Moving Almost 2 Yr Old to "Big Boy" Bed. Did I Forget Anything?

Two months before my sons 3rd birthday I thought he was ready for his own bed and made the transition to a little boy bed. Before I made the switch he took his naps at home on the weekends like clock work. Down around noon and up around 2 or 2:30. He goes to a daycare preschool and it didn't effect him taking his naps there but it effected him napping at home. I went from having him nap on the weekends to getting up and having the freedom to move around his room instead of napping. It has been three months and its rare that he actually falls asleep now. I wish that I would have kept him in his crib until he got a little older. He never attempted to climb out but I think I should have waited. He knows that there are rules while he naps like not getting up, playing with his toys, etc. It just hasn't been the same and he gets over tired when he doesn't take his nap.

You may or may not have a problem with his naps like I did. It is something to think about. My son did have his nights of falling out of his bed and waking himself up. For the first few weeks I laid a pillow next to his bed just in case.

good luck

M.

Im a single mom and work full-time with an amazing little 3 yr old boy.

Hi E. :). I don't know what kind of door knob locks you have but if they are the turn locks I'd consider replacing them with the push button locks. You can use a mini screwdriver for glasses to unlock it from the outside for the bedroom and bathroom-proactive instead of reactive :) just in case.
If you get worried he'll pick up on it and won't want to adjust.
:) Have a great day
K.

Hi E.,
(Congrats on the upcoming baby!)

I moved my 1st into his "big boy" just before his second birthday.

Instead of putting the mattress right up against the wall, may I suggest having it 18 or more inches away from the wall. A squirmy toddler may easily wedge his way between mattress and wall and get squished. ( He probably won't get hurt (and likely not even wake up) if he rolls off a single mattress, lol!)

I also had to teach him he was not allowed to get out of bed without permission. If you already set boundaries with your sweetie, it should not take long to get the idea across (a week for us, plus reminders at nap times off and on for a few months).

Good luck!
T

I have 2 boys (3 & 6) that share a room. They each moved to a twin bed around 2 1/2. They both have fairly flat pillows which they fall asleep on, but spend most of the night flat on the bed. For about 6 mo. I tucked another neck roll pillow under the bottom sheet so that they couldn't roll out easily. I have never gated their room. If they wake up in the night, they automatically come to our bedroom. We leave a nightlight on in their room, the door open, and the porch light illuminates the route to our room. It has never been an issue. Big boy beds are fun at our house, because they are allowed to jump on their own beds. Woohoo! Don't worry, you have mom ears and will probably wake up to his every sound and be at his door before he does.

We moved my son to a big boy bed at 14 months and he has done great. He is now 2. We put him to bed and put a gate up at the door. He would sometimes come to the door and talk to us or play in his room for a little bit which was fine with us and after a few mins he would climb into be and afall asleep by him self. I know it is not always this easy but it did work for us. The other thing you can do is to sit in his room while he is trying to go to sleep and kindly remind him if he tries to get up that it is bed time. Each night move a little closer to the door until finally he will go to bed on his own. Good luck.

I would put up a gate in his doorway, especially if you have stairs in your house. We were afraid our daughter might fall down the stairs if she were half asleep walking around. A pillow would be fine at that age. Maybe have him help you make the bed to get it all ready and put one of his stuffed animails on there too.

I moved my son into his big boy bed AND big boy room just like you are planning to do. My son turned 2 the same month the baby was born. I started transitioning him a couple months before the new baby came. We set up his twin sized bed in his new room.

We would play in his "new big boy room" and just hang out in there. After doing this for several days, we had him take his nap in the big boy bed but sleep at night in his crib. We made it like a fun treat to sleep in his big boy room. We had him do this until he started doing a good job sleeping in his new room (I don't remember how long it took). Then moving him to his big boy room full time was a smooth transition.

We put the bed in the corner and put rails on the two open sides. We put a baby proof handle on the door knob to keep him safe. He slept on the floor by the door several times but ended up discovering that the bed was more comfortable.

Good luck and feel free to write me if you have more questions!

A gate is a must!! We gated our boy in, until he learned to climb over the gate. You also may want a night light, and a cd player to play soothing music. It will help keep them asleep. If you keep toys in the room, you may want to have them in a closed container (toy chest, drawer, etc), to deter playing with at night.

Just another suggestion on the locks if you don't want to have to replace the door knob (because of the type of lock it is) you could always just flip the door knob so the lock is facing out into the hallway. This way you know he won't lock himself in. We learned the hard way for that one.

Hi E., I moved my daughter into a full size bed when she was 16 months to get ready for the new baby (born when she turned 22 months). I don't know when you're due but I would suggest you do it months before the baby is born so he doesn't feel like he's being kicked out of his crib. A baby gate at the door is a must. Also, instead of putting the bed on the floor we set it up like a platform bed (my husband made one with some floor underlayment and set it up on the frame). Oh yeah, we also had bed rails on each side and at the end and foam puzzle pieces covering the floor because we had tile flooring.

Good luck in this transition!

Too many changes at once are hard for little ones. Maybe you should first put him in the crib in the big boy room, then after a couple of weeks of sleeping well in there, then give him the big boy bed, but keep the pillow and any blankets he had in the crib. A little at a time, add a bigger blanket, pillow, frame under the bed. AFTER he is comfortable with one change, then you can add another. If you are worried about him getting up at night, you can put a "hard to open" plastic over the doorknob inside his room (if you close it at night) or on your doorknob if you leave his open. Good luck!