Toddler Bed Help

bellevuebride07

I am at a loss for what to do about the baby bed situation in our house.  We have a crib and a toddler bed, not to mention a PNP, RNP, and co sleeper.  Our boys will be sharing a room once Max is out of our room, ideally by 4-6 months. 

I set up the toddler bed in the nursery right after Christmas.  We started talking up the "big boy bed" but really just wanted Leo to get used to it and not feel like Max was stealing his crib.  

 I really thought Leo would be more interested in it than he is.  We ask him if he wants to sleep in his big boy bed and he very clearly says no every time.  It is even a bit of a struggle to get him to sit in it and read books with us.  

Any ideas on what to do?  We have thought about removing the crib completely till Max needs it and then setting it up again in the room.   But, that would really mean forcing Leo to sleep in the toddler bed and I was really hoping to have him make the "choice" to start sleeping there.  

I'm also having trouble visualizing how getting Leo to actually stay in the toddler bed will actually work.  I can just picture him waking up in the middle of the night and digging through the diaper pail or something.  I hate to mess with his good sleep habits now but I feel like now is the time.  I want him established in the toddler bed before Max actually goes into the crib.  

If you made it this far through my ramblings, thank you!  Any and all advice / suggestions would be super helpful.

Thanks 

KYmama9286

I know when my sister's boys were young and started sharing a room she basically took everything out of their room except their beds and clothes (she got some sort of lock for their closet door so they couldnt go through it). It seems kind of extreme but she had VERY curious boys (one day her oldest got out of his room before my sister was awake and it was the one night they didnt have the kitchen gated off--he somehow got onto the counter, got in the spice rack and she woke up to him sitting on the floor covered in spices licking cinnamon off his hands lol) Needless to say it helped with having to worry about disrupting dirty diapers, getting up and playing with toys, throwing everything on the floor, etc.

Its a little extreme-- maybe wait and see how he does before you do anything this drastic. Maybe he will do better than expected!

curlypie1

We converted Nora's crib to a toddler bed one day after her nap. By 11pm that same night, DH was converting it back to a crib. :-)

I didn't want to push her into something she didn't feel comfortable with. She was still sleeping great in a crib so there wasn't a reason to mess with it. About 3 months later after we kept bringing it up, Nora agreed she was ready to give it a go and it worked out great.

Good luck! I hope you can get it all worked out before you're ready for Max to move in.

robnnoel

Oh, thats a tough one.  DS didnt transition into a toddler bed till he was around 2.5 yrs old.  I dont know that he would have stayed in a toddler bed before then.  This maybe too late in your plans, but is it possible to get another convertable crib and let them both sleep in cribs for awhile longer? 

buckeyethor

We have been transitioning for about a week. She has not taken well to the toddler bed. We had to switch her though bc she had tried to climb out. Safety first over comfort and the pedi really pushed us bc of her trying to get out. It has not gone well. I would hold off until you think L is ready or it will be bad. She keeps climbing into our bed in the middle of the night. It is hard.

kel716

We did the extreme thing for a little bit...  his room was literally a mattress and the furniture.  NOTHING else.  Then he made a toy out of the closet door, cabinet door, etc...  I put back his stuff. 

Anyway, what worked for us in getting him to stay in his bed was magic bumpers.  They're light, travel well, and inexpensive.  https://www.amazon.com/Magic-Bumpers-Portable-Child-Safety/dp/B003KFCV6S/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1300221363&sr=8-1

For us, those worked.  Once we put those in, he wanted to sleep in his crib and he stays in his bed at night.  Naps are a different story....   However, we knew he didn't want to be in his crib because all he did was climb out.  So we had to get him to use his bed.

That being said, if he's not ready for his crib, then I'd leave him in his crib for as long as you can.  It sounds liek you have plenty of places for Max to sleep...  and I'd use those in the meantime.  A lot of things change around the 2nd bday, so you might find he's ready then.  GL