My DD just got her big girl bed yesterday and it is all set up and ready for her to use.
We tried it out during nap time...which failed.
She just sat in her bed and played, jumped around, moved to her crib played on the crib and moved back to her bed and played some more.
We left her crib in there to help her transition - we are unsure to go cold turkey on the crib. We were trying bed for nap time and crib for bed time.
What do you suggest.
Well...everyone was right about removing the crib all together.
Once i did that i told her it was night night time and she went and jumped in her new bed and covered up.
She never once got out of bed! This has been for two nights now and no problems...
Nap time we will see since she took a nap at school and not at home yesterday. I hope it goes well today.
Cold turkey was the way to go!
We had to remove the crib from our daughters room when we transitioned to a big girl bed. Once the crib was out, it was much easier to handle. Then when she wouldn't stay in her bed we used the Super Nanny technique which worked miracles.
Good luck!
Is there a rush? Is she too big to sleep comfortably in the crib? I have nothing to base this on but a gut feeling but I like the transition. Prepare your child that the crib will be going soon. Talk about it and how exciting the big girl bed is, etc... In a few days take the crib away.
We kept a port a crib handy so that if my son did not stay in bed then we moved him to the port a crib (which he much preferred his new bed). When my daughter transitioned I waited for her to get up and I set her back in her bed (it only took a couple of times for the first week). We still let our kids have a toy/book in their bed. We can't force our children to sleep, so sometimes we have quite time instead.
I switched my kids early (15 mo) which means they were less objectionable to...everything : )
Good luke!
I was going to say cold turkey, but with the special needs you listed, that might not be the wisest choice. I'd leave it set up like you have it, then set a date for the Big Day. Maybe give her 3 or 4 days with the dual bed thing. Talk up Big Bed Day when you say "bye bye" to the crib. It could upset her to see the crib get disassembled or to see its parts in a pile, so you might arrange to say good bye, then take her somewhere while someone else gets the crib out of the house, or have someone take her out for a while so you can do it.
Speaking of Autism/PDD. Have you checked out the Neurosensory Centers of America? I have a couple friends who take their kids there (both with ASDs) and seem to like it and have seen results. http://www.neurosensorycenters.com/
