From Crib to Bed
I could have kept my kids in a crib forever, I loved knowing that they were safe in their cribs and couldn’t hurt themselves or each other when they were supposed to be napping. I was lucky, they were in their cribs for ovr two years before I had to move them into beds.
R climbed out of her crib one day and that was it, beds it was.
When we bought our house they were only 18 months old so we kept their cribs (taking apart, moving and reassembling two cribs in one day was another nightmare alltogether!) but we bought them each a full bed. It was for later use but also for company to spend the night.
I also didn’t want to send them into anew bed when just getting used to the new house was enough for them.
I bought them each toddler beds, which are adorable and to see them in it makde me realize how fast they do grow up.
the new found freedom they discovered wasn’t so great. Now they could get up and take apart their room or play instead of napping.
And they did, one time when e was away on business they took every piece of clothing, shoes, hanger and toy from R’s closet. The mess was enough to make me fall on the floor and cry out of frustration and anger.
For awhile I would have to lay on the floor betwen their two beds and read while they fell asleep, and I had plenty to do around the house I couldn’t let them give up their naps because they needed them.
If they were smaller I would have gated off their room, but I did have a gate at the top of the stairs and I closed all the doors off before they napped.
We put all the stuffed animals and aquarium in their beds so they would adjust to the new sleeping arrangements.
They did great.
How did you do moving your kids from the crib into a “big kid” bed?
sleeping, toddlers, kids, toddler beds, crib to a bed, parenting struggles, parenting
December 28th, 2006 at 8:11 pm
We went straight from crib to a twin (box and mattress set directly on the floor). It was very hard to try to follow all the “experts’” advice and to just return them to their bed when they crawled out. We would get frustrated, our son would get frustrated; we would get mad, he would get mad. It was a disaster. What saved us is getting a child gate for the doorway.
I didn’t like feeling like he was being penned up, and it was awful the first several nights. But after a while, when he opened his door and saw the gate, he would shut the door and crawl back into bed and cover himself up. I think he was between two and three when that happened as we were expecting number two and needed the crib.
Thinking about this all now just seems like it was forever ago.
December 29th, 2006 at 2:33 am
I can’t convince my daughter to switch over to a big girl bed yet and she’s 3.5. Yowza. I guess that’s fine but putting her to bed at night and rubbing her back (leaning over the side of the crib)is killing my back. I wish I knew how to get her excited about the transition!
December 29th, 2006 at 8:55 am
Tracey, maybe you can say that a new baby needs her crib now that she is suach a big girl.
Another option is to let her help pick out a bed or new big girl sheets from the store. Think princess bed, sheets or Dora.
That might help her get more excited. I know the cute pillowcases I bought helped my kids.