How Do You Transition a Toddler to a Toddler Bed?

without knowing how old your son is, it is hard to tell what you should do. My son was 2 when he transitioned into his toddler bed, and he knows that if he gets out of the bed for any reason, he will be punished. We have been faithful to follow through on the punishment, and now he is obedient and stays there. If you just put him back in his bed and leave the room, he's probably thinking "well, that was painless and easy, I'm just going to keep doing it." You have to find ways to make what's important to you important to him, and with children, that usually means punishment or taking away/adding priviledges.

I think it really depends on the age of your son. My son did the same thing. We moved the matress all the way down by the time he was 9mo old. That was when he climed out of the crib for the first time and my husband and I found him at 6:30am playing and laughing in the middle of his beadroom floor. By 12mo he could climb w/o any problem. Since I too am a stay at home mom and had to deal w/ nap time alone, as well as the fact he needed a nap and I NEEDED for him to take a nap there was no way I was going to fight w/ him and a toddler bed. I think children need naps until they are about 5yrs, so I think it it just much easier to keep them in a crib until about 5yrs and then there is no fighting. No No I am so kidding!! I do think kids need naps until about 5yrs, and I do think kids should stay in a crib for as long as possible but not 5, maybe 3 or 3 1/2 depending on their size. It really does cut down on the bed time and nap time fighting. Oh, and how to keep them from climbing out, babies r us sells a crib tent. It looks really mean, but it took my son 2 nights to get use to it and it was such a life saver. So we put it up at 12mo, by 24mo he figured out how to jimmy the zipper out of the little pocket it fits into after you sip the tent closed. By doing that he created a little hole he could slip his finger in and unzip the tent. So thinking he is still to young for a bed, and I was not ready for a fight I turned the crib arround. The tent is a pain to put up (well it was 6yrs ago)and the crib was on wheels so I turned the bed so the opening created when the tent was unziped faced the wall. I would move the crib away from the wall to put him down and slide it back to keep him in. the other side was solid mesh tent that did not unzip. I never really had to zip him in after that. At about 21/2 yrs he got a stomach flu and got sick all over the tent. It was not worth washing and trying to put back up, so we went to a reg. bed at that point. I think I would have tried to keep him in it another 6mo to a year if I could have. That was the end of naps and even sleeping in his own room for a while. So depending on your sons age, I would try the crib tent. It was kind of hard to put up, and I think it was about $100 back then. I do think it is money well spent. And like I said it looks mean but they do get use to it quick. Good luck.

T.

My biggest suggestion without knowing how old your little boy is, is to try to make the transition over the weekend, when your husband might be available to help. It can be tiring, but what we found worked for our daughter, was introducing the bed on a saturday morning, and we made a big deal over the idea of sleeping in a big girl bed, bought special sheets that had her favorite character on them...and then when naptime rolled around we explained to her that when nap time was over, we would come and get her just like we did from the crib. If she got out, we didn't talk to her, just walked her back to her room and told her it was time to get up. We did this everytime, without making a big deal (even when you're frustrated beyond belief....) of it, and eventually after an hour of getting up every few minutes, she got tired of the "game" she wasn't getting the response she wanted, she was being placed back in the bed, without interaction and no more kisses, hugs, etc. It took two nap times and a bed time. My husband and I took turns so that we didn't have to endure the monotony on our own, and it showed her that no matter what she did, mommy and daddy were united on what they would do in response. (This has also worked with a later episode of being "scared" of her room). It's hard work, but it does pay off.

I have just been throught the exact same thing. My son is 2 1/2 and we are expecting our second child next week, so we needed the crib. We wanted to transition him before the baby comes. I too had more problems at naptime versus bedtime.

This is what we have done. First, we changed rooms, he has a new room with toys in it, but it is totally toddler proof. Second, there is a see though gate on his door, this way we now he can't get out. Third, I let him have a special toy that he could sleep with when it was naptime. I told him if he got out of bed the toy would have to go "bye bye"-it might sound mean to "threaten" to take it away his toy, but it works for the most part. Lastly, I would suggest to try to stick to the same basic bedtime routine and try to make his room as dark as possible. Good Luck!!!

I hope you have solved this problem by now. But if not....shortly before my son turned two I put him down for a nap. A few minutes later, I heard footsteps on the stairs. I panicked, positive someone had broken in. Nope, there was Sam. The crib came down that day. Once they can get themselves out of their crib, it's a safety issue. I was more willing to deal with this problem then with a broken neck.
I am a single mom so I can completely understand how hard it is to deal with on your own. The first few days were a joke. Basically...no nap. By night he was so tired he slept. For one thing, make sure he can't get out of his room and that it's completely safe in there. Sam occasionally still gets out of bed and I can hear his voice under the door...but he gives up, gets tired, and goes back to bed. A few times I've gone in there and walked him back to bed and sat for a few minutes. It's a little easier every day.

We also tried the transition party - letting him pick out his sheets / blanket (he's 5 now and he still talks about those sheets). The real battle here is that children do have to come to terms with their "power" to stay in (or get out) of bed. If the rest of his room is child safe, I would suggest a baby gate - he CAN choose to get out of bed, but he is limited in where he can go. If he's not able to go find a person - he might choose to go to bed on his own. Of course, it might help if his room is not full of toys or things to distract him with - otherwise, it will be too tempting to get up and get into something.

The other thing that we did was to play special music. If he got out of bed, the music went off - it was a priveledge for good bedtime behavior. by the time the music was off - he was usually asleep. Whatever routine you choose, just stick to it - otherwise he will try even harder to get you to break next time! Best of luck!

Well we didn't have a bit of trouble with Buggy. We found one of those Little Tyke beds that look like a VW Bug, I had first got it so he could play in but as soon as I got it together and was trying his matteress in there he crawled in and fell asleep. I first thought it to be just aq one time thing but for the past almost four months now he has been putting himself to bed. (He just turned 2 July 13th this year)

My other two when they where little we had to sit by their beds and do the reading thing and singing until they fell alseep, but not with Buggy.