My daughter is 2 yrs and alomst 2 months old and has always slept just fine in her crib. This past Sunday night she started fighting with us to go to sleep in her bed and ended up vomiting in her bed. Ended up having a stomach bug and is much better now but is still not wanting to go to bed in her crib. This crib lets you take the front rail off to make like a little day bed but does not have any rail to keep her in the bed. My daughter is a VERY active sleeper so she has rolled out several times and the drama that ensues after means no one is getting back to sleep. She doesn't get hurt cause we have a very thick tumbling mat underneath, it just scares her. But we had to take the rail off cause she finally figured out how to climb over it and our pediatrician said when she started that to take it off. Well I'm having issues finding a toddler rail that will go on a crib and I really think she needs one. But I have found several toddler beds that use the crib mattress that are not very expensive. I'm afraid that she doesn't like her crib anymore since she has vomited SEVERAL times this past week in the bed. Right now she fights so hard to not get in the bed and I have to lay on the edge of the crib to keep her in. We stay like this for a good 1-2 hrs before she will fall asleep enough for me to leave. I'm just at my whits end this week and am looking for other moms that have dealt with this. Thanks!
So we borrowed a toddler bed from a friend, went out and bought brand new bedding and made a big deal out of it. She waved bye bye to the "baby" bed and helped me move her "big girl" bed in her room. We rearranged her room and I even got her a special lamp with a remote she can turn on and off by herself. We have always had a good night time routine so we just altered it to be reading books in the bed all tucked in instead of rocking. She also has the twighlight turtle and the Mobi light so she's not so afraid of the dark now. The first few nights were rough but tonight wad night #4 and it was almost painless. She told me this morning she was a big girl now and liked her bed!
I have 3 boys and my advice would be to go ahead and go with the twin bed. None of mine ever slept in a toddler bed because kids grow out of it so quickly. For not much more money you can get a twin bed (with a rail) and they can have that for years....and it gives them more room to roll around (my second son is a very active sleeper as well) but the rail keeps him in the bed. Good luck!
I suggest getting a toddler or a twin bed and buying a removable bed rail. My two year old loves her big girl bed and I don't have to worry about her falling out. I also put a baby gate on her door in case she wakes up before us and gets out of bed. Good luck!
When my children - or I guess I should say my 1st child - was going into a "big" bed, we were told he would only fall
off once. We learn where the edge of the bed is and that is why people don't fall out of the bed all the time.
I guess your little one missed the lesson about the edge of
the bed. I am so sorry you are having such a time with her.
I did learn with my 3rd to NEVER use the word nap or any
word that would make her think she needed a nap-and so did
I. We always had a quiet time. I
I had a friend who used a trundle bed for her children. She would let them sleep on the trundle (without popping it up) so if they fell then it would be a very short distance. Then, either she or her husband could sleep on the other mattress until the child got to sleep. It also solved another problem... It allowed the child to have more play area in the room than a full size bed during the day. Good luck. I am dreading the transition to a bed vs. the crib. My baby just turned 2 and she's not fighting the crib so I am keeping her in it as long as I can get away with it.
G.
A., It sounds like she is ready for a toddler bed. I am not sure if they still sell these but when my son was transitioning to his "big boy" bed we found the bed rails that just slip under the mattress and fold up along the side of the mattress. They fit almost every bed. I am sure that they are made by either Safety first or Fisher-Price. Good luck to you!!
I think buying a toddler bed if your crib converts and she's still falling out is a waste of money cause she will fall out of the toddler bed. I put both my kids on a twin mattress and box spring on the floor right from the crib even though it converted. I eventually put my daughter in a super single waterbed that her uncle bought her (she is spolied by him) and my son will get a actual bed later on. He was 19 months when I switched my son to the twin matress and he does great with the rail and it up against the wall on the other side he hasnt fallen out once but I have to put a gate up at his door to keep him in his room cause he can get up and wander around the house at night and in the morning.
I used to put pillows along the edge of my daughter's bed underneath the fitted sheet. It made a bumper of sorts that helped her not fall out of bed when she rolled over. We did that for years... even after she got bigger because she loved the raised edge to the bed. I rubbed her back till she fell asleep... still do that most nights.
Well, my son just turned three on the 20th. From the time he was 2.5 months, he slept through the night. He also has always loved to be swaddled, and later surrounded by stuffed animals in his crib. He started growing more, so we moved him to a full size bed, but around Halloween, he started hitting te really imaginative stage and was getting scared of the dark, monsters, etc. Every night, my husband and I would fall asleep on his bed for 1-2 hrs as well. Then, my son started coming into our room halfway through the night.I can always teel him 'no' to things, but when I would hear him crying to let him play w/my hair to fall back asleep in his bed, or when he'd say he'd 'just sleep on (my) floor" my heart would break. We just moved him back into the crib, and he's been sleeping great! I just wanted to say I'm so glad someone else out there is dealing with this sort of thing
!
I had the same issue with my son at about 18 months minus the vomitting. The crib converted to a toddler bed but the railings didn't keep him in, they didn't go all the way down the sides. We had the $$ so we got him a twin bed and put railings on it and he's been fine ever since. I suggest trying a toddler bed though, they have some nice ones and they aren't expensive. Good luck
Hi A.,
Transitions are never easy on either parent or child but it's best to try to make them as easy as possible. When my first child was showing signs of readiness to go from crib to bed, we let him look on the Internet at all the different kinds of beds he could have. He chose the bed he wanted and since we bought it online it took 3 weeks to get here. So I think with the excitement of knowing his new big boy bed was coming and the fact that he picked it himself made the transition painless for us. So maybe if you can include your daughter in the process and talk to her about what she thinks of all this.
Good luck,
A.
Enhancing Lives - One Family at a Time
www.HealthySafeFamily.com
A., First just take out the mattress and lie it on the floor... this will cause her NOT to fuss I hope and not take 1-2 hrs till she falls asleep... I honestly thought about getting a toddler bed but realistically it is better just to move them into a Twin if you can. If not you can keep the mattress on the floor.. seems crazy but most guests don't go into the bedrooms anyway and it is only a temporary thing, this too will eliminate any potential 'falling' it is a great way to transition the kids to a big girl bed, and of course when you get the twin, put it up against a wall and get ONE side rail, they can climb out of it at the bottom near the foot of the bed.. make sure if you have any steps that you place a gate at the top of the stairs as she may get out of her bed and come to find you in your room.
It is just another milestone I am surprised that she stayed in the crib until now... My oldest was in a bed at 18 months and my daughter co-slept till she was 3 but that is what worked for our family... she was more than ready to get into her big girl bed. Have fun by going to pick out a nice bedding set, you don't have to spend a lot as there are a ton with her favorite characters or colors...
SIDE note, I would NOT recommend putting the gate up at her bedroom door, this will cause alienation she also needs to learn at age 2 that she can KNOCK on your door if she needs you.. practice playing doing this and it will become second nature to her... my daughter still respects that and she just turned 7.
A two year old understands a whole lot more than what they can express. ;)
If you have any other questions feel free to contact me via email. :)
I have been a mom for a LONG time...I have a soon to be 21 yr old and my long awaited blessing who just turned 7.
I suggest looking on Craigslist for a toddler bed- you can use the same mattress and find a bed for about $20. That's what we did for our son and he loves his bed. It has rails on both sides that go about 1/2 down and he doesn't fall out of it. Good Luck!
Why not just put the mattress on the floor for a while, until she is ready for a regular twin bed?
toddler beds are great. They allow the child to feel in charge of the bed because it is the size it needs to be. They also have excellent screens on the market that fit the normal size beds and prevent falling out. To me, you have to revamp the room when they start this phase. You remove anything that they will get up and play with. Put a gate across the doorway, so they can't come out and fall till they stay in their room to sleep.
From a mother of 4/grandmother of 6: I don't think you can buy in a store what you need to get your 2 yr old to sleep in her bed peacefully without you. She can feel when you are concerned or upset-so try to stay calm and pleasant at bedtime.Establish a routine(we had supper,bath,book reading,prayers,lights out),be firm-there's no harm in sleeping at the foot of the bed/she may expect it until she is way too old for a crib/if you can't help her to go to sleep in her own bed without getting out do you think she will mind you when you say stop before she leaps in the water-or talks to strangers?
It sounds like you sort of want to use your convertible crib, so maybe you could try putting the mattress on the floor beside the crib for a week of so to get her a litle farther from the week of vomitting.
I bought a cheap ($50) low to the ground toddler bed with half rails at the end formy kid and that was more than enough to keep him in the bed. If you opt for a twin, you may want to put a piece of plywood on the mattress stand and forgo the box springs to keep it low to the ground.
Good luck!
We put the crib mattress on the floor, the kids did okay with that then we got a toddler bed from a friend that no longer used it. They did okay with that as well.
