TTMA moving to a toddler bed

[pearbear]

Hi everyone - I hope you do not mind me jumping in here with a toddler question. 

DS is 2 (turns 3 in Sept) and I think it is finally time to move him to a toddler bed from his crib. Sob. Lately he throws everything out of the crib after we put him to bed then gets really ticked off. He either starts screaming bloody murder until we come in to pick it all up or he climbs out of the crib. So I am guessing it is time for the transition.

I am planning on taking the side of the crib off this weekend bc it converts into a little daybed thing. I plan to buy his next bed from Ikea, but have not been able to get there yet, so we need to use the crib for a while. I will use one of those bed rails for a while. I just have no idea how to make the transition. Should I start him in the new bed during his nap or at nighttime? Do I just let him roam his room if he gets out of the bed at night or do I need to keep going in to put him back to bed? We have a childproof door handle thing on the inside of his door already, so we will just keep that there so he can't escape his room.

Will this be as bad as I imagine? All tips are welcome! 

[cmb]

Baby proof the room and let him get out of bed. Some kids will lay in front of the door and sleep there. You may have a rough transition, but you may not. Don't be surprised if he bangs and tries to open the door for a while when you put him down- toddlers tend to want to exert the fact that they're independent and can do what they want (or they can in their minds, anyway)

[pearbear]

Ok, so basically just let him be though after we leave the room? I feel like I am sleep training all over again. Why can't kids just stay in crib forever?!

[malarkey]

May 26, 2017 6:35:23 GMT -6 pearbear said:

Ok, so basically just let him be though after we leave the room? I feel like I am sleep training all over again. Why can't kids just stay in crib forever?!

All kids are different obviously but for me I would go in if he's making a ton of noise or being disruptive, otherwise just let him be.
We transitioned straight to a twin bed when he started climbing out of his crib. It took a couple days but went better than I was expecting. FX it goes well for you.

[lucilleaustero]

With DD, we transitioned her straight to a twin bed when she was 2, no issues. With DS, we transitioned him to a toddler soon after turning two. No issues. My kids can be PITAs aboutmany things, this was not one of them. He does get up and play and what not, but we just leave that alone. His room is babyproofed (if the furniture is not tethered to the wall, now is the time to do it) and he is not bothering anyone.

[cmb]

May 26, 2017 6:35:23 GMT -6 pearbear said:

Ok, so basically just let him be though after we leave the room? I feel like I am sleep training all over again. Why can't kids just stay in crib forever?!

We caved on a video monitor once we transitioned.

Ours would run to the door and bang on it for a while/try to open it. If we went in, we would have to start all over. We had to accept that this was what he would do, and it was just a phase.

[Yogurt]

My almost 2 year old will get out of her bed immediately. I kept a pack n play set up in the room for the times when she doesn't fall asleep nursing. She can climb out, but usually doesn't. She screams until she falls asleep in the pack n play most times.
If she gets out and starts banging on the door I try to ignore it because the room is safe.

[cinnamon]

We transitioned DS to a twin bed on the floor when he was 18mo because we needed the crib for DD. His room was baby proofed and we put a gate in front of his door to keep him from wandering. It was really rough for a few nights, and then something clicked and he's been mostly fine ever since.

I would definitely recommend bedtime because it's too dark to play around much 😛

[silvermelody]

We did it around 2.5 because he started climbing out of the crib every day. It was honestly seamless because he could roam around already from climbing out. We don't open the door unless he's really upset or yelling about something easy to fix (one night he was missing his Daniel Tiger stuffy, for example)

His room has been childproofed for a long time. We did have to remove the monitor because he would have been able to reach it and unplug it

We made it a big deal with new Mickey sheets to celebrate. He went right down for nap in his new "Mouse bed!"

[grumpycat]

We did this tonight. DS naps in a cot at daycare so it's not totally new to him. So far, so good. He will be 2.5 in July.

ETA he slept through the night and didn't get out of his bed (as far as we know). He was sitting in bed waiting for us in the morning. We weren't home for naptime today so we will see tomorrow about that. I think he was ready. And sleeping on the cot at daycare set him up very well.

[ilovelamp]

DS started daycare right after 12 months and he started in the toddler room there and they nap on floor mats. I went ahead and moved him to a floor bed then and it went well for us. First we just used his crib mattress and then we bought him a twin size mattress not long after.
The advice you have been given is great. I would echo to make sure the room is baby proofed and he's got everything he needs like loveys and such and explain to him what is happening. Make it about him being such a big boy now he gets a big boy bed. Make it seem special and maybe even let him pick out his bedding.
My boy loved it when I got the twin bed and let him in the room to see it for the first time he was so excited and jumped into the bed and rolled all around.

[aaemommy]

We took everything out of his room except his anchored dresser, pbk anywhere chair, his bedtime books, and his stuffed animal. It was rough the first few nights, and he emptied his dresser several times. But overall it didn't take long and he learned that just because he could roam his room didn't mean he should. We have a well established bedtime routine and he goes down pretty easily.

[Sparkly]

DD1 got a new bed and a new room for her 3rd birthday (we moved the baby into the nursery).

She took her last nap in the crib that day, I think, and then I put her to bed in her new bed that night. It was like nothing changed. I made sure to do our same routine and only occasionally has she ever been difficult with the stalling or the getting up to play with her toys. I explained to her she was going to sleep there now and asked if it was okay, and she said yes. So there you go. Her sound machine and Frozen night light came too, so that was comforting for her.

We also didn't have much in there right away. Just her dresser, nightstand, a few books, dolls, and stuffed animals (most of which became bedmates). Now there's more in there but we wanted to minimize distractions as much as possible in the beginning.

[letthewookieewin]

We switched a few weeks ago (DS will be 3 in August). We tried converting the crib for our first attempt and that didn't go so well, but he's done really well with a twin mattress. DH brought it into his room on a Monday with the idea that we'd try it out over the next weekend, but DS ended up deciding entirely on his own by that Tuesday that he wanted the bed instead. There haven't been any MOTN shenanigans yet that I know of, although I'm assuming that will change as he gets older.

He doesn't have much in his room right now just in case he does decide to play around instead of sleep and he hasn't figured out how to open his door from the inside because we live in an old house with weird door handles, but we do keep the baby gate at the top of the stairs closed when he's sleeping just in case he figures it out one night (our bedrooms are on the second floor).

I think I have a unicorn child though, so YMMV. Good luck!