Advice Needed (toddler bed)-long

starz080

R is not potty trained and she's not in a toddler bed.  She'll be 2 in 10 days.  I'm not in a huge rush except for the fact that her little sister will be here in approximately 2 months. 

As I've written on here, the PTing is currently on a break and we'll revisit it again in a month.  I'm thinking no matter what, she won't be fully PT'd when her sister arrives.  

Here's the toddler bed dilemma.  I hate the idea of moving her to a toddler bed AFTER her sister arrives b/c it might appear like we're having to move you from your bed to a new one so your sister (who has been using all your stuff anyways) can use your bed too.  That worries me a little.

 BUT.....our house is currently under contract and we are probably going to have to move to a rental home (VERY temporary situation) before the baby is born and stay there about 6-8 weeks after the baby is born and there is a possibility for definitely1 but maybe even 2 more moves after that.  Eeek.

 I'm glad we got an offer on the house, but we have to stay in SC for insurance purposes for until the babe is born.  

My dilemma is that I don't want to move R from her crib to a new room/bed then move her out of the house into a NEW room/bed and then move 1-2 more times after that.  The big girl bed will already be very new to her and she'll be going through so many new things anyways.  (new house, new sibling, HUGE adjustments)

This has gotten long and it's kinda complicated so thanks for reading.   I do NOT want to buy a new crib.  So my only other option instead of moving her b/f the baby comes is to totally forget about transitioning her until we are settled into a house.

I could use the PNP for the newest baby.  We moved R to her crib at 6 weeks and I'm thinking we'll do something similar for this baby too.  It was just too hard to sleep in the same room as a NB...all the noises, etc.  I just couldn't sleep well.  She has NOT tried to get out of her crib at all (fingers crossed on that) and loves it.

Any ideas?  Am I over analyzing this?

tracelini

I'm thinking along the same lines you are....minus the moves, which, man, good luck with that!! But, am thinking of moving DS this summer instead of after the new baby so he doesn't feel like things are all changing just because of hte new baby. I want him in his new bed, room and comfy with that change before the new baby. He's perfectly fine in his crib now, so that's not an issue, just a matter of we'll need the crib and I want him to be adjusted and happy with the situation. GL!!

sophabelle

i just went through something similar w/ds.  only he'd never been moved to his own room.  the toddler bed was a disaster at first since not only it was new but so was the room.

so i think if i were you, i'd keep her in her crib so that she gets used to the new room, and just use a pnp for the new baby until the time comes when she is used to the toddler bed.

you could do what we did and if you have space, set up the toddler bed in the same room as the crib and giver her the options of picking where she wanted to sleep so she was able to slowly get used to the toddler bed on her own time.  

 ds now loves his toddler bed and his crib is still set up in the room since dd will be sharing a room with him anyway.  we'll just set up the pnp in our room until we're ready to move her to her own room.  which hopefully will not be nearly as long as ds was in our room (18 months! oops!!).  i'm hoping to have dd out of our room around 4-6 months... fingers crossed!

withoutshoes

I think it would be a lot to transition her to a new toddler bed and then introduce even more changes with the move(s).  We used a PNP for DS for close to 8 weeks before we placed him in his crib.  You said you didn't like to sleep in the same room w/ your nb. With the PNP, you could move it from room to room.

On a slightly different note, you are amazing to have dealt with all that comes with selling a house in your last trimester. Not to mention the fact you may be moving 1-3 times with a toddler and nb in tow!! 

NatPhoto09

I have no advice. I know it will all work out but I agree w/ withoutshoes.  I was stressing about our move to another state but I only had one toddler.  GL with everything.

cmbrown

If I was in your situation, I would not move her to her bed until you are settled in your house.  That seems like a whole lot of change in a short time.  I would let her stay in her crib, for something familiar.  I'd put the new baby in the pack n play.  (Allie slept in her pack n play until she was 5 months old)  You could even keep her in the pack n play in her room.

mrsmikey

I think I would leave her in the crib, and have the baby sleep in the pnp until you're settled back into your new house.  DS slept in the pnp until he was 3 months old in our room.  Even if you had her in a pnp in her own room so she doesn't bother you sleeping, I think that is the best solution.

I think all that change would be hard on her.  As far as the new baby 'stealing' her crib, I don't think that will be an issue.  I get your concern, but I think she'll be so excited about her new big girl bed that it will be ok. 

cclark07

Wait until you are settled in a new house. A PnP *should* work for the baby, so plan on that and if you have to make other arrangements later, worry about it then.

New house and new sibling are big changes. We moved in August and had a new baby on October. DD is 5 and we could tell that all of these things (she started kindergarten too) were affecting her. She's a smart kid and we talked to her about all the changes before they happened so i wasn't expecting such a reaction from her (acting out, not listening, attitude with me since I was with baby all the time). A 2yo will understand even less so I would try to make the transitions a slowly as you can. GL

lalabee0425

I battled with the bed issue a lot. Add a move on top of that 1 single big change, AND a new baby and that is a lot for a toddler to handle.

I definitely agree with PPs about keeping her in her crib until you are settled in your perm. house. I did not want to buy another crib for Callie but also didn't want to evict Keira from her bed which she loves. I struggled with that a lot and finally decided that she would keep her crib until Callie HAD to go into it. 

Keira's old room will be Callie's new room so we had to put Keira in a new room. She transitioned perfectly fine but I think that had a lot to do with her keeping her bed and her stuff. 

Right now Callie is in our room in a bassinet and if she outgrows that before we get Keira into a big bed we'll put her in a PNP either in her room  our in our room. 

That way it will be more about Keira getting her new big girl bed rather than HAVING to give up her bed for her sister. She will see that her sister has a place to sleep (bassinet and PNP) and then can give her crib to her when she is all done with it, vs. it being forced. 

I am terrified of the move to the big bed but the time is coming. I hope she can be excited about it and we can ease her out of the crib and it won't be a big deal when it becomes Callie's. 

Good luck. I can't believe your situation with moving! That would stress me big time! Hang in there! 

starz080

Thanks, you guys!  We were fully prepared to be in the house for quite a while b/f it sold, but we very thankful for a buyer.  We are waiting to see what our living arrangements will be.  In an ideal world, we could stay in this house until the beginning of August and then move to a house in the Triad after that.  But everything is so up in the air right now. 

I know it won't be easy with a toddler and NB and I'm hoping my parents will help out with R.  It's just how the timing has worked out with everything.  I'm exhausted just thinking about it. 

ETA.  I am about 95% sure we'll just keep her in the crib for the time being and move her when we settle into a new house.  I think that *should* work ok.  We shall see.  That's what I've been leaning towards, but hearing all your perspectives has convinced me even more that it's the right thing.

dbertagni

I was going to agree with PP. If we have an issue with moving Jocelyn to a big girl bed then I am just going to keep her in the crib and if need be put the PNP in the babies room and just let him sleep in that until we can make a smooth transition. I am hoping to move her the last week of April, and I am not expecting any issues but who knows. I think keeping R in her crib is the best idea until you are settled and she has her new (permanent) big girl room. Jocelyn  has only jumped out once (which was a fluke because I had propped up her mattress due to a cold, so she basically just climbed right out) but she has never done it since. As long as she is content and safe in the crib, then just keep her in it!