Well, my little girl is now a big girl. I had planned to keep Raylee in her crib for as long as possible. She was doing great with sleeping in it and never tried getting out. Why mess with something that’s working, right? Well, we did it. The toddler bed transition ended up happening, a lot sooner than I had expected too.
Once we found out we were having another girl, I decided I wanted the white crib for the new baby. Travis was already itching to get Raylee moved to a big girl bed since he does the bedtime routine and wanted to be able to lay down and cuddle with her before saying “night night.” I have also been struggling with laying her down in her crib now that my belly is expanding. It makes it hard to lean over the rails! Knowing Raylee would have such big transitions ahead with a new baby and even potty training coming soon, we decided to go ahead and do the toddler bed transition now.
Our Toddler Bed Transition Process
We began by reading all of Susie’s tips and tricks from her post Are You Terrified Of the Crib to Bed Transition? over at Busy Toddler. She shares some amazing insight, so be sure to go read those tips! I also reached out to a friend who has a daughter older than Raylee and another the same age as Raylee. I asked her for pointers too.
Once we knew we were going for it, we looked over Raylee’s room and started moving out anything that could hurt her or distract her too much from sleep. I moved a box of toys from the top shelf to the bottom, because she struggles to pull it down and it could fall on top of her. We moved a table out that could also have fallen over on her if she messed with it. She can get into all of her drawers now, so I went through them and took out anything she shouldn’t be messing with.
Next, we bought the bed. We looked at a few different ones and were careful to read the reviews. When I saw this one, I read a review that said the mom was able to lay down with her child in the bed and the bed didn’t break! That was a big plus for us since Travis was hoping to lay with her some before bed. When the bed arrived, we let Raylee “help” put it together with her play tool set. We also made sure to make a big deal about how awesome and exciting it was that she was now a big girl and got her own new bed.
That day, we added a door knob safety cover so she wouldn’t be able to get out of the room by herself anymore. That might seem strange, but we do not need a 2-year-old roaming our entire house in the middle of the night. This ensures she stays in her bedroom where we know it’s safe.
The First Week’s Progress
Day 1: We put the bed together in her room, letting her help, and being really happy and excited about it. We wanted this to just be introduction day. We let her get on it and pretend sleep, play on it, etc. We also had to teach her right away not to jump on it! We didn’t do any actual sleeping on the bed this day.
Day 2: We started with nap time. She did not nap that day. She mostly stayed in the bed, but just never fell asleep. That night, though, she fell asleep almost immediately. She stayed in the bed all night and slept great.
Day 3: She actually napped in the toddler bed! I was shocked because I hadn’t expected her to nap right away. She had a great nap that day, and that night she even fell asleep quickly. She did end up on the floor in the middle of the night. But she didn’t cry or anything.
Day 4: She did not nap and really began exploring her room. That night, though, she fell asleep very fast and stayed in her bed all night.
Day 5: Once again, she did not nap. This time she explored even more, moving the curtains so she could look out the window and trying to escape through the door. That night, she slept great. She did end up on the floor in the middle of the night, but by morning she had moved herself back to her bed.
Day 6: No nap. She played a lot for the first hour of nap time. During the second hour, she mostly sat or laid in her bed babbling. That night we removed her crib from her room. We made another big deal about how exciting it was and how she was such a big girl. She hugged and kissed her crib and then said “bye bye” as we moved it to another room. That night, she fell asleep quickly and stayed in the bed all night.
At this point, we were traveling out of town. I was worried about what to do when traveling, but decided to just keep using a pack n play for now. She did as well as she usually does in a pack n play while we were away.
When we got back home, she sticked to her routine of not napping but sleeping great at night. We were traveling again that weekend, so back to the pack n play she went. Perhaps she’s done napping forever, perhaps its just a phase and she’ll get back to it. I don’t necessarily think the toddler bed transition is the cause of her not napping anymore, but who knows. Time will tell.
Update: She did nap again one day after we got back from our weekend trip. So maybe she will get back to napping?
Check out this toddler pillow we got for her! It even comes with it’s own pillow case, and it’s the perfect size!
Do you have other tips for the toddler bed transition? Any questions? Is there anything else related to toddlers or babies that you’d like to see me write about?
Check out some of my other toddler posts!