls on all sides of him. We also didn't use a pillow on his twin bed until he was older. We had virtually no transition b/c to him.......it was just a gigantic crib! LOL The only issues we had were when he realized that he could get in and out whenever he wanted to. That was so super exciting for him! But, we made sure his bedroom was extremely boring and of course very safe! LOL All toys were put in our playroom and we placed a gate at his bedroom door. After only a few nights, even the getting out of his bed got boring to him b/c all there was to do was stand there. LOL There wasn't anything fun to do. So, he decided it wasn't worth it and went back to sleeping like a champ. Good luck to you! =0)

I am NOT a big fan of using gates to keep him in the room. If he gets panicked, it may make his room a very uncomfortable and unpleasing place which will be much more difficult down the road. The other concern I have is the safety aspect if there's a fire, if he tries to climb over the gate, etc.

With our son,when we transitioned him, we made it a really big deal that he was getting a Big Boy bedroom and involved him in the process of picking-out bedding, pictures for the room, etc. We got him a rug that he could play with his cars on and put the mattress/boxspring directly on the floor so that if he did fall out, it wasn't far enough to hurt him.

Even after more than a year of having him in his own room, he still wanders into our room each night. It's not ideal, but it's better than one of us needing to sleep in there. He's getting better and better about sleeping longer.

Good luck.

I wouldn't use a gate in case something were to happen and he needed to get out. My daughter is 21 months and we just moved and took her out of the crib. She thinks she's sneaky and gets out a lot, but recently I've shut the door until she falls asleep so she can't wander around. We are also working on night time potty training and if the door were to be left shut or if there were a gate, it would defeat the whole purpose. At first we had to get up and take her back to her bed a lot, but I think she's starting to get the whole idea of STAYING!

This doesn't answer your question at all (sorry) , but I just had to mention my experience with BOTH of my daughters. When we transitioned from crib to "big girl bed" (twin), for some reason they did not realize that they could get out of bed by themselves and every morning when they'd wake up they would hollar "I'm awaaake!" and wait for me or my husband to come get them. The last thing I wanted to do is tell them that they can get out of the bed on their own, but I had to after about 7 months because I couldn't take the hollering any more! I always thought it was quite hilarious that neither of them realized they could get out whenever they wanted to, even thought they climbed into the bed themselves at bedtime!