Transition to a Bed Advice

My son switched to a bed at about 15 months. My best advice is to keep the bed as is. Do not put the mattress on the floor. Instead, get a rail that keeps him from rolling out, and maybe put a stool or toy chest at the base of the bed so he can climb in on his own. After a few months, you can try to remove the rail and test to see if he falls out. The reason I do this is because when we go out of town, I want my kids to be able to sleep anywhere. If he is used to sleeping with the door open, then put up a gate so that he can't leave the room. If he cries at the gate, put him back in bed with out too much coddling or saying much of anything. You need to be consistent. And, at that age, getting fun new character sheets can be a motivational tool. I do keep books by the bed and have now found that my almost 2 year old will read books until he falls asleep. I did this with both of my kids and it worked like a charm. Good luck and stay consistent!

L.,

I transitioned my oldest two children from a crib into a bed at 16-17 months. I intended to keep them in the crib longer, but my daughter climbed out and I got a "no lifting" order from my doctor with my son, so we didn't have a lot of options. My third child is at this age now and because he shares his room with his sister and there isn't a need to move him out of his crib, I am going to keep him there for another 6 months.

It is very possible to transition your son at this time. We put our daughter in a regular twin sized bed and put down a lot of pillows on the floor. She rolled out a few times and learned not to. We transitioned our son to a toddler bed (he is 3 and still there because his bedroom is so small.) Again, he rolled out a couple of times and caught on.

My best advice is to set up his room ahead of time so he will go to sleep there. Pick up everything he could play with and put it up high, lock it up or get it out. We took the knobs off the dresser and put the bookcase in the closet with a lock on the door. Do something to the bedroom door so your child cannot get out. If you want the door open, use a baby gate. You can also use a child safety lock. If you are concerned about a safety hazard, take the lock off after your child is sound asleep. Our children learn to use those quickly, so we took the doorknob off and turned it around so that the door locks from the outside of the room. (This also kept our children from locking themselves in the room.) If you do this, make sure to keep a key or something up high to pick the lock if your child locks you in the room.

Put the child to bed like you normally do and leave the room. Don't go back in and keep checking to see if he is in bed. You can expect that he may get out of bed and wander around for a while. Put him to bed early for several nights to compensate for this. Sooner or later, especially if there is nothing to do, he will get bored and tired and lay down. It is not uncommon for them to go sleep on the floor by the door for a while. Don't get discouraged. Just give it time. If he is a heavy sleeper, put him in his bed when he is asleep so he learns to wake up there.

If you want to do this before daycare starts, do it tonight. Don't spring two major changes on him at once. It is helpful to the daycare staff if your child already knows how to stay on a mat, but they can train him because they have done it before. If you can't make the change tonight, wait until he is settled in at daycare.

Best of luck,
S.

A baby gate at the door is a good idea. But I never did that with my daughter. I didn't put a mattress on the floor, I just went straight from the crib to the twin size bed with the box springs, frame and everything. I re-decorated my daughter's room, painted the walls pink, put a canopy over her bed, used fun bedding, and she was so excited about her new bed. The first night that we set it up she wanted to put her pajamas on and it was only 7pm. If you don't want to re-decorate the whole room, maybe you could at least get some fun sheets with a favorite theme, or a blanket or something fun that he may be excited about. Getting him to stay in the bed may take some training. Basically, what you do is tuck him into the bed, hugs, kisses, night-night... then close the door to his room. If he cries or calls out for you then you can go in there but you don't make eye contact, you just pick him up and put him back in the bed, you can tell him something like, "it's bedtime - close your eyes and go to sleep". If he keeps calling out then you keep going in there but after a time or two you don't talk you just keep putting him back in the bed and walk right back out. You may have to do it 100 times but probably not. He will get the point. We did this with my daughter for her naps and it worked really well. Good luck!!! Luckily for me making the transition really wasn't bad at all. I worried about it a lot beforehand, but when it actually happened I was just like, "oh! that wasn't so bad." Wishing you the same type of experience!! Also, my daughter was 2 when she started daycare so I know what you mean about not really knowing how you feel about it... it will be hard at first. I cried the first day, but once you find out how much fun he is having you will probably feel good about taking him.

I haven't come up to that road yet as for my son is o nly 4 mo. old, but my best friend has a 14 month old, and she put a mattress in a corner against the wall with a side guard, so he wouldn't roll off, and would let him watch a little bit of TV until he got really sleepy and would turn it off then( I know that this is a parents wors habit for a kid to pick up) but it kept him in his bed, and after a while, shye could just read to him or something and he would crash. My point is, for a while she stayed with him and entertained him somehow until he learned that bedtime wasn't such a bad thing. But I'm sorry that I can't help you from experience. Good Luck :)!

We have a 2 1/2 year old nephew living with us and when he moved in about a year ago, he had no bed. He slept on the lounge sofa. We turned it so the back was on the outside and the inside edge was at the foot of the bed. This couch had an open end on it so he could climb up and down if he wanted to. We had him help put his special blanket and pillow on it so that he could see that it was his special place to sleep. He would sleep there without getting down until we got up. His mother now lives with us and she has him in a toddler bed. He plays on it until she gets up. That of course is because when he would get up and we weren't ready for him to be up, we'd tell him, "No, it's not time yet, go back to your bed. I'll get you up when we're ready."
As far as daycare goes, the daycare where he attends, has rooms for the toddlers of your childs age and they sleep in cribs. The 2 year olds sleep on the floor on mats and the teacher will show them how to do that and since all the other kids are doing it, he'll catch on.
It's amazing how well they learn to follow by example.
Keep your chin up, you'll make it through it and it'll all be worth it.
JC.

Get him a bed! I have a 3 yr old boy. he climbed out of his crib at 14 mos old. We converted the crib to toddler bed. Baby gate -- climbed over it. Mattress on the floor was no biggie. Not until we got a BIG BOY BED, complete with BIG BOY SHEETS and the works. We showed it off to everyone who came to visit, and he LOVES IT! Plus, a pack-n-play is fine for a weekend, but my kids never thought they were very comfortable. Get that boy a bed!

Hi L.,

I have a 3yr old son and we did the mattress on the floor with side rails. It was fine. We also used the baby gate at the door and still do because he requests it:) We started our bedtime routine by reading some books and then we would lay with him for awhile. It got to the point where he would want us to lay in bed with him until he went to sleep, no fun!!! The best piece of advice from me on this is: try not to lay in bed with him because its a hard habit to break. We eventually broke that habit and now he goes to bed on his own and goes to sleep by himself, so nice. We started the transition when he was two and had started showing interest in sleeping in a "big boy" bed. A girlfriend of mine gave me the idea about the mattress on the floor and it made more sense to me to start out with a full size mattress as opposed to the toddler bed. There were and still are nights when he wakes up with night terrors or is scared and needs some comforting. When that happens its nice to be able to lay down with him and ease his distress. They're only little once and we only get one chance with them, I try to keep that in mind. Want to make sure I get all the hugs in before they're off and married:) Good luck to you. You'll know what works for you, you may have to try a few things but remember each baby is different and what works for one person doesn't always work for everbody. Take care.

R.

You know your baby best, what's your gut telling you? My 18 month old is still in the crib, but that's her, she still likes it. as far as staying in, we used a gate for my son, that way I could still hear him, but he couldnt roam the house.

Both of my kids transitioned at 16 and 18 mo to big beds. My duaghter had a trundle, which we pulled out to be sure she was safe, my son just never had trouble falling out of bed. Now, keeping them in bed...that is another story. Just know that it is going to take 1-2 weeks of CONSISTENTLY putting them back in bed. The first 2 times explain to them that it is bedtime, after that, as many times as it takes, DO NOT TALK, just simply walk him back to bed and close the door. You have to be silent or they start playing games if they feel they can get you engaged. With my daughter I had to sit outside her bedroom door so that the minute she opened the door she saw me, after the first few days that was enough to get her to close her door and head back to bed. Of course, prepare yourself for SREAMING, it may happen. Just know that it will not last forever. Whatever you do, don't start the process until you know that you can deal with the crying and up and down. You'll have to be able to commit at least an extra hour to bedtime at first. BUt, once it is done, it is done and you won't have to worry about it.

Good luck.

I have 2 children, and I didn't coddle them just because they were babies. To help him make a transition from a PnP to a bed, start talking to him continuously about becoming a big boy, And just share with him how big boys sleep in the bed. Get him all excited about sleeping in a big bed. Then once you get the bed into his room let him crawl all over it. Get familar with it. Then explain to him, in whatever talk you use when you convey bedtime. That this is where he will be sleeping for now on. I don't suggest putting a mattress on the floor. Buy some bed rails if you feel you need them. I never used them. My son slept on a twin bed from the time he was 15 mos old, I think he only fell out of the bed twice. It didn't hurt him but he learned that there are boundaries even if you can't see them. When you cross them you may even get hurt. My daughter was a few months older before she started sleeping in a twin bed. She will be 12 years old in Nov. and she still falls out of the bed from time to time. She wiggles all the time. Go with your instinct. You know your child best. If you don't feel comfortable putting him in a regular bed. Then don't. Do what makes you feel comfortable. Unless it interferes with his growth and development. As far as his getting out of the bed goes. Get him comfortable to sleeping with out the lights on. Go through the house every night with him to tell everybody good night. It won't take long if it is just you and your husband there. You may even consider having him pick out a story to read. Get him all tucked in. Read the story to him. Then lovingly tell him good night, turn out the lights, walk out of the room and close the door. If he decides to get up. Just put him back into the bed. You may have to do this repeatedly. Each child is different. But whatever you do, do not give in to him. Start teaching him now that you are the mommy and he is the child. If he is one of good nature. You shouldn't have too many problems with the transition. Just remember no child is the same and what works for a friend may not work for you. It is all trial and error. Good luck with that precious boy. Get ready to cry on that first day at daycare. He will probably do better than you.

Definitely don't put his PnP away if you pull out a mattress. I took my son's crib away when he was 2 cause we got him a toddler bed. We ended up putting the crib back up. He always slept in his crib all night. We never had to go get him in the middle of the night or let him sleep with us until he got his toddler bed. He would wake up every night in the middle of the night to come sleep with us. So we returned to the crib in which he liked. 17 mo.s is pretty young to go to a new bed but if he doesn't fit it anymore, you don't really have a choice.

Good luck,

M.

It sounds like he's ready for a toddler bed. As for his escaping his room, I suggest a baby gate at his door. He will cry at the gate the first few times you use it, but make sure you don't give in! Also, leave some toys or board books in his room for him to entertain himself if he wants to before laying down. He will soon know the gate is up and that means night time or nap time. Make it routine. Do the same thing everytime, so he knows what to expect at nap or night time. Stick to your guns! Remember Dad must do the same, so it will be effective! Good Luck!

Hi L.,

My advise is to go with the matress on the floor with baby gate. If you don't he'll try to climb out of the pack and play. When my kids started trying to climb out I knew it was time. Both my kids went direct to regular beds with some type of side or bed gaurd. You can find them at Babies R Us and consignment stores. Plus they are cheap! At any rate, I didn't do the baby gate thing. I can't deal with my babies crying and would rather them know that they can come to me if they need. (But my kids are spoiled and my husband would probably not agree!!)

However, at bed time I prefered to read to my kids, say our prayers. Usually say the prayers first, because they fall asleep when you read to them. Don't do the TV thing!! Reading to them is much better. It is a great time to bond and be together and the reading will provide much value in the long run!! I promise!!

Good Luck!!

i think moving your son to a matress on the floor is fine. if he gets up over and over again you need to take him back to his "big boy bed" over and over again. being at daycare will help because he will have a routine. it also helps seeing the other kids doing it too. once he starts daycare he may be more tired at night also from the daily activities. you just need to be strong even if he cries and keep taking him back to his own room and putting him in his own bed. it may also take a while for him to ajust. stay in there!!!