The Big Girl Bed Transition
I have been doing a lot of research as to when is a good time to transition to a toddler bed or convert your crib to one and, of course, the answer is 'when your toddler is ready.' Usually, between 18 months to 3 years old. Wow, this is such a huge gap! Ok, maybe I will change my question to 'signs your toddler is ready for a toddler bed' and here are a few tips I found:
1. Your LO climbs out of the existing crib.
2. Sleeps through the night.
3. Your LO is okay unsupervised.
4. Shows interest in regular beds
5. She understands imaginary boundaries.
Jordyn showed most of these over the last few months except trying to climb out of her crib. She's not much of a climber to begin with, but that could change. She is almost 18 months now and does love to climb all over the furniture.
She has been sleeping through the night since about 11 months old (12+ hours)...I know, thank my lucky stars and I certainly do!
Jordyn has always been great at playing by herself. When I am cooking in the kitchen, she will play with her toys in the living room or run into her room, close the door, sit on her bean bag chair and read her books. Right now, she is totally into her stuffed animals and plays with them constantly. Like her mom when she was little. I had them lined up around my bed at all times! A little girl can never have enough stuffies!
Sometimes, I will leave Jordyn in her room, even though she's been awake in her crib for almost a half an hour, while I make coffee and feed the kitties, and she will play, jump, chatter by herself for almost an hour before she starts banging on the wall for me to get her up! I think she's developed a great imagination already!
Also, at the moment, she is obsessed with getting up on our bed and rolling around in it, jumping and face planting are her favourite things to do in our bed! But, it's a high bed and therefore my blood pressure is high when she jumps around on it - never unsupervised I assure you!
I converted her crib a coupled of months ago just for playtime so she could climb in and out and she loved it! But, when it was nap or bedtime, I turned the crib around so the opening was facing the wall and she couldn't get out. I had been doing this for about a month. Then, just recently, when I knew I had the time to sit and watch her in the camera, I left the opening outwards and see if she would fall asleep or run around the room playing. To our surprise, she sat on her bed with her stuffies and never came out, then fell asleep. Yay! Hubs and I high-fived and I watched her like a hawk on the camera. She slept the whole night in her toddler bed! Then, at 3:15am, I heard a tumble! I sprang up, checked the camera...she fell out, through the tiny opening between the rail and the end of the bed! But, no cries, she just fell right back to sleep on the floor! Ha! I went in and put her back in her bed...fewf!
The next day, I tried for nap time in her toddler bed. Naps are different, they're not as tired, they want to play more. So, I put all her stuffies on her bed, and she played...but did not come out of her bed! Then, fell asleep. Whoot!
It's been a few days now, and she will not come out of her bed, even though she knows she can! Maybe she thinks she's not allowed, but she does understand imaginary boundaries.
I will keep you posted on this, but I think my very best advice for transitioning into a toddler bed is to introduce it slowly, let them play on it, and don't stress! I know I am doing this much earlier than when many say, but I just wanted to see what would happen and how she would do and I underestimated her! She's ready. Though, maybe when she gets older that will all change...
If you think your LO is ready, check out these articles:
Sleep.org: https://sleep.org/articles/moving-toddler-crib-to-bed/
Well Rounded NY: https://wellroundedny.com/five-red-flags-toddler-isnt-ready-big-kid-bed/
What to Expect: https://www.whattoexpect.com/toddler/crib-to-toddler-bed
Below are a few pics of her trying her new bed for the first time, sleeping in the crib with the opening facing the wall to finally sleeping in it successfully:
