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Transition to a big girl bed - not what I wanted to hear
Certifikid had a deal yesterday for sleep consultants, so I called and spoke to one of just to get a sense of their experience and generally how they could help us.
She was very, very nice, and if we ever decide to use a consultant I'll call her back, but in talking to her, she basically told me the issues over the phone. It sounds like the DD is just too young to transition to a big girl bed because she doesn't understand the concept of staying in bed all night. DD turned 2 in September, and I guess most kids don't transition until 2.5 or 3. Intellectually I knew this, but didn't think it would be a big deal. We're going on week 3 (I think) of a terrible transition (she gets up many, many times a night), and it's not getting better, though we'll have some nights that are better than others.
Ultimately, it sounds like we have to move her back to the crib for a little while and either get a new crib for DS, or put him in a pack and play for a couple of weeks (months?) until we can try again to transition DD. She'll have to stay in the bed for a couple of more nights until DH gets back from travel and can put the crib together again, but I'm hoping there's a light at the end of the tunnel and we'll all be able to sleep again!
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Re: Transition to a big girl bed - not what I wanted to hear
That sort of jives with my experience. Although our problem wasn't getting out of the bed, once DD was in, she generally stayed there (it's a different story now that she's older).
I didn't chime in earlier because we had a horrible "transition" and all I learned was what not to do next time. We transitioned DD about a month before DS was born (mistake one, we should have started sooner)when she was 20 months. She did really well, was so excited to sleep in her big girl bed with her sheep sheets (the girl loves her baa baas). And then DS came. We never took down the crib because we intended to move DS in there (mistake two). DD wanted right back in that crib, that was her big regression. Someone may have made the third mistake of telling her that the bed would soon be DS's (a friend, not us). And so she went, and there she remains (we eventually removed a side and made it a toddler bed on the misguided notion that seeing the crib as a bed might make her want to sleep in her big girl bed - mistake four). Nope just made her love that crib all the more.
When it came time to transition DS out of the Rock and Play, we bought a mattress for the pack and play instead of buying him a new crib. Another idea to throw out there. We got it on Amazon.
HJ, it sucks that you had a difficult transition, too, but at least I'm not alone! Also, whoever told your DD that the bed she was in would become DS's is just mean.
That's good to know about the mattress for the pack and play, I didn't even know you could get those.
You have a great memory! She did climb out of the crib once during a temper tantrum. My hope is that won't happen again, but if it does, we might get one of those crib tents.
Could you just have your youngest in the rock n play for the first couple of months and then transition DD? I have ZERO experience in all of this, so please take what i say with a grain of salt.... but we just transitioned DD to a crib this week and she's 11 weeks old. If you've still got 20 weeks of pregnancy left and potentially two to three months postpartum, that'll buy you about 32-36 weeks, which might put you in the wheel house of the 'correct' age of transition for your DD.
In this way, you don't have to buy a mattress for the pack n play (unless it's cheaper than the rock n play) and DD still gets her crib a little bit longer.
Good luck!
When I was pregnant with #2, I struggled with the "new crib" decision and decided to buy another crib for DD#1 and I'm so happy I did it. I cannot imagine trying to have transitioned her at that time. I got one at Ikea for $70 and it's worked great.
A month or two ago, DD figured out how to climb out of the crib which is right next to her big girl bed. She would climb out and then get up on the bed. So, I thought it was officially time to transition. She slept 1 night in the big girl bed and then the next night, I put her in the big girl bed and when I went to check on her at 10pm, she had climbed BACK into the crib. So, the next night, I asked her where to sleep and she said "the crib". That night or the next night, she climbed out of the crib after I left and ended up bumping her head on the headboard of the big girl bed which I think scared her. Since then, she has not tried to climb out of her crib once. Whenever I ask her where she wants to sleep, she always says the crib. So, I think she will be there for a while longer. I think it's a security thing for her and since she's no longer trying to climb out, I'll leave her there for a while.
I hope the transition back to the crib goes okay for you. I know that as a parent, it's sometimes hard to figure out what to do (especially when the transitions don't go well).
can you put one of those rails on the crib w/ an opening so she can climb out if she wants to but safely?
DD and DS are 20mo apart and I planned to transition DD to her big girl bed around 18mo old but for various reasons (sickness, starting daycare, etc) we couldn't. We did it when DS was 1mo old. However, he slept in the bassinet until he was 3mo old. It's all kinda fuzzy but we never mentioned that DS was going to take her crib away but I think we did say that cribs are for babies and she's a big girl now. Our pedi said they don't recommend big kid beds until 20mo at the earliest but pedis are certainly not sleep experts!
I hope it goes well for you. DS is almost 17mo old and I fear he'll try to climb out of the crib very soon (he's a climber) and I am so not ready for that!!