Making the Toddler Bed Transition

The baby bed does have an expiration date on it. Whether it is because there is another baby on the way, your kiddo is climbing out or because your pediatrician is fussing at you for waiting, the transition is inevitable.

We decided to transition our daughter around 18 months. She was hinting towards climbing out but never successfully did it. We decided that we would just go for it as a way to stop the climbing attempts before she hurt herself.

Annelise testing out her toddler bed

We decided to do it on a Saturday for several reasons. One being that if it went awful, we did not have work the next day. In the morning, my hubby and I went in to her room and started taking the front of the crib off. We let her help, pretending to turn the screwdriver and talked about how exciting this was and that she was such a big girl. She was excited because we were excited.

After, the front was off, we set up her bed with her favorite dolls, which I call “her people,” put a big girl pillow (a travel size pillow I found on Etsy) and a big girl blanket. We fussed over it and let her lay in the bed to try it out.

Then the three of us played in her room for the remainder of the morning to get her comfortable with it. Then we strategically headed out to the grocery store. We timed the appropriately with naptime. I wanted to build her confidence in sleeping in it and wanted to skip the drama of trying to put her to sleep in it the first time. As we had planned, she fell asleep in the car on the way home. We put her in her bed and tucked her in.

When she woke up, she actually played in her bed for about 30 minutes before she called for us. She was so excited and proud of herself. She kept pointing to her bed and saying, “My bed.”

Annelise playing in her new toddler bed

The long story short, we never looked back. The transition was pretty seamless. Of course as always, there are bad nights when she is sick or has a bad dream, but the bed itself has never been the problem.

Fast forward to Hurricane Isaac: we were living with my brother-in-law, and Annelise got attached to a full size bed. I totally understand this because baby mattresses are quite hard and not comfortable. So when we returned home we got her a full size big girl bed! We did the same steps as we did with the toddler bed and again success.

Here are my tips:

  • Make it a family event when you are not in a rush and can focus
  • Get “special” things for the new bed whether it is a new pillow, blanket or doll
  • Start off with sleeping in the new bed for a nap and not bedtime
  • Put them in the new bed already sleeping for the first time to help build confidence
  • Celebrate the success of making it through nap time
  • At bedtime, don’t make a fuss of the new bed. Pretend it is business as usual

Have you yet made this transition? What advice would you share?

12 COMMENTS

  1. THANK YOU for sharing this Linzy! I am still waiting to see if it is time for Andrew to transition and I know the time is coming soon…

  2. Thanks for this ! We just made the transition this week (at 19 months) to a big bed straight from the crib, and she’s doing great! She wasn’t trying to climb out, but was refusing to sleep (screaming and fussing) in her crib. She LOVES her big girl bed. I totally wasn’t ready 🙁 but I’m on board now!

  3. Amelia- I hear you! I totally makes her feel older to me that she is in a big bed. But she loves it so much and sleeps well it it that is makes me happy. Congrats on the smooth transition!

  4. Linzy as you know we were recently “thrust” into this, which was maybe a good thing for my planning side but also a bad thing b/c I felt unprepared! Does Annelise ever wake up in the middle of the night and get out? How do y’all handle? We are making progress but my fabulous sleeper is gone, and I wonder how much is due to the new bed and how much is the 2 year sleep regression we’d face either way.

  5. yes, we absolutely have nights where she wakes up and shows up in our room. I NEVER let her in our bed, that would be a reward. I talk with her about why she woke up, (never really get an answer) and then walk her back to her bed. I stay with her for a minute or two until she is resettled then I kiss her and tell her I will see her in the morning that it is still sleepy time. Sometimes that is all it takes but others she makes noise for a little while before she falls asleep but she doesn’t get out of her bed again.

  6. My son is 26 months and I am keeping him in the crib as long as possible! I originally was going to transition him and use his crib for Emma (5 weeks), but I’m not messing with a good thing!
    Thanks for these tips though, I am definitely going to come back to this post when our time comes!

  7. I transitioned my son at 12 months from pack and play with mamadoo mattress topper to a Montessori style twin floor bed with Dex bed rail. My son wasn’t sleeping well at the time because of cutting teeth. He transitioned in about a week, with the first night being the toughest. I started him at night, then naps. Now it is great because when he wakes up from his nap, I can nurse him in his bed and snuggle longer. I never used a crib and now at 16 months, Nolan sleeps well in his twin bed.

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