Poll Results Post: Crib to Bed Transition

 

Here are the results from our latest poll. Here are the questions with the results:

1. What age did you first move your child from crib to bed?

  • Under 1 YEAR: 1
  • 18 Months: 1
  • Just Under 2 Years (20-23 months): 8
  • 2 YEARS: 2
  • About 2 YEARS (25-28 months): 6
  • About 2.5 YEARS (29-31 months): 2

2. In your opinion, was that a good age?

  • Yes: 16
  • No: 2
  • Kind of: 2

3. If not, do you think it should have been done younger or older?

  • N/A: 15
  • Younger: 1
  • Older: 1
  • 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 willed
  • It (21 months) was an ok age, but would have preferred to wait longer, don’t think you need to rush this unless there is a reason, we had a reason (holiday in a single bed).

4. How did you prepare your child for the transition?

  • Nothing: 8
  • Talked about it: 1
  • Made the bed smaller with bumper pads: 1
  • Started with just nights: 1
  • Talked about it being exciting: 8
  • Had child help with bed: 4
  • Read books about it with child: 1

5. What kind of rules did you set for the transition?

  • Stay in bed: 11
  • Stay in room:2
  • Call parents if something was needed: 7
  • Can read books in bed: 1
  • Only come out for potty: 2
  • None: 5

6. Did your child stay in bed at the transition, or did your child test limits a get out of bed?

  • Stayed: 12
  • Stayed initially but tested later: 4
  • Tested Limits: 4

7. If your child tested limits, what things did you do that helped your child stay in bed?

  • N/A: 11
  • Immediate Discipline: 4
  • Consistency: 1
  • Immediately return to bed: 1
  • Allow books: 2
  • Remove toys from room: 2
  • Blackout curtains: 1

8. Was there disruption to normal sleep patterns at the transition?

  • No: 16
  • Yes: 4

How long did it take your child to sleep as normal in the “big bed”?

  • Instant: 15
  • About a Week: 3
  • Several Weeks: 1
  • 6 months or more: 1

Any words of wisdom? Advice?

 

“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.”

 

“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.”

 

” 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!”

 

“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.”

 

“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.”

 

“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.”

 

“I’ll also add that my daughter started climbing out of bed (crib) 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.” (ultimately moved her at 29 months)

 

“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…. ”

 

“Prepare them ahead of time for the transition.”

 

“Leave it as long as you can, it doesn’t need to be rushed, unless you have a reason, remove all distractions and be firm and consistent. The whole taking him back quietly to bed everytime he got up didn’t work for us, we had to ignore him, now he gets up less.”

 

“Be consistent – I think success in the transition of crib to bed is a direct correlation to your consistency in training and disciplining in every other area of your child’s life. Don’t give up!”

 

“Don’t be afraid to go straight to twin bed, not toddler bed. My child stayed in bed in part because of the bed’s height and that made transition easier.”

 

” I won’t move my second born to a bed until I think he’s ready, new baby or not. It caused unnecessary stress for us. Blackout curtains were very helpful.”

 

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