Tips to transition to toddler bed

So we are moving my 2.5 yo DS into the larger room in preparation for arrival of baby #2 in May. We are planning on putting him into a toddler bed so we can use the crib for the new baby in May but have no idea how this works (he has not made any attempt to climb out of his crib but i'm sure if there were no bars he would have no interest in staying in by choice)
Do people block the bedroom door so they can't leave there room at night or during naps? I am 100% sure he won't just hang out in his bed and stay there. As it is he only naps some days now and is usually banging around the crib for 30 minutes before he falls asleep. If he wakes up at night isn't he just going to wander all over the house??. When I leave him at night I don't think he is just going to stay in his bed if he can avoid it. What did you all do???I feel so clueless hehe.

Re: Tips to transition to toddler bed

DS did great the first two or so days until my genius of a husband told him he can climb in and out whenever he wants. Up until then DS would lay in his bed and fall asleep.
Now I have to rock him until he's drowsy or I just sit on the floor next to him and rub his back until he dozes off.

Be persistent. If I'm not in the mood to rock him He climbs out of his bed and goes into our room like a dozen times. I just bring him back. Don't give in to him!!!
I didn't put a gate on the door bc once he's asleep he stays asleep the whole night. I was scared of him roaming around in the middle of the night but so far so good!

Re: Tips to transition to toddler bed

We JUST transitioned my 2.5 yr old for the same reason.

We skipped toddler bed and went right to a full bed.

Um, we didn't do anything except make it a big deal about her big girl room and give her sheets she wanted (Ariel).

For what ever reason, she doesn't get up and wander at night. The first few nights she would get up at like 3am and sing Jingle Bells at the top of her lungs. But wouldn't get off the bed. It was weird. And random.

Now she sleeps through the night. We don't have a gate in her doorway, just at the top of the stairs, but if we had an issue, I would absolutely put a gate there.

She's been napping fine too.

So just go with it, make the transition, and put a gate if you need it.

That's the advice I got from a lot of people. Just do it.

ETA: We kept the exact same routine for bedtime.

Message edited 1/8/2015 4:24:28 PM.

Re: Tips to transition to toddler bed

Re: Tips to transition to toddler bed

we transitioned about 2 weeks ago, converted the crib to toddler bed. we put a gate up at the doorway but she's shown us that she can climb over it, and its a tall gate! we haven't been having the best experience. she fights it for 30 min every night. I have to go in the room several times and put her back in the bed. she screams and cries like mad. its crazy. she also wakes up several times per night and I have to put her back in the bed. she was never like this. im going to lose my mind but im being persistent. every child is diff.

Re: Tips to transition to toddler bed

with my DD the key to everything is preparation. before we moved her into her big girl bed, we talked about how big she was and how lucky to be going to a big kids bed, read books about it, talked about the rules of a bed (can't get out unless mommy or daddy is there, no jumping, no pacifiers etc) and read books about it. my DD loved this one: elmo bed

thankfully we had zero issues transitioning, and i think a large part of it was because my DD knew exactly what was going to happen and what to expect. good luck!

Tips to transition to toddler bed

I never thought to prep that part. When we moved into our new house her room had a toddler bed. Crib was gone. New room, new stuff, etc. I showed it to her then immediately took her out to pick her bedding set at Target (she STILL uses that tinkerbell comforter).

She never left her room. We have blackout curtains so she slept until the sun woke her up. But she never was one to come into our room. We would hear her play with the junk in her room. We slept with her until she was asleep then we'd leave. She had a phase of sleeping on the floor so we'd go in there for that but soon she would just stay in her bed.

We had no issues at all. Just did it matter of factly but let her set the bed décor if you will. LOL We never thought to give her rules. Only real rule is keep your door closed so the cats can't get in.

Tips to transition to toddler bed

We made the transition from crib to twin at 2 Years. He was fine. We never locked or gated him in his room. We do have a gate at the top of the stairs but we wanted him to be able to come to our room if needed.

He was never a climber int he crib and never really gets out of bed unless he is just having one of those nights.

We just set rules early on.

Re: Tips to transition to toddler bed

We also skipped the toddler bed (not sure if it was a good idea or not) and went right to the twin bed with rails on both sides. We set up DD's 'big girl' room before the baby was born, she was about 21 mo. We did lots of talking about it, got her excited for her big girl bed and room (we moved the new baby into the nursery and gave DD a new room).

It took a while, at first she kept wanting her crib. DS slept in the rock n play in our room for the first 3 months and we definitely needed that buffer because DD was refusing to leave her crib.

Once we finally made the transition nights weren't so bad but naps ended. I could never again get her to take a nap once she moved to the bed, no matter what I did. She still fell asleep in the car but naps at home were no more. That was the worst part of it. We did the baby gate at the door for nights and after a while removed it. She's almost 4 now and we still threaten to put the gate back on nights when she gives us a hard time going to bed.

Re: Tips to transition to toddler bed

We just did it for my 21 month old ds. He was climibing out of the crib.
I kept everything the same. I didn't make it a big deal to him. He can't open doors yet so that helps. If he could I would probably put a child door knob thing on the door knob.
I was soooooo nervous because he is literally into everything and a climber but he did awesome. The first night he cried at his door for a little bit but then just got back in bed and went to sleep. The middle of the night has not been an issue at all except for one night when he was really sick with a high high fever but I slept on his floor with him.
Now he will play or read and then get into bed and go to sleep. He almost always turns on the lights and the fan so I have to go in and shut them off.

Last night he was "reading" and fell asleep on the floor.