transition to toddler bed?!

kami09

Alright today alone I have changed my mind a million times whether I should do this or not. So I need advice!

Background: DS is 16 months now. Will be 20 when DD is born. If I do the transition before she gets here, it'll be around 18 months.
He doesn't try to climb out at all as of yet. They will be sharing a room--a very spacious room so we can absolutely fit another crib if need be. However, DD will be in our room for 6 months.

Here's what I'm thinking:
* Do I really want to start this process when I'm 7 months pregnant?!
* He seems way too little right now for this transition.
* Do I want to buy another crib??
* But what if he starts climbing out as soon as she is born? Do I want to do this process while BF a newborn throughout the night?
* Or do I wait until she has been in our room for about 4 months (he will be 2 yrs)? Move him to toddler bed, and then her into his crib? 

Obviously I need hellllllp.

Vivian0809

I'd wait.. No rush! Not worth it to do right now. 

slfezz

if you don't want to buy another crib, I would start the transition in the next month so there is more time between when it's his crib and then the baby takes it over. 

 DD#2 is 20 months old and I've already starting transitioning her over to avoid any potential issues with the "baby taking her stuff/place" since I plan on using the same furniture for #3. My main criteria for determining if we could transition was if she didn't move around a lot at night, I never left it until they were climbing. 

If you are worried about him falling out of bed, just try a mattress on the floor for a little while, if it's wandering the house at night, put a gate in the bedroom doorway (I have this setup right now). A toddler bed doesn't have to be a scary thing. 

Jenly17

Personally, I'm want/need only one transition at a time. Ideally DD will be transitioned before LO comes along, which will be another huge transition in and of itself.  I'm also going to prep it as a fun thing, ya know? "You're the big sister in a big girl bed, yay so much fun!!" 

This is is how it's happening in my head. Haha

araecasey

kami09 said:

Alright today alone I have changed my mind a million times whether I should do this or not. So I need advice!

Background: DS is 16 months now. Will be 20 when DD is born. If I do the transition before she gets here, it'll be around 18 months.
He doesn't try to climb out at all as of yet. They will be sharing a room--a very spacious room so we can absolutely fit another crib if need be. However, DD will be in our room for 6 months.

Here's what I'm thinking:
* Do I really want to start this process when I'm 7 months pregnant?! Nope.
* He seems way too little right now for this transition. Listen to your gut.
* Do I want to buy another crib?? Gross, no. 
* But what if he starts climbing out as soon as she is born? Do I want to do this process while BF a newborn throughout the night? Time for your partner to step up! If you're a single mom, this would suck. 
* Or do I wait until she has been in our room for about 4 months (he will be 2 yrs)? Move him to toddler bed, and then her into his crib? This is what we're doing. 

Obviously I need hellllllp.

kbrands7

I agree that going one at a time is best. You may have sleep interruptions for a week or so with this change and I definitely wouldn't want to take that on while waking with a newborn. 

We transitioned DS to a twin mattress on the floor a while ago because he was climbing out of his crib and not doing much better with it as a toddler bed. (He was able to swing himself over the crib around  a year). The mattress on the floor worked really well because he could learn sleep boundaries without getting hurt if he rolled out, and it allowed me to lay with him for some of his night wakeups (though if you haven't previously bedshared, you may want to just sit next to him).  Last month, he moved to a twin bed (ikea minnen bc it's low). He's down to sleeping through the night now, or having 1 wakeup sometime between 2 and 6. Previously, this was a kid who would wake to bf or wake fully during light sleep out of anxiety every 2hrs or so if i wasn't holding or touching him. He also takes glorious 3hr naps in his bed now.

He just turned 22mo and we started with the open side toddler bed at 12mo, twin mattess around 16mo, and actual twin bed around 20/21 mo.

Edited because autocorrect is a twatwaffle 

gemini2005

I would wait and do the transition when the new baby needs the crib.  My dd is 2 1/2 and still in her crib.  She loves it.  She still naps well and isn't trying to climb out so I'm hesitant to change things but we need the crib for dd2.  I guess we will have to get her used to a toddler bed soon...not looking forward to it!

kami09

Thanks for the advice ladies! I suppose for now I will wait a few months and see how I feel about it! 

JessicaB0627

gemini2005 said:

I would wait and do the transition when the new baby needs the crib.  My dd is 2 1/2 and still in her crib.  She loves it.  She still naps well and isn't trying to climb out so I'm hesitant to change things but we need the crib for dd2.  I guess we will have to get her used to a toddler bed soon...not looking forward to it!

This was my DD too. We transitioned her in December, so she was a little over 2 1/2. At first she was pissed. She loved her crib and did not want to give it up, but after a couple nights she finally started liking the idea of a big girl bed and now she does awesome! 

gemini2005

JessicaB0627 said:

gemini2005 said:

I would wait and do the transition when the new baby needs the crib.  My dd is 2 1/2 and still in her crib.  She loves it.  She still naps well and isn't trying to climb out so I'm hesitant to change things but we need the crib for dd2.  I guess we will have to get her used to a toddler bed soon...not looking forward to it!

This was my DD too. We transitioned her in December, so she was a little over 2 1/2. At first she was pissed. She loved her crib and did not want to give it up, but after a couple nights she finally started liking the idea of a big girl bed and now she does awesome! 

That's good to hear.  I know it's time to make the change but I keep putting it off.   It's hard to believe she's not going to be the baby of the family anymore.  I'm having a hard time with that transition!

camillaandcarson

We changed to a toddler bed today. It is super low to the ground.

The new baby will be in our room for many months so the crib isn't immediately needed for quite awhile but I figured why not start this process now before I become mombie again (sleep deprived mom zombie thanks to those sleepless newborn nights).

But my toddler is older than 18 months. At 18 months I would not change your set up. 

avidkeo

DD is 21 months now and we just transitioned her. took about a week, no real issues at all. I think its more up to how your toddler is. DD is a pretty relaxed kid who just goes with the flow. The bed has been in her room since day one - because we already had it so just made sense.

On the day of her first sleeping in the big bed, throughout the day we would tell her she was going to sleep in the big bed that night, and then we put her to bed in it. Slept great. We had a couple of occasions in the week following where she wouldn't sleep but get out of bed and play, and if it went too long we put her in her cot, but the following weekend we took the cot out, and she's been great.

so at the end of the day it's entirely over to you and if you think your toddler will respond well or not. 

emma+karen

DS will be three next week and is still in his crib!  We plan on moving him right after his birthday, because both sets of grandparents are coming that weekend and we plan to put them to work moving the "big boy bed" out of the guest room (which will be the baby's room) and into his room.  So that's when we'll be doing the transition.  But honestly, if I weren't pregnant, I'd keep him in his crib as long as he's willing to stay in it, and he hasn't complained or even started climbing out (even though he's capable) so far.

One thing I'd add, though, is that our pedi did mention at his 2.5 year check-up, when I told him we were expecting again, that we should move him at least a couple months before the baby comes so he doesn't feel like the baby has usurped "his" bed.  Just something to think about.

lest12

DS is almost 20 months now and will be almost 22.5 months when DD is born.  We transitioned him to his bed last month. 

16 months would have felt pretty young for him.  By 19 months, he was showing signs that he was ready so we made the move.  Otherwise I would have waited another month or so and made the transition before the baby came. 

Part of the reason I wanted to move him before was so that I could get the nursery cleaned up and ready for the baby.  But, if they are sharing a room and you plan on having the baby in your room for 6 months, I might wait until the baby is a few months old and feel out your son before making the transition. 

A lot of moms in my first BMB have made the transition to the bed recently.  It isn't perfect but it wasn't as awful as we all had feared either.  He actually sleeps better in his bed then he was in his crib, if that helps ease your mind  

Bluejay3030

These stories have definitely given me hope about our impending transition to a real bed!  I'm braced for the worst but think that since DD will be almost 2.5 when baby comes, we're better off making the transition now.

@kami09 FWIW I probably wouldn't have been willing to make the move when DD was 16 months.  She was not remotely ready at that point, but every kid is different so go with your gut!

Bltbear82

I've been going back and forth on this for weeks. DS turns 2 next month but has never tried to climb out of his crib, he actually loves and tries to climb into the crib. So it doesn't really feel like he's ready at the moment but I was hoping to transition him before the baby is born. We might try the mattress on the floor route first as it seems like a good first step. 

avidkeo

Bltbear82 said:

I've been going back and forth on this for weeks. DS turns 2 next month but has never tried to climb out of his crib, he actually loves and tries to climb into the crib. So it doesn't really feel like he's ready at the moment but I was hoping to transition him before the baby is born. We might try the mattress on the floor route first as it seems like a good first step. 

Our DD never tried climbing out of her cot, but tried to climb in a couple of times. We felt she was ready because she would lay in our bed and pull the blankets up over her. That was about it really. Oh and she wasn't sleeping all over the cot anymore, still moved around but mostly in one spot. 

jhjelmberg

My son will have just turned two when #3 arrives, we transitioned him to our pack and play with a pack and play mattress ($30) instead of a toddler bed.  I plan on having him switch to a twin bed  when he's 2.5.  Our baby will be in the crib at 6 weeks. 

whattalife525415

I think it's also about how they are sleeping.  DD was about 19 months when we put her on a twin mattress on the floor.  She kept hitting the walls of the crib, waking herself up and then staying awake for 2+ hours at night.  She still wakes up now but comes to our room or we can sit/lay by her and for the most part she goes right back to bed.  Much happier and more well rested family here!