Transitioning for New Baby

use a pak-n-play for the new baby and keep the older one in the crib as long as she wants to be... at least until the new baby sleeps through the night. No need to create more things to make you tired.

Do you have a cradle? What about using the cradle for new baby for 4mo then transfer 20mo old to bed with rails?

If your newborn would sleep in a bassinette, your then 16 month old could stay in her crib. 16 months old is a bit young to be moved out of a crib. My boys are 18 months apart and when we did the bed transition, we told the oldest one(then about 21 months old) that he got the big -boy bed.

Because your children are going to be so close together in age, statistics say there is likely to be a regression with your oldest in many ateas. I never had it at all because the oldest got the big-boy bed first, big-boy toys first, big-boy underwear, etc.

Borrow a basinette and your infant should be able to handle it for about 4-6 months, depending on his/her size.

You'll be fine and so will your children. Good for you for thinking ahead. I was the same way. Mine are now 27 and
25 1/2 yrs. old and have always been best friends and yes, we had them close together on purpose. That always surprises folks.

God bless -

+B+

I am also a big supporter of NOT co-sleeping. Our children learn what we teach them and you want to teach yours that they can self-soothe at a certain age. Most women who co-sleep do it because it is best and easiest for the themselves, not for the baby. Just my opinion.

We moved my son to a big boy bed (full size mattress and boxspring on the floor) when he was 16 months because he was climbing out of the crib and we were afraid he would get hurt. He did fine with the transition and for a few weeks, there were no issues. Once he realized he could get up a few weeks later, we did end up putting a baby gate on his door. More for his safety in case he got up in the middle of the night than anything else. But it worked immediately to keep him in his bed. There was no payoff for getting up after he was tucked in, since he couldn't come out to where we were, he just stopped doing it. Kids this age aren't able to recognize imaginary boundries, so up until age 3 it can be hard for them in a regular bed. I swore my daughter would stay in a crib until 3, but she too started climbing out before 2, and we very easily transitioned her to a big girl bed (twin bed, with a rail) without any problems. We did temporarily convert her crib to the toddler bed, but she wanted the rail back on (strange I know) so we just made the switch and she was fine. We started right off with a gate on her door and had no problems with her getting out of bed at all. She is 27 months and we don't even use the gate for her anymore. I think a lot of whether your child is ready or not is personality and temperment. I know they say though that if you want to use the same crib for new baby they suggest you make the transition before baby comes so that she isn't resentful that the baby is taking her bed. Good luck in whatever you try and congrats on the new baby on the way.

You could always let the new baby sleep in a pack n play for a couple of months until your older daughter is ready to move to a toddler bed. (I don't know how things went with your daughter, but our son didn't sleep in his own room until close to 6 months... he slept in a wooden cradle next to our bed until then).

She might even like the idea of "giving" her baby bed to her new baby!

In my Mom's groups of 30 women, no one had their pediatrician recommend taking their child out of the crib before 18 months of age. You will encounter all sorts of sleep issues and have a newborn. Everything I read said to transition the older one 3-4 months before the baby is born to avoid jealousy and get the older one sleeping well again (they don't stay where you put them and try to leave their room once they are out of the crib and they wake up multiple times a night). I transitioned our oldest at 2.2 months out of the crib for our youngest and it was hard for over a month. Good luck!

My son was 16 months when my daughter was born. We put my daughter in the bassinet portion of a pack n' play with the idea that by the time she outgrew it my son would be in a toddler bed (we always have use for a pack n play). However, my son is now 2 yrs, 5 mos and he is STILL in his crib. My daughter is in the bottom of the pack n play with a cushy little mattress at 1 year. My son will get out of bed if we put him in his toddler bed. He won't go to sleep. Especially during nap time. It hasn't occurred to him yet to climb out, so we're letting him stay in there. At some point we'll have to address this, especially since the one year old just reached 20 lbs and we have another one on the way!

Candy,
If at all possible I would actually get a second crib. My boys are 17 months apart and we transitioned the older one to a toddler bed and it was a total struggle to keep him in his bed. At 3.5 he still gets up multiple times a night and ends up in our bed frequently. It feels like a big cost to get a second crib, but in reality if you look at it in daily use, it is pretty cheap. Our younger son is still in his crib at almost 2 and we certainly could have gotten another year or so out of our older son in a crib.

Candy,
When you think about it, your new baby will not need a crib until he/she is about 3 months old as newborns can sleep in a bassinet initially. So that gives you an additional 3 or so months to transition your daughter into a twin or toddler bed. YOu might want to start the transition with taking naps in the big girl bed? Kids are flexible and don't know if you are doing things 'the right way'.
A. A

Why don't you co sleep with the new baby for the first few months. You can get an arms reach co-sleeper or a Snugglenest to put next to you in bed. It's good to have a new baby very close to you in the beginning and not in his/her own room yet. That will buy you more time keeping your daughter in her crib. By the time your daughter is 2 the new baby could be ready for the crib and separate sleeping quarters. If you're nursing, keeping baby close will get you more sleep too!

Were you planning on putting the new baby in a crib right away? My daughter slept in her bassinet the first 3 months of her life before the crib. By then your daugher would be closer to 18 months (which was about the time that my daughter graduated to a toddler bed) and could then pass the crib along to the baby. We actually put our daughter in a regular twin bed at about 18-20months and used a gate so she couldn't roll out...it worked well for us. Best of luck!
G.

My first two kids are 19 months apart, and the second two are 21 months apart. My advice is to keep the older child in the crib as long as possible! Try to find or borrow a bassinet or a pack n play for the baby to sleep in at first. Wait to move your toddler to a bed until you're all adjusted to the new baby, and the baby's on a more predictable sleep schedule. Even then you'll want to keep the crib available for a while just in case she doesn't want to stay in the bed. You don't want to try the transition just before the baby arrives--especially since she's so young. Wait until a few months after.

As long as your baby is mobile and her room is childproof a mattress on the floor would be appropriate. It would give her such independence when she wakes up to go and find you or something in her room when she wakes up. I care for children in my home who are 10 months and comfortable, confident and safe on a small mattress on the floor. When they wake up, I see them wake gently, sit up, crawl off and either entertain themselves or call for me.

our boys are 16 months apart too, and there was no way we were spending money on a second crib too! baby started in a co-sleeper in our room, then when he got too big transitioned to a playpen in our room, while our older one stayed in his crib.

finally around the time baby was about 1 year (and brother was almost 2 and a half), one day our older just said his brother should sleep in the 'white bed' (the crib) and that was that. of course at that point it took time to transition our younger one to get used to the crib, but it finally worked out!

i was freaked out about the bed situation just like you, but now am glad i just waited it out to see how my older one responded, since every child is different. the older is now in a playpen (they share a room at night, nap separately- that's another whole drama right there) and is showing many signs he's ready for a toddler bed- we just can't afford one yet so he'll have to wait a few months for that.

good luck and hope all goes well with your growing family!

We too were in this same predicament, our kids are 15 months apart. I went through months of turmoil trying to figure out the best scenario for our new baby and existing. We went for it! Wr bought our 15 month old a regular sized twin bed with trundle underneath (high). We started him in it around 14 months old, surrounded with a ton of pillows. I had so much anxiety about it and he transitioned perfectly. Within 2 days, he was sleeping in his bed without asssistance. A couple of things that were in our favor...we put the bed in the same position that his crib was in, and we bought the same color bed. I honestly don't think he knew the difference for the first few months. He did know that it was too high for him to climb in and out of by himself. He has been sleeping in it ever since, but now he gets in and out...fun! Our little girl is in his old crib so there wasn't any extra expense with buying a 2nd crib. We don't give our kids enough credit, their pretty smart. They will be okay if they feel that you are okay with it,

Good Luck!

Mine are 17 months apart, and we've been in a rental while our house is beig remodeled since my daughter was born last September. We kept her in her bassinet as long as we could and then transititon her to a pack in play, because the room was so small in the rental. We're moving into our house this week, and I actually have a crib I can borrow from a friend. My two year old (28 months) is definitely not ready to sleep out of a crib yet.

Hello Candy,

I would keep the 16 month old in the crib and put the newborn in a bassinet in my room for a few months.

You will know your 16 month old is ready for a big kid bed when she goes to bed without resisting, sleeps through the night, takes naps regularly without fighting sleep, and doesn't need to be rocked or given a bottle in order to fall asleep. Basically she needs to be an independent sleeper.

The last thing you want to do is have to chase a toddler back into bed while trying to meet the high demands of a newborn. Personally I would keep her in a crib as long as possible or at least until age two but I understand not wanting to buy a brand new crib.

Does your current crib convert into a toddler bed or a bigger bed? If so maybe it would be worth it to purchase another one since your daughter could use it for a long time. If not, maybe you could purchase a crib that converts into a twin or full-size bed for your daughter and then use the standard crib for your baby. That way you could move your daughter to a big girl when she is ready without the time pressure of the arrival of the new baby.

E.

If you plan to convert her crib into a toddler bed, wouldn't you still need to buy a crib for the younger anyway??

Personally, I like the idea of keeping them in a crib for a while longer than that, but I do appreciate the fact of not wanting to buy 2 cribs! Can you find one at a second hand store, craigs list, borrow one from a friend whose child is ready to get out of the crib (and doesnt have another sibling needing it just yet) or something like that?

Also, you probably want a place to "keep" your year & half old child when you've got a baby, so two cribs are good there!

Hi Candy. Don't make the same mistake I made... same situation, my kids are 2 yrs apart, my Dr suggested putting older baby in bed due to sibling rivalry. I decided ok time to transition to bed....don't do it until the older baby is ready! My son ended up in our bed and there was no other option because we didn't have another crib ready!!! My cousin just did the same thing .. decided ok time for real bed, daughter is two.. same thing .. ended up in her bed..don't take older baby out until she starts kicking the sides of the crib or climbing out. My neighbor just had a baby and got this great bassinet that is called a cosleeper but it can do either. It wasn't that expensive .. maybe $100... try anything .. maybe even buying a second hand crib before trying the real bed theory. I think us parents are sometimes ready to transition before the child! Good luck!

Candy,

Congratulations! When my oldest, my son, was born I joined a mom's group and when he was four months old we had a sleep trainer come talk to the group. My son had been sleeping through the night until I went back to work and then he started getting up first once a night and then twice a night again and it had been a month at the time that the sleep trainer came to talk to us. Everything she said then bore out and helped me get my son sleeping through the night again within a week's time.

We had her back when the boys were turning 1 year old. Among the questions on everyone's minds was when is it appropriate to transition them to a "big boy" bed. Noelle told us to keep our boys in their cribs as close to the age of three as possible and even longer if all involved could deal with it because they really are not ready for it before then and absolutely not before age 2.5. She said even children who had been sleep trained well and appeared to be good sleepers would have problems if they transition from a crib to a bed before age 2.5 years. My children are 22 months apart and my husband and I never even considered trying to move our son into a bed and not get another crib. Several other families in our neighborhood were in a similar situation and most tried transitioning the older child to a bed so they would not have to buy another crib. It did not work for any of them. My son's crib was one that would convert to a "toddler" bed and we did not even convert it until after his third birthday for a couple of months while we waited to get a big boy bed for him. We have never had any problems with him getting out of bed once he's been put to bed.

My daughter is the more adventurous of my children. We had planned to take the same approach with her as we did with my son. However, when she was about 27 months old, we discovered that she was climbing out of her crib and it was clearly quite dangerous. We had no choice but to take the one side off her crib to convert it to a "toddler bed" so that she would not hurt herself. Initially, the difficulty was in her falling out and being scared as a result. We put the mattress from my son's crib which we still had on the floor next to my daughter's so that if she did fall out, it would not be far to fall and it would be a soft landing. That really helped for a while. Then we did have occasional difficulties with her not staying in bed once she was put down for nap or at night. We did manage to work through it but it requires having well-defined rules and methods/strategies for dealing with the setbacks and sticking to them - otherwise you will end up with a child in your bed every night and/or a two hour schedule for getting your child permanently in bed "for the night." We kept our daughter in the converted crib (which being smaller and closer to the ground than a bed provides the child with a greater sense of security and safety than a regular bed) until just after her third birthday.

We strongly believe in keeping a child in a crib until as close to age three years as possible. Certainly, there are rare cases of children being mentally and emotionally mature and disciplined enough to be able to do it earlier, but it is not the norm. Good luck!

Congratulations! I hope your two little ones have a special relationship as they grow up together. I would find someone to lend you (or give you) a crib. It will save you a lot of trouble. Your daughter is probably not ready at 16 months to be out of the crib and she needs that safe place to sleep. I think your home and nap/ sleep time will go much smoother and you'll be glad you made the effort to get another crib :)

We co-slept with our children and moved them all to a mattress on the floor at about 12 monthes. Our 2 year old has allergies so we decided again the floor quickly for her and instead did a twin bed with railings on both sides. The only hard part was that we had to stay with them all to help them get to sleep but really it was a special time for some one on one. However, sometimes challeging with a new baby around. My older two are 16 monthes apart so I understand it will be crazy at time. Good luck!

Hey Candy!
My children are 18mo apart, and I found that by the time my baby was ready to move from her bassinet to her crib (about 3mo), my older one was happy to move to a toddler bed.
I asked him if he could be a big boy and "give" the baby his crib. He got to sleep in a cool car toddler bed. We only had to remind him a few times to return to bed, and overall the transition was smooth.
I know each child is unique, so if the transition to a toddler bed doesn't go well, maybe you can purchase a used travel crib for the new baby until big sis is ready to give up her crib. You'll save money and keep everyone happy!
Best wishes to you. Having kids so close together comes with special challenges, but it's definitely worth it. :) They'll be best friends!

I would strongly suggest against trying to transition your oldest through too much while pregnant. Too stressful for both of you! If she wants a toddler bed, it might not be too early, but why rush? What about having the new baby sleep in a bassinet, co-sleeper or pack-n-play style bassinet?

Hi Candy~

I don't have any personal experience with this yet, but I think that your daughter will be just fine in a toddler bed. They have rails that you can attach to the bed to make it a little more secure for her. By the way, I'm a huge "Friends" fan, and loved the lobster reference!:)

Hello, well my two youngest are 17 months apart, but when they were babies like that I put my son who was 17 months old in a toddler bed. Well, it didn't work too good for him, he would always get up and cry and cry. We did end up leaving him in his toddler bed, but it was very, very hard to get him to stay there, we would have to lay down w/ him every night until he fell asleep. I personally would not do it again, now that I look back on it, he was not ready for a toddler bed, he was still a baby himself. But, your daughter may be more mature, girls usually are, but I don't know if she is ready---- only you would know once you tried it. You could get a bassinet for the baby and let your other one still be in her crib for awhile so she doesn't all of the sudden have to adjust to a new baby and a new bed at the same time. It's really your call, you are the mother and us as mother's know our kids the best, so good luck to you, I've been there and it's going to be hard but you will love it, too. God bless you.

We moved our then 18-mth old son from a crib to a twin-size bed with a bedrail for to make traveling easier (he never slept well anywhere, not in a crib, a pack & play, nothing). From then on he slept great! When I asked our ped about moving him, he encouraged me the sooner the better / easier it is on everyone. I never had to deal with issues of a "have to" situation - like a new baby coming, attempts at escape, etc. Plus, at that age, he didn't "know" he could get out & play with his toys, get out of the room, etc - all the things I was worried about in the beginning. I found a really long bedrail online & then I pushed the back of the rocker up against the foot of the bed, so he still felt "enclosed" like a crib, plus it gave me consolation that he couldn't accidentally roll out of the bed. We left his crib up in the same room, thinking it would take a week or so for him to adjust to the new bed. Nope - dad climbed into bed with him to read books, he cried for about 2 seconds when he left & slept the entire night through.

We didn't have a toddler bed, but I would think the twin bed is better because then there is no more transitioning. Eventually she'll have to move out of the toddler bed as well - just a thought.

You've still got time, so it's worth it to try it out - there may be some sleepless nights, but try to stick with it for a bit before giving up entirely. Good luck!

It's ok to think ahead...but you are right - you may want to see where your daughter is developmentally. We had already converted my daughter's crib to the bed way before we got pregnant with our second (they are about 2 1/2 years apart) - we got the conversion crib with the idea that we wouldn't have to buy her more than one bed. We got our son a conversion crib for the same reason...Personally, I would go ahead and buy another (conversion) crib for your new one...that way, all you will have to do is buy a new mattress (for each) later on down the road, not constantly having to buy new beds as they out grow their old ones.

Hello

My son was 18 mths old when my son was born and we put him in a regular twin size bed (capitan's bed, it's off the floor) and put up double side rails for him with a gate on his room in case he got out of bed (his room is FOOL proofed as we know it, he's trying to prove us wrong everyday though).

He has done fine, has never fallen out of the bed or gotten over the gate (however I do recomend a metal one as he has tried to chew his way thru our wood one, BOYS!).

Hope that helps
K.