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Toddlers: 24 Months+
SallyAnneS
member
ds not happy about toddler bed. help!
SallyAnneS
member
We took the side off of ds crib yesterday and put a gate at his door. He seemed super excited about it, slept great last night and was excited to go for nap today. But as soon as I put him down for nap he panicked. I would like him to stay in his room for 1 hour whether sleeping or quietly playing, he has now been at the gate screaming for 40 minutes and no sign of giving up. I have gone up twice to quickly remind him to be quiet but that just gets him rilled up more.
What do I do? His screaming is making me feel like such a bad mom. 
Twins:
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Re: ds not happy about toddler bed. help!
This. I had one no go 6 months ago with a toddler bed when I was hoping to free up his crib for the baby but DS1 was not happy. So now I have two cribs, but DS happily accepted the toddler rail on his crib a few weeks ago.
I moved my son to a toddler bed at 15 months. It was a little rough, yes, and maybe it's different because your son is older, but I would encourage you to stick with it. What worked for me was patience, timing and a baby monitor with video! Here's my strategy:
Position the monitor so you know whether LO is actually in the bed or not. If LO gets up goes to the door and cries, wait 20 minutes - this will key them in they you won't immediately rush back when they get up - then walk back, pick up LO, lay them back down, and walk away. Don't say anything! If the room is very baby-proof, there should be no safety concerns, and eventually LO will go to sleep. The first couple days, I might notice DS sleeping on the floor or in the glider. I just left well enough alone as long as it was safe, and soon he figured out that the bed was more comfortable and just to lie down in it and sleep. It took maybe a week for him to adjust.
I really hope you try to persevere with this! I know they can safely stay in the crib until much, much older, but I feel like them learning to stay in a bed on their own gives them their first taste of learning to make responsible choices, even if it's just a trained behavior and not necessarily an understood choice. I plan to bed-train DS2 when he gets to that age, too. GL!
I took the side off the crib because I have that mommy gut feeling that he is ready. And his naps have been getting worse and worse so if he can get out of the crib he can play and relax in his room for quiet time. I knew it would be a rough transition though because he is stubborn. His excitment over it lets me know I did the right thing though.
Thanks for the tips on hkw to get through this. I actually am going to get a video monitor saturday morning off a buy and sell site. I laugh that now that is older I feel like I need it. But I think being able to see him will help me. Glad to hear it took you about a week. I keep telling myself this will be his new normal soon. Last night only took him 30 minutes and he was in his bed to sleep. And surprisingly he put his pillow and blankets back in with him before he feel asleep. He was only up once in the night as well. So hopefully it gets better soon.
We have a video monitor and they are great. I would recommend getting one that you can talk through as well. My SIL has this and I think it's a great feature for older kids. How nice to be able to say, "OK mommy is coming in a minute" or "You're fine, mommy is not far."