Moving Baby out of the Crib

For the third morning in a row you have awoke to a loud thump coming from your toddler’s room.  Once more he has climbed over the rails and escaped the confines of his crib.  Before he hurts himself seriously, you need to consider that it is now time for a big kid’s bed.  You may find yourself hesitating; you wonder how he will adjust, or for that matter, how you will.  The following are some tips to make the transition easier for both of you.

1. Consider a Toddler Bed

These are smaller beds designed with younger children in mind.  They often come with a bed rail to keep the little ones from falling out and you can find them in comforting themes that your children love like Dora the Explorer and Thomas the Train.  In addition, many cribs transition into toddler beds.  The plusses are: you can use the same mattress as the crib, they are still small and less drastic a change for you child, they tend to be less expensive and they are lower to the ground.  The minuses are:  your child will outgrow the bed in a year or two, they are not usually rated over 80lbs so you cannot sit on your child’s bed to read a story and bedding for them is expensive and can be difficult to find.

2. Prepare Your Child for His New Bed

A few days prior to introducing it, get your child excited about it.  Say things like “three more sleeps until your big girl bed” and “you are so lucky you are getting a big girl bed”.  The day you will be replacing the bed, have a big girl day, doing lots of fun things like going to the park and baking cookies and top it off with going to sleep in her brand new bed.

3. Let Your Child Participate

Let him have a say in the new bedding or let him help put it together.  He will be a lot more committed to going to sleep in his new bed if he helped in getting it together.

4. Make it Fun

Let her jump on the bed a few minutes before tucking her in.  Always make sure you read a story or two in the new bed every night.  Make going to bed in the new bed a happy and pleasant experience.

5. Don’t  Ignore Your Child’s Fears

Moving to a big bed can be very scary for your young child.  He may wake up in the night disoriented and afraid without the security of being in a crib.  Now is not the time to let him cry it out.  Go to him and if necessary, stay until he falls back asleep.  If you let him cry, he will associate fear with the new bed and you will have a major problems getting him to go to bed at all.

This is such a big step for both toddlers and parents but it is just one of the many giant leaps we all take with our children.  So relax, enjoy the journey and be grateful you are not ready for the article on “Tips for Teaching Your Teenager to Drive.”