Tips On Transitioning To A Toddler Bed

It has officially happened! The day I never seen coming has came! Mr is in a big boys bed!

When you bring your baby home from the hospital, the last thing you ever think of is them ever being big enough for a big boys bed. When we got home from the hospital, Mr went directly into his crib in his own room. So for 2.5 years, he has slept on his own, in his crib. For the most part (other than damn teething!) he’s been a pretty good sleeper. Back in March when we all got the flu & he started sleeping non stop in our bed. It started this vicious cycle of him wanting nothing to do with his bedroom. Yes cuddling is amazing, yes I loved sleeping together, but also, yes I need some time to myself! Being home with him all day everyday and then going to bed with him as well, was not really what I had pictured. So since he loved our bed so much, we figured it was time to switch his Jonesport Convertible Crib  to the next stage!

This is when all the nightmares started happening, I started panicking and freaking out. He is just going to get out of his bed and come in our room now! He will never stay in his bed when he knows he can just get out! This is going to be a hardswitch & sleep is going to be rough for a long time. Wow was I ever wrong! Yes, night 1 was not fun, but really, it was way better than it could have been. He cried for 2.5 hours before he went to sleep, got out of bed once, but then slept until the morning and everything was fine. It’s been almost 3 months since the change and only a few times at the beginning he ended up in our bed. He sleeps a full 12 hours almost every night, & it’s just been amazing on the whole family! Aka me because we all know hubby sleeps amazing every night hahaha

Now for the tips & tricks we did to make this all happen:

Tip #1 – Switch the bed in the morning to let them have the day to explore it. The day we took the side off the crib & put the Toddler Guard Rail on. We played in his room a lot that day. Sat with him, let him explore his new bed before just throwing him in at night not knowing what is happening. He had a lot of fun during the day with it & I really think this helped a lot since he now liked his bed again & wanted to be in it.

Tip #2 – New Blankets! I got out some from when he was a baby that we rarely used so he thought they were new haha & got a duvet from Ikea. He was loving these blankets and wanted to be tucked in at night under them. Which is the thing that really blew my mind. In his crib he would play sometimes for 2+ hours before going to sleep. Jumping around, being crazy, all over the place, every which way. Go to a regular bed with pillows & blankets, he wants tucked in and stays in the sleeping position, with his head on the pillow every night!! Also has been falling asleep within 5-10 minutes now too.

Tip #3 – Bribe them! Now for the bribing trick. First thing he wanted his paw patrol toys, so no problem, he got them. Then he asked for water & cheerio’s. Which uhh I didn’t want to do at all since we had been night potty training him, but I was willing to push that to the side for a bit longer. Also we brush his teeth every night before bed & now I’m thinking about giving him water and food?! But I needed to look past those things, & at the bigger picture. Our main goal was to have him in his own bed, & sleeping through the night. So if this is what was going to make it happen, I’ll pick my battles, and once he’s fine staying in bed I’ll take those things away. Since he wasn’t getting out of bed and everything was going quite smoothly, the cheerios & water have already been taken away.

Tip #4 – Be easy on them. Sometimes this is hard to do when you are frustrated, and even harder when you are short on sleep. This transition should be good for everyone and doing whatever it takes to make it good for them is all that matters. Have fun with it, do what you need to do, and enjoy every moment with your littles. 

Well thats all everyone! It was a relatively easy transition for us & he was clearly just ready for it. I hope this helps someone out! & yes I take many pictures of him sleeping LOL

Have you transitioned your child into a toddler bed yet? How did it go? Tell me in the comments! ↓↓↓

Lots of Love ♥

Kaitlyn Xo