OT: how to get toddler to sleep in toddler bed, not crib

[mask_w03]

DD will be 17 months on Sept 5th and today showed me she knows how to get out of her crib. Yes the bumpers are in, but that's not what she uses to get out and yes the mattress is down as far as it can go. I really wanted to keep her in her crib till after our December trip to Disney, but now I see I really can't. She is very strong and pulls herself up and puts her leg over the rail, she is also very tall for her age so I think that has helped her figure this out at this age.

What are some tricks to get her to stay in the toddler bed when we convert her crib to a toddler bed. I don't want to do the tent b/c I know that will just be a big fight every night with her and naps have already become a big fight this week. She loves to sleep on a pillow and blanket when I have had to sleep on the floor with her and I'm not worried about her hurting herself in her room. It is 100% baby proofed so if she got up and played and crashedo n the floor that is fine with me as long as she sleeps in her room.

But any tricks from other parents would be great!!
Mommy in need of advice
Margaux

 

[Barbers2005]

I had trouble getting my Dd (now four) to stay in her bed when we converted to a toddler bed. Finally we gave up and put a baby gate in her doorway at naptime and told her she could sleep on the floor or in the bed but she was not to play or leave the room. Every five or ten minutes I would make sure she was laying down (floor, bed, wherever). After she would lay down without complaint, I was a little more firm about her having to lay in the bed. I would put her in the bed if she was laying on the floor, sometimes a few times in a row when she got back out. Eventually she got used to it, but it was on her schedule, not mine! It is tough, and sometimes it seemed like she would never learn to sleep in her bed, but she grew out of that phase.

 

[PRINCESSMOMX3]

My baby, Abbey, was moved to her toddler bed about3 weeks ago. She is 18 months old. I tell her when I put her in the bed to lay down and go to sleep and not to get up. Within just a few minutes I see her little fingers sticking out from under the door. I tell her, but never open the door, to get back in bed. She does it. Then every morning when she wakes up I see those hands under the door and she is calling me. There have been a couple of times that she has slept on the floor. Her room is completely safe, so I have no problems with that. She is on such a good strict schedule that when it is 8p.m she knows that it is bedtime and is almost always ready to go. Now naptime is a differnt story. I had to leave the crib up b/c she thinks that if it is light ourside then it is okay to play.

 

[DisneyTarheel]

What are some tricks to get her to stay in the toddler bed when we convert her crib to a toddler bed.

Tell her the monsters will eat her if she climbs out of the bed.

KIDDING, of course, though it is tempting at times . . .

Baby proof the room so you feel comfortable that she is safe and then reverse the locks on the door. Voila, her own padded cell. And a good night sleep for you. Can you tell I am not an AP kinda guy?

 

[mask_w03]

Love it DisneyTarheel!! I'm not an AP kinda parent at all and neither is DH. We have let her cry it out on several nights!! Her room is already baby proofed so i'm not worried about that, so we'll just see how it goes. She can't reach the door knob yet so she can't get out of her room if I shut the door!! Thanks for the idea though!

 

[ctnurse]

DS was in his crib until about a month ago. He is almost 2&1/2 and one day he decided to crawl out of his crib. DH and I put the toddler bed together. DS has always slept in a big boy bed at my moms house with a radio on. We went to the store and picked out his own radio for his room at home with the condition that the radio can be on (with nice easy listening music) as long as he stays in his bed. The other thing that i did was put one of those saftey door knobs on because he would get up out of the bed and open the door all night long if he could. He cried it out for about a week but now sleeps in his bed without much fuss. Now we read 2 books,he gets tucked in, a drink of water, hugs and kisses and goes to sleep. This all takes about 10 mins. Good luck.

 

[crzy4dsny]

We used a gate across the door. They would cry a little and sleep on the floor right in front of the gate. That would last about a week than they would just sleep in the bed.

 

[MrsBanks]

Not flaming, not pointing fingers. I don't know any of you and you don't know me but a lot of comments have been made about rooms being "baby-proofed" (obviously we all do everything we can to safe guard our children) - please, please, please don't take for granted that a room is safe - our children are smart and curious - something that is often overlooked are dressers and bookshelves, please secure furniture to the walls (specifically a beam) as children can be crushed to death by large falling objects - end of my public service announcement

 

[rt2dz]

Haven't read the replies, so excuse me if I'm being repeative.

Baby proof the room. Put a gate at the door. Go to Walmar/Target/Babies R Us and purchase bed rails. Tell your toddler it is going to happen in a day or two or three. During this time, have both the bed & crib in the same room set up. Let her try napping in the bed while still sleeping in the crib at night. Or at least playing in the bed. Then just take the plunge. Take apart the crib and be in the bed.

BTW, when my little ones wanted to give up naps, we "allowed" them. We instead instituted "quite time". I pulled out a special pillow & blanket and picked out a movie for them to watch, usually a longer Disney flick like Toy Story. They couldn't get up until the movie was over. Usually, they fell asleep 5-10 minutes into settling down, sometimes not (especially as they got older). But even when they didn't sleep, it gave both of us the same rejuvination as a nap. And they felt like they had more control in their life--less problems/temper tantrums/whatever.

 

[mask_w03]

MrsBanks I have to say all of that was done when she began to crawl so at 5months. She can't open any of her dresser drawers, and nothing can come tumbling down on her and crush or even hurt her unless it's a stuffed animal (but those are on the floor in a bin!). Thanks for the concern and I have heard enough stories about little ones being left alone and parents coming back to find them dead due to a dresser or something falling on them b.c they didn't think the child would climb it. Any place she is allowed is 100% baby proofed, some friends think I'm crazy cuz there really isn't much she can hurt herself on except when she walks into a wall due to her playing peek a boo and trying to walk at the same time!

Thanks to everyone else with this ideas, It's all set up and she's been up and down many times already. Tonight I know will be the test and I'm hoping it goes well or she just sleeps on her floor for the night!

 

[mask_w03]

Her room is already baby proofed and if you read my actual post you would see her crib is her toddler bed. We bought the crib that is 4-in-1 since she is the only child we will ever have. It comes with bed rails that are metal and won't move at all, so that is covered all ready. So she will have the option of sleeping ing her big girl bed or the floor, either is fine with me as long as she sleeps, but we will work on the bed of course! She is a child who needs a nap, hence she is only 17months old, not 2.5 like others that have posted. She still is on 1-2naps a day right now so 3-4hrs of a nap per day. If she doesn't get a nap it's world war III here and this girl was born with lungs and I mean like let the fat lady sing type of lungs (that's not meant to affed anyone!!).

So she will learn tonight she has her big girl bed and like other have suggested we plan to make a big deal out of her being a big girl and getting a special bed and new sheets and all for her new big girl bed she gets to sleep in tonight.

 

[mask_w03]

rt2dz-Her room is already baby proofed and if you read my actual post you would see her crib is her toddler bed. We bought the crib that is 4-in-1 since she is the only child we will ever have. It comes with bed rails that are metal and won't move at all, so that is covered all ready. So she will have the option of sleeping ing her big girl bed or the floor, either is fine with me as long as she sleeps, but we will work on the bed of course! She is a child who needs a nap, hence she is only 17months old, not 2.5 like others that have posted. She still is on 1-2naps a day right now so 3-4hrs of a nap per day. If she doesn't get a nap it's world war III here and this girl was born with lungs and I mean like let the fat lady sing type of lungs (that's not meant to affed anyone!!).

So she will learn tonight she has her big girl bed and like other have suggested we plan to make a big deal out of her being a big girl and getting a special bed and new sheets and all for her new big girl bed she gets to sleep in tonight.

 

[rt2dz]

rt2dz-Her room is already baby proofed and if you read my actual post you would see her crib is her toddler bed. We bought the crib that is 4-in-1 since she is the only child we will ever have. It comes with bed rails that are metal and won't move at all, so that is covered all ready. So she will have the option of sleeping ing her big girl bed or the floor, either is fine with me as long as she sleeps, but we will work on the bed of course! She is a child who needs a nap, hence she is only 17months old, not 2.5 like others that have posted. She still is on 1-2naps a day right now so 3-4hrs of a nap per day. If she doesn't get a nap it's world war III here and this girl was born with lungs and I mean like let the fat lady sing type of lungs (that's not meant to affed anyone!!).

So she will learn tonight she has her big girl bed and like other have suggested we plan to make a big deal out of her being a big girl and getting a special bed and new sheets and all for her new big girl bed she gets to sleep in tonight.

Wow. I hope I'm misreading you and you're not being as snotty as you sound.

I DID read your actual post; However, some things that are as important as baby proofing do tend to bare repeating. Especially, since I, like many other people, realize that when one person posts a question/problem, many others will have similiar questions/concerns.

Rather than posting a thousand threads varying by 1 degree, others (whether posting or just lurking) will use the same advice given. Therefore, the answer is general to general situations.

Plus, I was also kind of hinting that a full switch from one to the other isn't always a good idea; most little kids, especially at 17 months need a bit of a transition. Of course, some kids don't. Lord knows, with 8 neices, 1 nephew and 3 kids of my own, I can tell you from experience they are all very different and have very different needs.

I also apologize for going past your actual problem and giving you the BTW on your mentioned napping issue. Lots of kids start to give up the nap, or at least want to, at 15-24 months even though they are no where near really ready to give up a nap. My oldest started giving it up at 14 months, and it was beyond horrible when he skipped those naps and the battle to get them in was just as bad. I just thought I'd give you something that worked for us that might help you. Obviously that offended you and wasn't appreciated. Again, I apologize.

 

[megan4777]

Let's see....with my DD#1 ( who has always been 99% height for her age), who is now 3, she decided she was going to jump crib/toddler bed at 18m, I think.
Anyway, basically, the key is a gate. We bought a gate that had the hardware that you needed to put on the door frame and on the door, itself. it's one that you need to push up on the metal part to lock it into the metal part on the doorframe. It's wonderful.

They DO NOT understand at that age that they need to stay in bed and be comfy. We bought her a cushy carpet and let her sleep on her floor. She just now, at 3, started to sleep in her bed.

We gave her books, and a few stuffed animals to entertain her at night and when she felt the need to throw them, we took them away.

Good luck

 

[dana1003]

i have twin girls and i put them in toddler bed at 23 months. they fellout out a couple times and had to put pillows on the floor. i gave them lots of stuffed animals and let them pick their bedding (ikea has great ones for !10)$

now they love them,

 

[mask_w03]

rt2dz-No I'm not being snotty, but your comment just made it sound like you didn't read my first post at all. I do understand other will look at this post and use some of the same info and yes your info is great for others who don't understand how important it is to make a baby's room really safe for them including a dresser or other larger furniture. Sorry it came off that way to you.

I know for sure she isn't ready to give up naps yet and becomes a big monster to deal with or even calm down in the evening with no naps. Sorry it came out snotty, I'm just running on very little sleep and now this where I know tonight won't be much sleep either. She is working on her molars and didn't sleep through the night 2 nights ago and didn't nap at all the next day so I'm not doing good on little sleep and trying to get caught up this weekend. Thanks for your advice though and I know all kids are different looking at her friends in her play group. Some take 1 nap, some take 2 and some are alomst to the point of taking no naps.
It's not what you said that offended me, it's just I felt like you didn't read anything i had posted already. Thanks for the advice though and hope it helps others who read this understand they need to really baby proof their kids rooms before moving them into a toddler bed.