What is the easiest way to transition my 2 year old into a toddler bed??? He is trying to climb out of his crib. Also any safety advice to get his room ready.

By Amecmom on Friday, April 30, 2004 - 02:36 pm:

If he's not ready for a toddler bed yet (or you're not ready for him to be in one), there's a net that can go over the top of the crib to keep him in. One Step Beyond had it. I don't know what it's called, but it looks really neat.
Mine hasn't started tying to get out yet, but when he does, I think I'll get it. I'm not ready for him to be able to get in and out of bed on his own yet.
Ame

By Cat on Friday, April 30, 2004 - 03:02 pm:

Crawl around his room to check for safety. Make sure his dresser or any other funiture can NOT tip over on him. Anchor it to the wall if you need to (Right Start and One Step Ahead both sell anchors). Cover all outlets if you haven't already. Take all diapering accesories (creams, powders, those little plastic diaper bags, etc) out of his room. Basically make it safe for him to be in there alone if he wakes up in the middle of the night. We moved Robin to a toddler bed when he was 11 months old because he WAS climbing out of his crib. It was so funny. We bought a toddler daybed (metal tubes on three sides with canvas sides--each side had pockets for toys, books whatever) and turned it so the open side was against the wall so he wouldn't fall out of bed (the whole 1 foot drop! lol). That little monkey had NO problem climbing out of his crib, but I kid you not it took him 3 DAYS to figure out how to get out of that toddler bed! rofl We put a gate in his doorway (although I don't know why--he could climb that, too!) and the house we were in at the time had all the bedrooms down one hall with a door seperating that hall from the rest of the house (kitchen, dining room, living room, outside doors and door to the basement). We'd keep that door closed at night with a door knob cover on it, along with a door knob cover on the bathroom door. Fortunatly, I'm a light sleeper and he never got very far. Our room was right next to his, also.

Your ds is probably old enough to understand moving to a big boy bed. If you don't already have one you could let him help pick one out. You can make this a real celebration of him getting bigger. I've heard of people keeping the crib in the room for the first few nights to help with the transition. I'm not sure I'd do that or not. Other's might be able to help you there. Our youngest was in a toddler bed by a year (we moved overseas and didn't take the crib with us). He never liked his crib. He's one of those people that flops all over while sleeping and he'd hit the bars of the crib and wake himself up. He did much better in the toddler bed and was in a twin bed by 2yrs (both boys were).

Good luck!

By Bobbie on Friday, April 30, 2004 - 09:10 pm:

Make the room kid safe like Cat suggested. And don't be surprised if you find him on the floor sleeping. My niece did that at first, a lot. My sister would try to pick her up and put her in the bed. Which would wake her up. I told her why bother? Sleeping on the floor every now and then never hurt anyone, so she started just taking a blanket and covering her up where she laid. Now she prefers the bed over the floor. LOL And she will be 2 in September by the way. She was moved because she was a climber too.

And I personally suggest you remove the crib. It is my experience that if it is in the room the child tends to want to sleep in it. If it is out there isn't that option and the adjust quicker. If it becomes a major issue you could always put it back up.

And most children go through a couple of rough nights at first. Adjusting to change is hard on kids. But in no time he will be loving the space a big boy bed gives him.....

By Bobbie on Friday, April 30, 2004 - 09:15 pm:

The dresser is a key safety issue. IF you can't anchor it to the way then put it in the closet or take it out of the room. DH pulled a fully loaded dresser on himself. They aren't built for climbing on. BIL anchored my nieces.. Good thing too my sister has had to pick up the things off the floor that had been on it to many times and if that dresser hadn't been anchored lord knows what would have happened. And another thing. IF you have low windows. Do not leave them open while the child is in there sleeping. My sisters windows are low but she has the new ones that you can open from the top or bottom so she opens it from the top. Children push through screens all the time, very big hazard that many don't think about.

By Dawnk777 on Saturday, May 1, 2004 - 11:36 am:

My kids went from a crib to a bed from one night to the next and had no trouble! I didn't leave the crib in the room. With my younger one, leaving the crib in there wasn't an option. There wasn't enough room, since she shared the room with her sister.

By Melana on Sunday, May 2, 2004 - 11:21 am:

If you don't think he's ready, do what friend of mine did, she made extra holes in the legs of the crib, so now her DS's matress is only about 4 in from the floor, and he can't climb out, just drill more holes with the screws you already have for the crib so they'll be the right size.

By Andi on Monday, May 3, 2004 - 09:26 pm:

We did crib to Twin size bed when our son was just over 2. We set it up over the weekend so he started with a nap and had a really hard time with it. After about an hour of laying in bed with him and laying on his floor he feel asleep. That night was the same routine. The next day I made sure his room was safe and I put a baby gate up and sure enough he cried and banged on the gate for me to open it but after about 30 minutes he craweled into his bed and went to sleep. I think we only had a couple days like that then he was just fine. Now he's almost 31/2 and sometimes he tries to sleep with us at night and all I have to say is "You need to sleep in your bed or Mommy will have to put the baby gate up" and off he goes into his bed no problem.

By Momtooneson on Wednesday, May 5, 2004 - 02:14 pm:

Has anyone had their child drop their afternoon nap early because of moving to the toddler bed?

By Emily7 on Wednesday, May 5, 2004 - 03:25 pm:

We just moved ds into a toddler bed last night. He decided to crawl out of his crib at nap time. So far so good. I am going to put him in bed every nap time & hopefully he will take one.