My son will be 22 months when his new sister is born. He is 17 months now. We do not know at this point if we should prepare to have both children in cribs, or have our son move to a big boy bed. He sleeps on a cot great at daycare for naps.
Also, we have three bedrooms; ours and our son's in upstairs and we were considering making the downstairs the nursery... any thoughts or suggestions... our other idea was having the two kids share a room for a while. We certainly do not want to take my son's room away and the downstairs room is too small for my husband and i.
Until they are older I would keep them in the same room do you really want to be walking down stairs several times at night?
If you are going to move your son to a toddler bed, I would do it immediately, or wait until well after the baby is born. You don't want him to associate the change with the arrival of the baby. I, personally, would keep him in the crib as long as possible, if he's not trying to climb out yet. I worry that even if he takes to a toddler bed well at first, once the baby comes he will start getting up at night, and there won't be anything to stop him.
I also wouldn't have them share a room yet, because your toddler would be awake whenever the baby is, which will be half the night at first! I think having the baby in the downstairs room, with a monitor in there, is a good idea. I think it will also keep your toddler feeling close to you by staying in the upstairs room- the baby will be too young to notice.
Good luck, and congrats on the new baby!
HI C.,
My suggestion is to keep the boy in his crib for about as long as you can. Put the kids in the same bedroom for nighttime sleeping but perhaps different ones for naps.Little childdren really use these times to bond and build relationship. It is a special time. These ideas give you more control. If you put him in a twin it causes a lot of frustration and discipline interaction with him getting out of the bed. I would not suggest the baby sleep away from you on the first floor.
Good luck and enjoy them!
Clare Willis
Protecting Families from Household Toxins
www.LiveTotalWellness.com/Arizona
I just went thru a similar situation and it went surprisingly smooth. My girls are 15 mos apart (now 22 mos & 7 mos). We bought my older daughter a twin bed (with a 4 inch lower frame) w/ a side rail. We transitioned her to the bed about 2 months ago. The first week or so was a little crazy with her getting out of the bed. She would play w/ whatever toys were in there or bang on her door. I ended up taking all the toys out of the room and she ended up realizing I wasn't coming up every time she banged on the door. She picked out a new Dora blanket for her to sleep with in her big girl bed. I couldn't believe how well this all went. Next, we moved the baby into the room with her big sister last week. I was so scared to do this. She slept in my room until she started sleeping thru the night most of the time. Anyway, the first night the two girls cried on and off for about 45 mins. I went in a few times to comfort both of them. That first night they both slept thru the night. And the next night, it only took 10 minutes for them to fall asleep. Most nights since then, they've pretty much fallen right to sleep. The baby has woken a few times in the middle of the night but it has not (thank goodness and knock on wood) woken up my older daughter. I gave the baby her binky, rubbed her back and she went back to sleep. I think they like sharing the room. My oldest tells me she does anyway. I am sorry for the lengthy note but wanted to share my experience because it all seemed so overwhelming to me. I have to give the little ones credit, they tend to take things in stride. Good Luck!
When we moved our daughter from a crib to the bed we put her crib mattress on her floor for a few weeks then started to put her in the bed at nap time then bed. We have bed rails on booth sides and one side touching the wall. She loves her bed . Good luck wit the new one and him.
My daughter was 17months when I had her sister. She was already prepared because at about 1yrs old we switched her to a toddler bed and kept the crib up in her room which they both share. It took about a month of her on and off wanting to go in the crib and then she just stopped and stayed in the bed. I put a gate on her door so she couldn't get out in the night by herself. Then we talked up her big girl bed and her new sister would share a room with her and sleep in the baby crib. She was ready for her baby sister to come and wanted to share with her. Good luck!
Hi C.,
Congratulations for the new baby!
We were in the same situation just months ago.
We transitionned our son to a toddler bed and a new bedroom when he was 19 months old, when coming back from Christams holidays in the family. He loved his new big bed (with rails on each side and against the wall), especially for the sheets with funny animals on it. He also loves his new bedroom. He helped decorating it (we are renting and can't make big changes, so we just used repositionable stickers on the walls, with animals). Then, during nearly 4 months, he didn't enter his "old" bedroom again. He never asked for the crib again or his old room again.
His baby sister was born 5 weeks ago, when he was just 23 months. After all that time (4 months since January), and the change of bedding and decoration (we went basically from blue to pink theme), he doesn't even seem to remember that it was once HIS crib and HIS bedroom.
During these last months, we had no problem at nap time or night waking at all. But, he is in general an obedient little boy. Also, he doesn't have much toys there, only books and stuffed animals. His toys are kept downstairs, where he is with me during the day (I work from home).
Since his baby sister is home, he is very good with her. Their bedrooms are very close to each other and the 2 first nights, he woke up when she cried. But he doesn't anymore.
As for your daughter, I wouldn't have her downstairs at night, at least at the beginning when you have to get up several times a night for feedings. The closer the better.
From my experience (my daugther was 22 mo when my son was born, almost a year ago), keep your toddler in a crib until well after the baby is born. We used a bassinette for the first few months with my son, so even though we put my daughter in a toddler bed, we didn't use the crib for a while. After moving her to a toddler bed, nap time became a nightmare. Maybe it would have anyway. She just has too much freedom in her room. We had to remove all other furniture (she climbed up the bureau and it fell down on top of her) and toys, and superduper childproff the outlets and lamps. And she still manages to play through nap time.
We also attempted a room share, but it made my daughter's agression toward my son much worse (or so I believe). She kept him up during naps and also at bedtime for an extra hour or more. Having the nursury downstairs will present its own problems too, so good luck making the decision! We still have our son in our bedroom.
