Crib to bed transition- any advice?

bcnoelle

We tried putting my son in his twin bed last night...I stayed with him for 2 hours while he fidgeted and babbled. Finally I gave up and we both went to my bed. Any advice? He would just get super upset and come out. He does seem to love his bed and is proud of it, he didn't even want any previous blankets that were in his crib. Thanks!!!

MNgirl326

I'm going to be honest with you- for us - it was a hard transition. 

Here is what we did that helped

1. We mounted a gate at his door

2. Originally we did kind of a super nanny type approach- We would sit next to his bed, not talking to him, not even looking at him and only interact with him when he got out of bed.  All we would do was put him back to his bed and then go back to sitting on the floor.    We did this for about a week, then moved to sitting across the room, then next to the door, then finally we moved to sitting in the hallway, with the gate closed.  If he got out of bed while we were in the hall, we didn't interact with him, didn't get up, nothing.    IT was hard.  I played a lot of candy crush on my phone.  

3.  After about a month- I just put him in bed, said good night and closed the gate and left.   Some nights he would go to sleep right away, others he would cry a bit, other nights he would scream at the gate.  IT sucked, but often times he fell asleep on the floor next to the gate.  (which makes for some great pictures later).   It was hard, but we got through it. and after a few weeks of that- he started going to bed, without any issues and that is how it has been since.

 

The best advice I can give you- is pick a way to do it and stick with it.  No matter how hard it is , stick with it.   Don't bring him into bed with you, or lay down next to him cause honestly that is a band aid solution- fixing the problem for right now, but not solving it in the long term. 

Good luck to you and God Speed!

doublefiesta

abartow said:

The best advice I can give you- is pick a way to do it and stick with it.  No matter how hard it is , stick with it.   Don't bring him into bed with you, or lay down next to him cause honestly that is a band aid solution- fixing the problem for right now, but not solving it in the long term. 

Totally.

We transitioned DD at about 18mo and it took about a week for her to get it. But we were very consistent from the beginning: she lays down, I turn off the lights (which activates the night light), turn on the white noise machine, tell her I'm going to read one book and leave, read her the book, good night hug & kiss, then I go. I close the door and that's it. It's been almost a year and sometimes she still cries but she settles herself in a few minutes.

bcnoelle

Thank you for the advice!