Help Getting 2.5 Yr Old to Sleep in "Big Girl Bed"

If she wants to stay in her crib, let her. There are lots of battles to be had, and where she sleeps shouldn't be one of them if she is safe and comfortable. Do you need the crib for another baby or has she climbed out of it? If she hasn't climbed out of her crib and you don't need it, just let her stay. She might only be in it for a few more months before she decides to use her big girl bed. As for the potty training, that takes a while to get them dry throughout the night! My three year old still wets at night. I think it is around 4 when they start waking up dry consistently. Good luck with whatever you decide!

hi there, this isn't really advice, but more of some assurance... I childsat for one woman whose 4 year old daughter LOVED her crib, and was still in it even though she was longer than the crib was! I thought this was craz;y but the mom was ok with it. So, I don't know what that means but maybe it's a security item for some. Like giving up their final stage of being a baby- no more diapers, bottles, pacifiers, this is all she has left! Good luck and try and be patient. My 2 1/2 y'o son totally knows HOW to potty and has done so several times, he just doesn't WANT to. How frustrating is that?! I feel your pain. He loves his BBB though, he switched beds after his 2nd birthday and never looked back.

I'm not sure I understand why she needs to be out of the crib. She is comfortable there and sleeping through the night. You are getting a good nights sleep. If you force the issue, you may be trading it in for a sleeping mess. She'll let you know when she ready. I've never met anyone still in a crib at Kindergarten.

Are you wanting her in a BGB so she can get up and potty at night? Doubt that will happen for quite awhile. Perhaps another year or two. Nighttime dryness is a hard milestone to reach and most of the time it happens because the bladder can hold all night, most kids sleep too soundly to wake up.

This is what happened with us... :)

We were having a new baby so I felt I had to get him into a BBB :) as soon as possible. He was potty training some, was not able to climb out of the crib so I left the BBB bed all made (in the same room as the crib) and I'd offer both. Sometimes he wanted the BBB but after we'd gotten in there he'd cry for the crib. So, I'd put him to sleep in the crib. One day he just decided on his own to sleep in the BBB and has been sleeping there since, although he gets up in the night SEVERAL times. We never did take the crib down - his 9 month old brother is sleeping in it sharing the room!

Honestly, there are MANY nights when I wish I'd left him in the crib because it would be so much nicer to still be sleeping through most of the night! I think we sometimes try to rush them into being big boys/girls which can backfire :)! Good luck in your journey...

If you really want her in the bgb, get rid of the crib! My girls both have the convertible crb/toddler bed/full size beds, so they were still in their bed, it was just different. We just converted my 23 mo olds crib to toddler bed-she fell out the 1st night, but not since then-it took her about 2 weeks to stop waking every night (and she also had a cold-so that could have been the reason for the wake ups.) I have a friend whose daughter had trouble with the toddler bed-it had a rail about 1/2 way down one side and she would always sleep at the very top of the bed where the rail was-or she would get her blanket and pillow and sleep in her closet-once my friend even found her in her toy box (with lid closed!) very scary to go to your daughters room and her not be in the bed. Anyway-she just liked the security of being closed in a little more than her toddler bed gave her. She eventually grew out of it of course. That could be her issue and if so let her sleep in her crib a bit longer (unless she's climbing out.) God bless!

Ugh, usually the problem is in keeping them IN their cribs :} It might be a security issue - She feels more closed-in in her crib. The only thing I could suggest is either side rails or some type of canopy/curtain. Having the bed up against a side wall - if its not already - might help a little too. Good luck!

I recommend taking her crib apart and packing it up. If she sees her crib than obviously she willwant to sleep in it.

Get rid of the crib! If you want her to sleep in her big girl bed you are going to have to get rid of the crib. Put her in her big bed at nap time and leave the room. If she gets out - put her back (don't speak to her.) This could go on for quite a while and will probably happen at bedtime too. If you are worried about her wandering around at night - put a stair gate in front of her door. You are going to have to be firm and there will be tears, but you've got to stick to it. (This worked for me and the stairgate was removed after about 3 weeks - we did find the boys occassionally asleep by the stairgate.)

The biggest mistake you can make is laying down with her on the bed. She needs to learn to put herself to sleep. I had a friend who was still lying on the bed when her girls were 9 and 11. Only a stay in hospital with her having her tonsils removed broke the cycle.

Good luck!

I have three daughters and the transition to the BGB was different for each one. It took me a while to discover that the first one was afraid of the covers. She would get in bed happily and then when I would pull the covers up she would jump out of bed and insist on getting back in the baby bed. I guess, in her mind, it looked like a big mouth that was going to swallow her. We finally just put the fitted sheet and her baby blankets on the bed and gradually transitioned to the tucked in covers. The next child was supposed to share the full size bed with her sister. She refused. We got the toddler bed that my brothers used from my parents, painted it and she was thrilled to have her own bed that daddy painted. We finally discovered that the problem was that she didn't want to share space with anyone (she is the only child that never begs to sleep with us). The third child was easy. The only problem was that she discovered that she could now walk to our room and ask 1000 questions at bed time. We keep a gate in her room and tell her that if she continues to get out of bed, we will put it up. We've only used it twice. Good luck finding what "makes her tick!"
As for the potty training thing, don't be impatient for the night thing. My three year old and almost six year old transitioned from pull-ups at night during the same month. The older child is just a deeper sleeper. At night, she still sleep walks when she needs to go to the bathroom. We have to take her and guide her to the potty. She is so deep asleep that she cannot fully awaken and that is the ONLY time that she sleep walks. The first child was completely potty trained within weeks including nights. The second and third children let me know that it had nothing to do with my parenting and everything to do with their individual personalities.

Good morning - I know you young mothers hate to hear this but 2 years is too young to expect potty training to work well. Try to relax and let nature take it's course. At 3 they are able to communicate much better about that sort of thing. Diapers are a pain and Lord knows I wanted mine out as early as possible, buttttt LOL I did it with 9 kids - it will happen and all will be well. As for the bed issue? Remove the crib completely from her room. When she understands she has no options, she will accept her bgb. It sounds like a button pushing game is in play here hon - I know it seems almost insupportable to you now, but trust me, I never knew a child to start school un-potty trained or still sleeping in a crib. If you have her in a youth bed, you could try putting side rails on it and that might help her with the transition. Good luck.

She may be afraid she'll fall out of the bed. It's probably a long way to the floor, by 2 year old standards. Can you put one side against a wall, and put something along the other -- a chair, perhaps....