Poll Discussion Post: Crib to Bed Transition

 

Time for a poll on the Crib to Bed transition. Here are the questions:

  1. What age did you first move your child from crib to bed?
  2. In your opinion, was that a good age?
  3. If not, do you think it should have been done younger or older?
  4. How did you prepare your child for the transition?
  5. What kind of rules did you set for the transition?
  6. Did your child stay in bed at the transition, or did your child test limits a get out of bed?
  7. If your child tested limits, what things did you do that helped your child stay in bed?
  8. Was there disruption to normal sleep patterns at the transition?
  9. How long did it take your child to sleep as normal in the “big bed”?
  10. Any words of wisdom? Advice?

You can answer for each child you have that has made the transition.

 

13 thoughts on “Poll Discussion Post: Crib to Bed Transition”

  1. 1. 2 years 2 months2. for my compliant first born, yes3. findoese4. nothing. We were staying with family and there was no other portion. 5. I told her to stay in bed6. strangely enough she just stayed in bed and still did7. didn't8. nope same as normal9. instant10. know their personality. I knew she would be fine. my son does not have the same natural self control. work on building self control first by requiring them to stay put at various times throughout the day.

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  2. 1. 4 1/2 months2. yes3. -4. made the bed smaller with bumper pad5. no rules were necessary6. my child can't get out of bed yet7. -8. no9. it worked instantly10. We only had a very small crib, so we had to do the transition early. Now I'm happy we did, it might be easier this way. With he bumper pads I can make the space bigger as she grows.

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  3. We haven't transitioned yet, but Kate is 19 months old. I'm wondering when a good age is to do this since her crib can transition to a toddler bed, but I'm worried about her just getting up and playing with toys instead of napping or going right to sleep at night 🙂 Thanks for posting!

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  4. 1. 2yrs + 4 months2. Yes I think she was at just the right age for her personality. I wanted to wait until I was confident she would understand the rules about staying in bed. 4. We started having her sleep in the big bed at night for 1.5 weeks and still nap in her crib (since she was less tired and more apt to play during her nap than at night). We talked it up about how she was becoming a big girl to sleep in a big bed like Mommy & Daddy. She was excited. Then we moved her full time, and it was very easy. 5. No getting out of bed until Mommy or Dad come in to get her up. If she had to potty, she could call us to come get her, but we didn't let her "play us". We had her sleep in a pull up so we didn't have to worry if we didn't get there fast enough or if she was asking too much. We decided not to allow her to get up on her own for the bathroom since she couldn't do the whole process without assistance yet anyway. 6. Yes she did. About 6 months later, I once found her outside of her bed during nap time. She was playing with a baby stroller across the room. I followed through with discipline like we had always told her. She actually seemed relieved to have been "caught" because she was deliriously tired from playing. She fell right asleep afterward & hasn't gotten up since. 7. Only once, and we disciplined her for disobedience. 8. Yes, for a week or so, she wasn't napping well, and she was waking up a little early. We stayed consistent, and she adjusted very well on her own as it became less of a novelty. 9. 2 weeks until she was totally transitioned and sleeping well again. 10. I am so glad I waited until she could truly understand the transition and her need to obey. There was no reason to hurry to a big bed in my opinion. We opted not to do the toddler bed since she had a double bed in her room anyway, so she moved right to that big bed. We used pool noodles under the fitted sheet to help her not fall out for the first few weeks in the big bed. Right at 3 years old, we started allowing her get up and go potty independently since she can do that completely on her own now & understands that it isn't a playing opportunity. I also bought her the "Ok To Wake Up" alarm clock right at 3 years old too. You can set it however you want for alarms or just light options and you can customize the times. It also has a separate nap timer you can set. She loves the responsibility of being allowed to get up on her own when it turns green. I love that it takes the pressure off us since she's no longer waiting for us to come in, but rather just waiting on the clock to change colors until she can get up for the day or from nap. It has been great!

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  5. 1. 2 yrs 3 months2. Yes, plus we were expecting #2. We transitioned first to toddler bed with rail, then to twin bed about 4 months later.3. –4. We talked about how exciting it was to change the crib to a bed and I just firmly told her that first night that she was to stay in her bed. I was cautious to not plant the idea about "getting out".5. We didn't set rules. I guess if she had tested it, we would have6. She never tested it until much later and I could tell she had gotten up to get a toy. Even when she woke from her nap, she would happily play in her bed.7. Didn't have to worry about this8. no9. not a problem; sleep was always normal10. Keep the same routines and just be firm about the fact that they should stay in the bed. Try and transition between age 2-3. I think around age 3 it may become harder. Once our DD could open doors, she started getting out of bed. I didn't feel like I could discipline, because I want her to get out of bed if she needs to potty. Now we have the OK to wake clock and that has been working well so far. She still has trouble with knowing its ok to get up and potty if she needs to, so that has caused some accidents.

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  6. 1. 20 months. First to a toddler bed with rail, then to a twin bed at around 24 months. 2. It worked fine, my daughter could climb out of the crib at 19-20 months so a transition was required for safety. And then the transition to a twin bed was required for space for baby.3. 4. We had her help transition the bed and make it up, then talked about her big girl bed. 5. Stay in bed at bedtime. 6. At first she stayed in bed, then tested the limits and got of bed.7. Consistency was most helpful. It worked best for us to stand at her door and return her to bed. Letting her get down the hall only made things worse. It took a long time for the stay in bed rule to click. 8. No disruptions, until limit testing. But once asleep, there were no disruptions to her sleep patterns (beyond the occasional falling out of bed).9. If you count the learning the rule "stay in bed"–6 months, although it may have been compounded by new baby and attention seeking. If you count sleeping in the bed, less than a week.10. Be consistent in your responses. Stay calm, difficult to do at the end of a long day. We instituted the you may get out of bed to potty rule when it was appropriate.

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  7. 1. 21 months2. We really didn't have a choice. He climbed out of his crib 3x during 24 hrs before transition. I was hoping toput it off until he was 3. It's our first so nothing to compare to. But seeing how well it has gone, I would say perfect age for him. 4. Not much bc we weren't prepared ourselves. But made it exciting and special and explained to him what was going on and rules. 5. Stay in bed. We ended up shutting his door. Our bedroom is directly across the hall from his. Really it has been 100% easier to get him to sleep, stay asleep in his bed than crib. 6. He really hasn't tested us much. He can't open the door so not much he can do but stay in bed and got to sleep. He is personality wise pretty compliant so he's not the type that would be jumping off furniture, pulling things from dresser or closet. 7. Haven't had to do much. He has woken up in the middle of the night a couple times and gone to the door, crying. But we let him cry it out and he has walked himself back to bed. 8. To our surprise and delight, he's a better sleeper in bed than his crib, from the start. He was ready more than we were.9. No time really. 10. I think success can depend temperament/maturity of child and prior training by parents so child already understands behavior expected. Also consistency in rule enforcing always. Truth be told it was some fervent and desperate prayer. I was so scared it would be a failure bc he seemed so young but we believed it was our only choice, so I begged for mercy from God. He answered above and beyond my expectations.

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  8. Does anyone know – if you don't need the crib or space, is there any reason to move your child out of a crib? My 3 1/2 yo LOVES her crib, and we've talked about transitioning at age 4, but if she's not climbing out, is potty trained, and wants to stay in the crib, should we keep things as is? She just sleeps with a blanket, no pillow. Anyone know??

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  9. 1. 29 months2. Yes! Perfect age for us. She's very mature for her age. I can already tell her younger brother will need to be older. Incidentally this was the week we also officially daytime potty trained. I guess I was feel ambitious!4. Week of we talked excitedly about a big girl bed, what it would look like and go, etc. I ordered a bed spread and my daughter came with us to "test" out the cheap cheap mattress we bought. She helped put it in and out of the car and helped set the bed frame up. 5./6/7/8 For a couples months before this we had made a rule that she could read books in bed if she "woke up before the sun" aka 7:30am. We kept this same rule for her morning wake time and just added that she couldn't leave her bed. (The books are with in reach of her bed.) For naps she has been allowed to read before falling asleep and we kept the same rules and added the same "stay in bed" adage. Naps have been touch and go for a while now, so I was ready to guess they were over with. On the contrary however, she played quietly in her room the first two days, fell asleep on the floor the third day, and ever since has stayed in her bed until she falls asleep. This compared to crying through 5 naps a week has been amazing! We are very happily surprised. She hasn't gotten out of bed at night at all. I have a baby proof lock on her door so she can't get out even if she tried and that me sleep at night just I'm case.9. All in all, our totally normal routine was back by day 4, and didn't disrupt any other parts of our day in those 4 days.

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  10. I'll also add that my daughter started climbing out of bed at 19 months. I thought it was all over and knew she wasn't ready to stay in a real bed on her own. I ended up telling her firmly that if she climbed out again she would get hurt, so she must stay inside. She said "okay." Happily and has never done it since. I tried this as a last ditch effort and thought it would totally fail. I'm so glad I got those extra 9 months bc now she's 100% ready and I love the extra cuddles we get in bed at bed time before lights out.

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  11. Time for a poll on the Crib to Bed transition. Here are the questions:What age did you first move your child from crib to bed?-oldest @ 21 months-middle @ 25 monthsIn your opinion, was that a good age?- yes- kind of (see below)If not, do you think it should have been done younger or older?depends on their personality, my oldest is a people pleasure and very obedient, any age would have been fine, my middle son, took a LONG time he is just more strong willedHow did you prepare your child for the transition?- nothing really with either, general obedience training…What kind of rules did you set for the transition?- had to be in their rooms, could only come out for potty… I let them play in their rooms/bed before they fall asleep.Did your child stay in bed at the transition, or did your child test limits a get out of bed?- first never once- middle, every night for months (we were also switching his room, to make space for baby, so we allowed him to pick which room he wanted for several months and that may have added to the problem)If your child tested limits, what things did you do that helped your child stay in bed?- if they crossed the threshold of their door they got a spanking…. they figured out very quickly they had to be in their rooms.Was there disruption to normal sleep patterns at the transition?- first none- middle, he got/gets less sleep than his older brother (I think he needs less generally) it takes him longer to settle, but makes no difference once he is asleep. He was also a baby that ALWAYS had to cry to sleep, so I think he is just not as good at falling asleep as my oldest.How long did it take your child to sleep as normal in the "big bed"?-first the first night- middle, through the night – right away… but bedtime has yet to be really "normal" and this is 6 months laterAny words of wisdom? Advice?- it totally depends on your kid, my middle son does not do any change or transition well, so I expected this fight, but I know with consistency and patience all children can learn….

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  12. Jen, a reason to move is how much weight the crib can handle. Read the manual to see what the recommended weight is for the crib and be sure your child is in it.

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  13. Dear Val,30 months My husband and I have started babywise late. Please help!Emmanuel, our 3rd boy, youngest child, has been getting up at night and coming to our bed for the last 3 weeks between 3- 5:30 am!!He has been sleeping well previously in the crib.Wake up time was 8 am when he was in his crib.Schedule Wake at night 2:30-5:30 am7-7:30 wake7:45breakfast 8:15-9:00 play w mommy 9:15-9:30 read 9:30-10:45 out for walk10:00 snack11-11:30 play independent 12:00 lunch12:30-2:00 nap2:00 wake and play 3:00 snack 3:30-4:30 out for walk4:45-5:00 bath5:15-5:45 tv time6:00-6:30 dinner 6:45 play w siblings7:30 family reading and prayer7:45 bedtime routine 8:15 bed E takes 2 hours to sleep 10:15 pm asleepWake again around 2:30-5:30 to our roomAlso he will not stay in his bed while we put himTo sleepHe keeps running to the bedroom door. Please help,!!!

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