Transitioning from the Crib - Newburgh,IN

I think I would start now to mostly close the door to his room when he goes to bed. If it's still open a crack and he can see the light- he can get used to the door being mostly closed....then when he is in a bed, he won't just be looking out at you and his daddy eating popcorn!

I left my kids in crib until they were 3 at least. If they were able to climb out, I would leave the side lowered and put a chair next to the crib so they wouldn't just be jumping out--but they knew when they were supposed to be in bed.

Just an idea...you don't have to go to a big bed that soon if you don't want to yet.

(My younger sister slept in a crib until she was 6--when we finally moved into a new house and had room for another bed!)

Hey J., I have a son who will be three next week and we transitioned him to a toddler bed about 6 months ago. We don't have his room close to the living room, like you do, however our transition to toddler bed went much better than I anticipated. I too worried like you about many things. We didn't do the gate, but we have always closed his door at night and so far have been lucky because he will call us in the morning when he wakes up to come out of his room. I do have a monitor set up in there so I can hear him if something does go wrong or he wakes up and needs me (which hasn't been the case at all) I was very blessed to receive an"Elmo" toddler bed set from my sister as a gift for him so what we did was put it on his new bed and decorated the room with those wall decals of Elmo. He was SO excited to sleep in his "Elmo bed" that truly it has been a challenge at times to get him out! I understand that it may not be that easy for you, but I thought it might make him a bit more excited. We also put up those "room darkening" curtains which work really well for him and have a rocking chair over the vent which still allows air up but keeps the vent out of sight for him. I hope you find a good solution for your little one! It may go easier than you think! Hang in there..

Totally know where you are coming from! My daughter actually started throwing fits about sleeping in her crib at 16 months, she just chose a random night and started FREAKING out at bedtime when I would put her in there! I was so baffled! Anyway, I gave it some thought and realized that maybe she was over the crib and she was ready for the switch before I was. (sigh) Anyway, I got rid of the crib the next day and left just her mattress on the floor so I could be sure that she wouldn't fall out of a higher bed. After a week or so she stayed on the thing all night long so we brought in the toddler bed and it has worked just fine. She is used to it now (shes almost 2.5) and at night I read a story to her, tuck her in, and I leave her door open until I check on her and shes asleep. Then I close it when I know she is in a deep enough sleep not to notice. (She still doesn't know how to open her door, so thats my peace of mind right now!) I usually wake before she does, or on occasion that she does wake up, she will call out to me and that wakes me. It works fine.
If you decide to do the crib mattress on the floor thing which I totally recommend to start off with, you may want to be in there to comfort him a little longer than usual if it seems like he needs it or whatever, its a bit of a change. Good luck, its not as horrifying as it seems like it will be. Its actually more of a change for you than it is for him. I would set up a baby monitor again if you are worried.

We transitioned our son at 20 months and I am happy to report, we had no problems at all. We had a convertible crib/bed so dad let him "help" make his bed and it has been a success ever since. Our son's room also opens into a hallway that you can see the living room from. We closed our son's door so we could enjoy walking around the house & relaxing after he went to bed. We had always closed the door because of this reason so it was no big deal. Now my son is 3.5 years old and occassionally we hear him up in his room, but not very often and he is normally getting his teddy that fell out of bed. Again, occassionally we have to go in there and tell him to go to sleep instead of playing with toys, but since we were always structured at bedtime he seems to still follow the same schedule and not get into mischeive. I also didn't mind shutting the door since I knew I could hear everyhting he was doing in there.

If you don't want to close the door, I would definitely stay out of sight. If he sees you guys relaxing he will be tempted to join you.

If he has been a good sleeper & transitioned to other things well, I don't think you have much to worry about. Good luck! The funny thing is I have been thinking about transitioning my second child to a big girl bed. We are going to be giving that a try this weekend. So you may be seeing a posting from me next week where I want to pull my hair out because it is not going so well. LOL

Regrading your concern about the floor vents: you can screw them into the floor. We had to do that. My husband just put one screw on each side.

L.

Personally, I'd skip the toddler bed and go to the twin bed. He's old enough that he probably wouldn't get much use out of a toddler bed anyway. Let him help pick out the sheets for his "big boy" bed. Make a BIG deal out of it. Get him all excited for his new bed. Then give him a timeline. Say "Ok! In TWO days you're going to sleep in your BIG BOY bed!!!" Make sure he understands that he's not to get out of bed, not that he's really going to do that, but let him know the expectation is there. Put him to bed just like you normally do. Don't alter his routine at all! I would close the bedroom door is he's able to hear and see sounds and lights from the living room. You wouldn't have to close it all the way, just enough to keep the majority of the light out. However, since he's always slept in that room, it may not distract him at all. I would also take all the toys out of his room, just until he can stay in his bed at night. Maybe keep some soft stuffed animals or a few books, but that's it. Make sure that the cord for the mini blinds is up high enough that he can't reach it. The cords can be dangerous. Chances are, if he's adjusted well to other transitions, this one will be easy as well. And if you're worried about him falling out of bed (and he will at least once) you can get bed rails for twin beds. We put the box spring and mattress directly on the floor for my dd. She transitioned at 2 and never had any problems. Good luck!!!! :)

Each child is different but we transitioned our now 24 month old son into the toddler bed at 18 months. We have one of the convertable cribs so the front comes off and it is a toddler bed. He has done wonderfully with it. There was a period where he started getting up at night so we put a gate at his door. Once he was used to staying in his room at night again we would take it down and he has stayed in bed all night. We have been fortunate that he seems to know it is night time and if he does get up he does not play with his toys. He may get up and cry at the gate a minute but then he will crawl right back into bed and go back to sleep. We will let him cry and wait for him to go back to bed and this has worked well for letting him know it is night time and he doesn't get to sleep with us or get up and play at night.

Good luck!

Don't transition him until he doesn't want to stay in the crib anymore. My son was almost 3 when we finally had to put him in a big boy bed (we needed the crib) & he was fine in his crib. You're worrying too much. :) As long as the miniblind strings aren't tied together & if your vent covers are screwed on, you'll be fine. He may have a few days of coming out, or playing with toys or just experimenting, but he'll get used to it - especially if he's a good sleeper.

Good luck.

He may just surprise you, J.. Our 34 month old was just switched to a big-boy bed and has responded wonderfully to the transition. He, too, has a speech delay but that obviously has not interfered with this event. I feared the worst, only to learn that he must think that there is an "invisible shield" keeping him in his bed! He has yet to get out of bed himself. So, I would probably child-proof his room as best you can and see how he responds. Giving him a little peace and quiet may also help him to fall asleep (that is so funny about the mental picture of you eating popcorn happily watching t.v.!)

Good luck, take a deep breath, and give your son the benefit of the doubt!!