Switching to a Big Girl Bed

My son didn't leave his crib until 3 and he transitioned fine. My 2 1/2 daughter is still in and i will keep her in it as long as I can!

Might want to try easing her into it by having both in the room for a short period of time and making a really big deal out of your being able to be in the big-girl bed.

Good luck! Your baby's growin' up!

S.

It sounds like you have the bed question all figured out! Kids are pretty flexible and generally do well as long as they know they are loved and we mommies don't project our own fears and insecurities on them!
However, my purpose in responding is that as I read through the other responses, I noticed several suggesting that you lie to your daughter - the rest of this is not for you, personally but for all moms out there. Please, please don't ever lie to your children! Even little "white lies" will come back to haunt you. We all know the saying, "More is caught than taught". We may be trying to teach them honesty and integrity but if we lie to our kids, they will soon learn that honesty is only important if it's convenient. Then how will you handle it when they lie to you? "No, mom, I didn't eat a cookie!" when you see the crumbs on their faces. Or when they're in school and "have NO homework" but the teacher gives them low marks for not turning in work. Just like moving our children through different life stages is important to their development, SHOWING them by our own words and actions that honesty is the RIGHT thing to do, will develop character traits that will stand them in good stead long after they've forgotten the big girl bed.

M.,

Try using the bed for naps and the crib for nighttime. That way if she has a bad nap, she will still have a good nights sleep in the crib. Also, play it up about how she is a big girl and this is a big girl bed. Good luck. J.

M.,
If its possible put the twin mattress in her room with the crib. Put the mattress directly on the floor, put a waterproof mattress cover, then the mattress pad and a fitted sheet. Just leave it there for about a week and let her play on it. She may just suprise you by wanting to sleep in the new bed!

We always did it this way and the transition always went smoothly. The reason we put the mattress directly on the floor was if they fall out of bed its right next to the floor. When she gets a little bigger you can add the box spring and bed frame,

M.,

You could get a toddler bed which has rails or a twin size bed and there are just the rails you could get about anywhere.

Good luck.

Do you have room to set up her bed and keep the crib up at the same time? If you get it all ready and make a big deal about putting on fancy new girly sheets and bedding set, I'll bet she'll make the transition on her own. If not, let her stay in her crib...maybe it is security for her.

~L.

For both of our daughters we just took the crib down and put up the twin size bed. Our oldest took to it like a fish in water. Never wanted to go back. We really anticipated it being that easy for the youngest as well. WRONG!! We decided to take the crib down and the twin bed assembled in the morning, so that at nap time it was ready. We also did it on a Saturday when we knew we would have time to work with her. She actually came in their room, sat on her sisters bed and cried because she wouldn't have a place to sleep and didn't want to sleep in a big girl bed. She even thought that she could sleep on the crib mattress on the floor! Once it was all done I kept her upstairs with me, made her bed with her brand new sheets and talked about how another baby needed the crib (which wasn't true) my husband immediately loaded up the crib and brought it to his mothers to store in the attic. Once there was no crib, she didn't have much of a choice. Nap time that day was a little rough. However, by bed time she was fine.

With all that said, I would get someone to help you. Your father or a brother, and find a place OUTSIDE your apartment to store it - or give it to Goodwill (whatever you planned on). Once the crib is taken apart and the twin size bed is set up make a big deal of putting her new sheets on (let her pick them out as well) while the other person takes that crib to the car and brings it to the next destination. That way she doesn't think she has a choice in where she sleeps. Good Luck!!

If you have the space, set up the bed in the room with the crib. Let her sit in it, see if she'll nap in it, read to her in it, etc. I did this with all my kids and it made the transition pretty easy.

Good Luck!

You are her mother, not her friend, the old school saying comes to mind, because I said so. The minute my daughter climed out of her crib, at 15mo I took it down right then, you are responsibile for keeping her safe, some issue's need not be discussed, because she should not have been asked to choose. In other words pick your battles, there will be many in the years to come, but safty is not up for debate. Mother of 4 daughters, grandma of 3. Best of luck to you.
B.

We always went to a toddler bed first... The mattress can be used from the crib so it feels the same and the large size isn't as daunting. Plus its got semi sides...
There are many ways to pull it off...
Do you know anyone that is going to have a baby soon? If you do talk to your girly about how the baby needs a crib... Maybe she'll "give up " her crib for a baby to use.
Or one day she's not there, take a piece off the crib. Make it "broken" then tell her it broke and it has to get taken down to fix it. Put the bed up so she can sleep in it that night and, ahem, loose the crib...
If possible set them both up at the same time.
And let her pick out big girl sheets and blankets for it no matter what you chose to do.
Or just take it down and tell her someone stole it.
What ever you do it will take a bit for her to accept its her bed. So prepare for nights of having to put her back to bed. Just keep putting her back and she will figure it out.
Personal note here... Make sure you put a plastic mattress cover on the bed from the get go. She will be used to it then before potty training makes it a necessity. :-)
Good luck...

Don't sweat it. She'll let you know when she's ready. There is nothing wrong with her still sleeping in the crib. Besides, there are 100's of mothers out there who wish their kid would stay in a crib! Count it as a blessing for now, like I said, she'll let you know when she's ready.

Let her pick out her own new sheets for the big girl bed and let her baby sleep in it for a night or two so she can see that her baby is okay with it and then maybe she will be. She will do it eventually if you keep trying.

Hi M.~

We put my son on a futon mattress for a little while after the crib but that was because we didn't want to spend money to transition to a toddler bed then to the twin bed which we already had (it is a trundle bed so I was too nervous to go right to the twin). Before we put the futon in the room when made a big deal out of it and went shopping for his sheets. We talked on the way to the store and explained he could pick out whatever he wanted to sleep with. He was also able to pick out a pillow for his 'puppy'. This helped a ton I think. A few nights before we took out the crib we let him sleep on the floor with the mattress from the crib, he thought it was so cool to 'camp out' in his room. Then we took out the crib and let him help make his bed and when it was ready to go to bed he liked having me lie in his bed to read his bedtime story.

We did have to put a gate up for a little while, explaining that the dogs might jump on his bed with him but it was really to keep him in his room.

Hope this helps and good luck, any change is hard and I know we had a few rough nights where he woke up scared, but it wasn't too bad.

All I could suggest would be to work with her train of thinking on this. "Do you think there's enough room for you and your babies? Maybe we should get a bigger bed" and let her choose the one she likes.

Hi M. i'm not really sure how to tell you to help the transition but i would def do the twin bed. my son fell out of his crib just before he turned 1.5yrs old and i did't want to chance it happening again so we put his bed from the crib to a toddler bed as it turned into one but there was such little room and he moved around alot everytime he'd roll over and hit one of the sides he would wake up. Luckily about that time our neighbor was getting rid of her sons twin size bunk beds and every since he's been in those and had more room he sleeps alot better. I would just put it up and see what happens. If nothing else she could always sleep on her floor or make her up a little bed in there somewhere. She will eventually want to sleep in it, it may take a little time just tell her big girls sleep in big girl beds she'll want it sooner or later. hope this helps. Jen

When we transitioned my son, his crib changed to the toddler bed, so it was a step in between. Then, when we went to the twin bed, I put everything that was on his toddler bed (which was in his crib) on his new bed. He helped to pick the mattress; the sheets and comforter. He was able to say 'good bye' to his crib and we took pictures of the whole event and process.

For his first night, I still had pillows on the floor (hey, even I was nervous and sad!) to make sure he had a soft landing if he fell, and he did not. He fell asleep as fast as ever and did just fine.

I think if you include them, make it exciting, but do not show the sadness you may be feeling (of the "my baby is growing so fast!" crying jag like me!), it should hopefully be okay.