Talk to me about transitioning out of the crib.

CollieJade

We're entertaining the idea of breaking down our convertible crib to make it a full size bed for DD.  I bought some of those bed rails for the sides to help with keeping her from falling out while she gets used to it. But I'm wondering when and how others did this.  DD has taken to waking multiple times at night a few times a week, and then she refuses to go back to the crib.  In sheer desire not to lose out on more sleep than necessary, we've been bringing her to our bed for the rest of the night.  This happens about once a week.  While I do love having her in bed with us, I don't think any of us really gets that great of sleep and that's no good.  Anyway, that's led us to the thought that maybe it's time to get her into a full bed, and at least that way if she wakes at night and needs comforting, we can sleep with her in her bed instead of ours.  Maybe that way ONE of us will get decent sleep...

If you transitioned from crib to full bed, when did you do it and what was your process? (i.e. mattress on the floor first, then bed, etc etc)?  Or did you just go cold turkey?  Did you ever attempt sleeping with your DC in the full bed until they got used to it? Any other tips that were helpful when you transitioned?

Or, am I crazy for even thinking that we need to do this now? I'm sure Ferber would come kick my a$$ for this entire line of reasoning.

fjaril

We went from crib to toddler setting to full setting.

Looking back, just going straight to the full bed would have been fine

I just wondered what would happen if he could get out of the bed. He stayed in, so we left it like that.

 We've taken off the rails now, but one said is against the wall for now.

I love that we are able to lay down with him comfortably (we could squeeze in with him in the toddler bed, but dude, not comfy at all). 

If we get to do this again with another kiddo, we'll go straight tot he big bed and do the regular night time routine which for us was some rocking in the the chair and then we'd move reading the books to reading in bed, lights out and that's that.

good luck. it's really late here and i'm sleepy so hopefully I won't be embarrassed when i see this in the morning

katattack

We converted the crib to the toddler bed around 2.  She went through a short phase of getting up just because she could, but that passed.  We just got her a twin bed about a month ago; one side up against the wall and one with a rail.  We do her normal routine, except lately she's decided she wants to be in bed when we read books.  She went through another phase of getting out of bed, but now I tell her she's not allowed to come out unless something is wrong, and she goes right to sleep.

Honestly, it was way easier than I expected.

AustinAggie01

How long has she been waking and refusing to go back to the crib?  It could be just a phase, so I'd be hesitant to make such a change.

My kids didn't climb out of their cribs, so we didn't have that danger to contend with...but they were both in their cribs until they were 3 years old.  They slept fine in there and both were completely night-potty-trained, even in the cribs.  Yes, every now and then one of them would wake and I'd have to help them potty and take them back to bed, but I preferred that to the alternatives.  They both went through a couple phases/weeks when they would wake multiple times for different reasons, but eventually would STTN again.

Our bedrooms are upstairs and we lock the gate every night, but I still wanted that extra protection that a crib offered.  Plus, I didn't have the stress of them being able to get out of bed a million times.  Good luck!  Sleeping issues SUCK!

jakbtx

we moved DS#2 @ 21 mos. in anticipation of DS#3 arriving 3 mos. later and wanted the crib for #3. I thought it would go OK bc I thought my #2 was my more easy going kid. ha!! in retrospect we should have kept him in longer if we could. he still had some night waking issues when we moved him and honestly it got worse. he started not staying in bed at bedtime and waking up ridiculously early for the day (in addition to the night wakings!). granted I am not the best model of what do re: sleep...we didn't do any type of toddler ferbering, no gates, no locks, we just rode the roller coaster of his sleep. we moved my #1 @ just over 3yr old and my #2 probably would have done better staying in the crib longer too (er, we would have fared better ). I am hoping to keep my #3 in the crib as long as possible.  

 

eta: process: we converted the crib to 'toddler bed' which was basically taking the side off the crib. after a few weeks of that, we often found him hanging off the side..he just didn't seem comfortable and it seemed like an open invitation to get out of bed. we tried a rail too and he still was not digging it. we then went to a twin mattress on a very low platform (like my #1 had)...he seemed more comfortable in a bigger bed. we also had to lie down with him a lot to get him to sleep/stay in his bed, but he would phase in/out of that desire!