My little man isn’t so little anymore. He’s 2, he’s long, and I feel like I should be checking for armpit hair. As big as he’s getting and as mature as he continues to grow daily, there are some things I’m just not ready for… transitioning Lincoln from his crib to a toddler bed.
The hubs has been ready for several months claiming he’s “ready for Lincoln to be in his big boy bed.” My reaction of course, “What?” “Why?” “No, he’s fine.” “Let’s wait until he’s closer to 3.” And then of course I had this conversation with Vanessa just a couple of weeks ago too. She was asking when we would transition Lincoln… my response of course, “Why?” “No, he’s fine.” “I’ll wait until he’s closer to 3.” Vanessa wouldn’t be Vanessa if she wasn’t boisterous with her opinions so her response went something like this: “Ummmm, because it’s good for his development and it’s the next natural step.” So all this talk got me wondering, when is the right time to move your tot into a big kid bed?
Every kiddo is different, of course, but Baby Center recommends anywhere from 1 ½ years to 3 ½ years tending to lean closer to the 3 year mark. Lincoln JUST turned 2 years old 5 minutes ago so I feel extremely confident in my argument that we should wait. Lincoln hasn’t figured out how to turn our door knobs, but it’s just a matter of time. And he still wakes up in the middle of the night and lifts his head, looks around, turns around, flips, flops, and wiggles before getting comfy again and going back to sleep. Door knobs + wild sleeper = I can only imagine without the crib where he’d end up. I’d probably find him curled up in the pantry in the mornings. Bottom line, he’s just not ready. Okay okay okay, he’s not ready AND Mama isn’t ready.
But not every child is Lincoln and some kiddos are ready.
How to Know When Your Child is Ready
- When your child is simply too big for the crib- You could have given birth to a future NBA player and by 2 years old your child is just too big for the crib. It’s probably a good time to transition. And a toddler bed probably won’t do the trick. You may want to consider a twin or a double size bed.
- When your child becomes a wild sleeper getting stuck in the crib, bumping their head, or just seems uncomfortable in the crib- I have a friend who fits into this category and had to transition her 1 year old to a queen size mattress set up on the floor, which I thought was a brilliant idea not having to deal with guardrails.
- When your child attempts and succeeds at climbing out of the crib- At a certain point your little one will start to feel confined by being in the crib. In MY opinion, this would show maturity on your child’s behalf that they are “ready” for a big kid bed.
- Preparing for the arrival of a new baby- It’s never a good idea to give your older child the boot out of the crib simply because you are preparing for a new one, but it can be a good excuse as well. Experts suggest transitioning either a couple of months before the new baby has made his arrival or 2-3 months after. Anything in between and you might be causing resentment towards the new baby.
- In my case, when Daddy says your child is “ready”- Sometimes Daddy wins and you just have to go with the flow. Historically speaking, when my husband and I disagree but go with his theory anyway, I somehow always end up coming out on top when his idea is proved wrong. So maybe we will try this big kid bed out after all and see how it goes… my guess is that Daddy will realize after a night or two that possibly Mommy was correct. 🙂
When did you transition your child from a crib to the Big Boy or Girl Bed? And tips for us transitioning parents?
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I can’t remember why we transitioned Caroline. I know it had something to do with her waking up because she kept getting stuck. She’s just a bad sleeper in general and we were desperate.
We had to transition our oldest 2 boys the month before they turned 2 because they both climbed out of their cribs…one resulting in a very scary trip to the ER. The scariest of our ER trips {oh the life with boys}. The transition was not easy, it was a lot of work…work that neither of us really desired to do when we were exhausted as well. It probably just boils down to us being a tad bit lazy, but we look forward to when our kids go to bed, because that is hubby and wife time…the only time we get together alone. We just wanted to watch tv, chat, or get it on without the possibility of a small one walking in!
However, it was a stage that, luckily for us, passed quickly. It was harder with the first babe, little brother did better because he had a big brother.
Porter is still in his crib and he turned 3 in June…I am loving it because he hasn’t tried to climb out once. He LOVES his crib. He is also a great sleeper though, and will fall asleep in our bed or his brothers beds and not get up once.
When you transition him it could be a nightmare for a while, or he could surprise you and it be easy peasy, you just never know. I will lean on the fact that in this case the mama is probably right 😉 My husband would say the same thing…he warns all of his friends new to parenthood “Never argue with a mama…they are always right”…he’s smart LOL
DON’T DO IT!!! Wait until he climbs out. Trent climbed out the month after he turned 2, and it was a nightmare. He would spend hours getting out of his bed every night. We eventually had to turn the lock on the outside of the door and lock him in resulting in him crying for a LONG time. Yes, he climbed out so his crib wasn’t safe, but he wasn’t ready, so it was awful. I have friends who transitioned around the same time with no problems, but I would still wait until you needed to!
I laughed at the above photo because that’s exactly how Lucy looks when she wakes up. She’s not too big for her crib but she learned how to do the same “sprawl” that our 90-lb Lab does on our bed. We plan on transitioning her once we’re in our new house. May as well change everything at once, right? I’ll let you know how it goes!
Before our move I read a lot saying that you shouldn’t make big changes during that time (new bed, new decor, etc.) because they will be looking for comfort and familiarity in their new place. Not sure if that applies with your LO at all, but we definitely kept V’s new room looking just like her old room and she seems to be settling in great. Just food for thought. Good luck to y’all!
I go with the Love & Logic approach of asking questions. “Do you want to sleep in your crib or do you want to sleep in your new race car bed?!” He went with the new bed and it worked great! Sure, there were times when he wouldn’t stay in his room. So .. “do you want your door opened or closed?” If he stays in his bed, his door can stay partly open. If he comes out, you close the door. Crying nights are rough but he got the point. Now he’ll come in to sleep with us rarely in the middle of the night – usually around 630am he comes in and either goes back to sleep with mommy or we watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse in bed to wake up. 🙂 Best of luck!