My first attempt at transitioning from the crib to the "big girl" bed was to simply remove the rail and turn the crib into a daybed. Epic fail. One night she fell out of bed in the middle of a deep sleep and was deeply traumatized. Every day thereafter I would remove the rail once she got up, but once nap time or bedtime came she would refuse slumber until the rail was in it's place.
I then decided that a toddler bed was the way to go. Lower to the ground than the crib and with small rails on each side, I felt the chances of her falling were nil. We even let her pick out her new "big girl" bedding. We took down the crib, replaced it with the toddler bed, made it up and she was thrilled. Until it was time for bed. She refused to sleep in the bed, and around 11pm we gave in and The Captain reassembled the crib, keeping the toddler bed nearby in the hopes that she would one day want to sleep in the bed. Not so much.
We finally purchased a twin mattress and simply laid it on the floor. Jackpot! Not only did she love her huge "big girl" bed, she only had inches to fall while thrashing around in her sleep. (The child is a wild sleeper.) The mattress on the floor was only supposed to be for a couple of weeks, but after picking her up off the floor every night, I was afraid to put it on a frame. Now, a more dramatic child she could not be, and falling off of a bed on a frame? Well, that would have repercussions I do not care to endure.
So, today, I caved. Less for her development and more for my aching back. (I am really getting too old to be bending to the floor to hug and kiss goodnight, and these old bones creak and crack when getting off the floor after reading bedtime stories.) We bought a cute little bed with drawers underneath, and once it was in her room, she was in heaven.
The drawers are now packed full of all her "friends", and she is sleeping soundly. I have already gone in twice to push her closer to the wall, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I am not awakened from a dreamy sleep to the sounds of a screaming three year old who just took a tumble.
Good Night Big One. Sweet Dreams!
How did your little ones make the transition from crib to "big girl/boy" bed? Share your experience here!
We lucked out with the Boy. We moved him to his big boy bed sooner than planned because it was a hand-me-down from one of the Husband's co-workers. It's a blue race-car and we couldn't pass it up when it was offered to us. We also had no place to store it and, since the Boy was already a year and a half, we figured why not give it a try? He absolutely loved it.
ReplyDeleteHe had a really rough night the first night and were thinking we had made a horrible decision (we almost put the crib together at 11pm, too!). Then we realized he was crying for a different reason (I can't remember if he was sick or teething) We realized he was in pain, gave him some medicine and he was fine.
From that night on, he slept soundly and didn't even try to get out of bed on his own till months later. It was such a good experience overall that I'm nervous about moving the Girl to a big girl bed. She's much more rambunctious than him...and not nearly as good a sleeper. We've still got a year or so left before we have to worry about that, though!