Going into a big boy bed

kbojo1221

Any suggestions/advice for transitioning my son from his crib to a big boy bed? We want to do this soon because we have a baby on the way (June 2014) and we we want him to be transitioned well before the baby arrives.

rlyttle

I would hold off if I were you. It's still pretty early and the longer you wait the better the transition will be. (IMO) I would wait till a few months before the baby is born. Will you be changing his room or just adding a big boy bed? DS moved rooms and we fixed the new room up and he was very excited to sleep in it. We just moved all his blankets and animals into the big bed so he was surrounded by the same stuff as before. We kept the same bedtime routine and added more reading time. It worked great for us, but DS was 4 months from being 3. 

shellpie84

We are in the same boat.  DD's 2nd birthday is in April and new baby is due in March. We are planning on moving her to her new big girl room and bed in Janaury becuase we want her to be well transistioned into her new room and not have any jealousy over the baby being in her room.  I really have no help becuase I have no idea how its going to go just wanted to say we were in the same boat! Good luck!

TeacherVicky

I would wait a few more months. 

I'm due at the beginning of January and we just transitioned DS into a big bed about 2 weeks ago. It was a smooth transition. I talked about it for weeks beforehand, emphasizing how it was a big bed because he was a big boy now. I got him bedding I knew he would love and he came home one day to find his new bed in his room. We let him play in it, lay in it, check it out for a good while before dinner that night, then went on with our regular evening. We never had issues. 

kbojo1221

rlyttle said:

I would hold off if I were you. It's still pretty early and the longer you wait the better the transition will be. (IMO) I would wait till a few months before the baby is born. Will you be changing his room or just adding a big boy bed? DS moved rooms and we fixed the new room up and he was very excited to sleep in it. We just moved all his blankets and animals into the big bed so he was surrounded by the same stuff as before. We kept the same bedtime routine and added more reading time. It worked great for us, but DS was 4 months from being 3. 

We are moving him into a new room. We are starting to fix it up now and my DS loves going into his new room. I just want to get him in his new bed and room before baby arrives so he is transitioned and there will be no jealousy of the new baby is his crib.

Thanks for the advice ladies!

jc&cat

DD was born in June and we moved DS into his new room/bed in April of that year. He was exactly 2.5 years old. It was a rocky 2 weeks or so b/c he was a little jumpy but he settled in very well. We made a big deal of when Daddy painted his room (he "helped" a little) and a big unveiling of his new bed and bedding with all of his animals on his bed. It was a lot of fun (except the jumpy 2 weeks) and I think the timing was just right for us. Good luck!

preggersin2011

LO started sleeping on a cot at 18 months in day care. Around 20 months I took the side of the crib off and put up a toddler bed rail. i guess it depends upon your sleep routine how the transition will go. During naps at school the teachers rub their belly and sing songs to calm them all down. At night I always put her in her crib and walked away. It took a few nights of telling her to get back in bed and rubbing her belly. I really do not see the point in waiting. Usually the advice my friends with older kids have given me is the younger the better, before they can rebel and are more acceptable to changes. Since her room is on the small side i bought a toddler bed on clearance for her birthday rather than moving right into a twin bed that takes up more room.

Caseyk1127

My DS was only 14 months when DD was born and clearly not ready to transition. As he got closer to 2 I thought moving him a toddler bed would be a big deal but it wasn't. A week before his 2nd bday He woke up one morning and while he was with DH eating breakfast I went to his room and changed out beds. Took him in at nap time, didn't make a big deal out of it and he never acted like anything was different.

Jarangela

We transitioned our son about a month before his sister came along. I didn't want him to feel like his sister was taking his bed. We only had a few rough nights. We talked about it a lot and how cool it was etc. we would lie down with him for him to see how cool it was too. We do have issues with him getting out of bed, so we have a childproof lock on the door so he can't get out:) it doesn't seem to bother him at all though that he's not in his crib. Good luck!!