How Do I Transition My Todder from Her Crib to a Bed?

Hey same problem here. Here's what we did.. We changed over her bed to a toddler bed but she hated it so we had to change it back to a baby bed. We did this for months and she just wanted didn't want a big bed. We finally went and bought all Dora bedding and changed it over and she loved it. I think it is just how the child feels. When we started she didn't stay in bed, she would come and climb in bed with us so we put the gate back up. Then we had to go and "sleep" on the floor till she was asleep then we could go to bed. Now she has this thing that she has to sleep with the light on. She'll stay in her bed and talk to her babies and we just let her go to sleep on her own.. I thought my child was worried b/c she didn't want to get out of her baby bed. She never even tried to get out. Well good luck and hope this helped.

J.

Do you have a twin bed or toddler bed that is separate from the crib? We started transitioning our daughter early because my MIL gave her a Dora the Explorer toddler bed for her first Christmas (she was a couple months from a year old at that time). I waited a month or 2 before setting it up. When I did, I put it in our living room for her to get used to. She would climb up on it and play. And we also started putting her down on it for naps. After a month or so of that, I moved the bed into her room beside the crib. I left walk space on both sides of the bed, and I left the crib where it was (didn't want to change too much at once for her). After a week or 2, she had only fallen out of the bed in the middle of the night like 3 times. After that she was fine! We took out the crib and moved the bed to where the crib was.

As for her getting out of the bed during the night... do you have a gate on her bedroom door? If so, just make sure there's nothing in her room that she can get hurt on, and just lock the gate. If she gets out of bed, you can either try putting her back, or just leave her. Some people say their kids would fall asleep in the floor at the door. Our daughter never did this, not even once! She always got back in her bed to fall asleep! I guess she realized that the bed was more comfortable than the floor!

My daughter was this age when we moved her to her toddler bed and she stayed in it until she was 3 1/2. She was end to end for sure when we moved her to a "big girl bed". Now, we had a convertible crib, which might have made a difference, but when we put her in the toddler bed, she would not get out. She called us for a good two months when she woke up. Maybe it just didn't register that she could get out by herself. We had to tell her that she could get out by herself and remind her in the morning for a few days. If your daughter does try to get out, I saw on one of those nanny shows on television what to do. It won't be easy, but it worked on the show. Just take a chair in there and sit it closer to the door than the bed. Go through your bedtime routine, then turn the lights out. If she tries to get up, you don't say anything to her, you just pick her up and put her back in. There were tears, screaming and a count was kept on how many times the child was put back in. It took over 30 times, but eventually the child got the message. Another thing you could try would be to have a "play" or pretend game during the day so you can teach her to stay in the bed. Make it a game and say something like, "Let's see if you can stay in there longer than I can sit on the floor." Make it fun and then at night you can remind her of the game.....just some suggestions to try. Maybe your daughter will surprise you and stay in! Good Luck!

We switched our daughter who just turned 2 a couple months ago. She has the crib that turns into a toddler bed. One Saturday before her nap time, we went into her room and changed her crib into a toddler bed with her watching. We then put on the new Backyardigan bedding we had bought and 'introduced' her to her big girl bed. At nap time, we tucked her in her new big girl bed and let her nap. She had no problem changing over. I think the big thing is to let them in on what's happening. Plus the new bedding (all her other crib bedding was just white) made it something special for her.
My daughter only gets up out of her bed when shes wet through her pajamas and wants dry clothes. Other than that she stays in bed all night. We have a standard bedtime routine. Occasionally if she isn't that sleepy, she will get up and play in her room after we have put her to bed. She has a few dolls in her bed but no other toys because we have a play room. We usually don't make a fuss as long as she stays in her room. She will put herself to bed and sleep when she gets tired. Hope your daughter transistions easily.

a great way is when she is ready for bed, lay down with her with a childs book and discuss the pictures with her.
Then read to her until she goes to sleep.

This is quality time for both of you.
I am sure will have great memories in later life.

God Bless

I have just put my daughter in a big girl bed and I use a baby gate to keep her in her room. I do have to go in a few times and put her back in it but it's getting better :-) goodluck!

With my first I put the crib mattress on the floor and put a baby gate on her door. It worked well.

When my first started to climb out of her crib my sister gave me a crib tent. It secures to the crib on both ends and has zipper access along a long side. I think One Step Ahead sells them on their website. We didn't have a bed to transition her to so this was a solution that worked for us.

I would say 26 months is rather old to go into a toddler bed. Usually they are for children who are around 1 yr. old to use until they are big enough to climb in and out a twin bed. J is 29 months and he has nearly grown out of his toddler bed. Anytime he tosses and turns just a bit he is bumping the sides. He usually sleeps like me, when he falls asleep he rarely moves so he is still in the toddler bed for a couple of months.

We had him at the foot of our bed in the baby bed. When it was time to put him in the toddler bed we put the baby bed by the closet and put the toddler bed at the foot of our bed. It was in the same position, he had the same access to us. Since the toddler bed is the same size as the baby bed we could transfer his bedding and he started sleeping in his own bed at about 14 months. Yes, he would get out and wander around but we keep the doors closed so he could only be in our room. With the lights out he didn't really get up and stay up for extended periods of time. He usually just crawled in bed with us. When he went back to sleep we put him back in his bed. This didn't happen more than a few times though. His toddler bed is in his own room since he was about 20 months old. We recently got K a really cute day bed so J is going to be moving into a twin bed soon. I don't expect any problems.