{A fun little preamble to this post: while I was writing this, things got awfully quiet in OBaby’s room, which turned out to be because he had discovered where and how to open the place where we put his dirty cloth diapers. O, the horror.
Anywho. Carry on.}
~~~~~~
Let me just share some facts with you real quick:
These boys will be 22 months apart, Lord willing.
OBaby climbed out of his crib a couple weeks ago (one time performance, so far).
We own ONE crib and I intend to keep it that way.
We (all of us) are moving to upstairs bedrooms when they are finished (March? April?).
The baby will sleep in our room and bed for at least the first few months (OBaby was with us the first 12 weeks).
Then, the boys will share a bedroom.
(I hope you like reading “the boys” even half as much as I love writing it. THE BOYS!)
So. We have a toddler presently, but not for much longer, in a crib, we have a toddler about to have a bedroom change, and we have a baby coming who won’t yet need the crib, but will this summer and will then be rooming with his brother. That’s a lot of change.
Someone please hold me. Maybe rock me gently back and forth, too.
DanO and I have been talking about it, and we plan to move OBaby to a big boy bed before Gummybear arrives on scene. Yes, I have heard the arguments for keeping them cribbed as long as possible, but with the climbing and the furniture constraints, it’s just not going to work for us. Because the two will probably share a room for the long foreseeable future, we plan on buying twin bunk beds, unstacking them, and using the top one with rails for the toddler transitioning out of his crib (so when Gummybear goes to a big bed, OBaby will go to the non-railed twin bed and Gummybear will use the bed with railings).
But do we switch OBaby to the railed twin bed before the bedroom change? After? Simultaneously? Or would that be too much change? Do we magically make the crib disappear one day? Slowly transition into the big bed with naps?
O MY GOSH MY HEAD IS SPINNING.
Which leads me to want to pick the collective brain of the interwebs – aka my friends and readers (who are friends I just haven’t met yet) for everything you know about the big switch. How did it go with your kiddos? What should DanO and I prepare ourselves for? What did you find helped the transition for your family? Are you available to come babysit overnight until the transition is made? And, most importantly:
TELL ME WHAT TO DO BECAUSE THIS IS NEW TERRITORY AND I AM ALL KINDS OF SCARED. And then come hold my hand while I do it. K? Thanks.
I had my little sleep in the bed with me every night right from birth, but when I moved house I put my (then) fourteen month old straight into a big bed. Granted, it’s a ridiculous princess bed and it has three (small but legit) steps for the child to enter/exit the bed from. But new house, new bed, no mama snuggles. No transitional period at all. I just sort of put her in there and hoped for the best. It took a few days before she would sleep all night without needing me to materialize next to her or for her to have a (sort of) acceptable nap. But it did happen. I have an empty bed of my own to prove it. Also she hasn’t fallen out of the bed. Yet. I think. The biggest obstacle I faced those first two days were that I started sleeping with the monitor in my hand, which is kind of weird.
My kids are 23 months apart, and we did the bunk bed room switch thing with them too. We switched rooms first (all before baby came) and set up the crib and the bed (top bunk with rails) when we moved him in. He actually came with and picked out his bed with us (which was fun) and “helped” build it. I think having him involved helped a lot.
Anyway. We had the crib and the bed set up and he got to choose where he wanted to sleep. He choose the bed the first night and only got up a few times. He was told if he stayed in bed he would get a new Thomas Engine in the morning. He stayed in and never got up again. In fact at 5, he is still difficult to actually get to get up and get out of bed!
Naps were much harder. It took about 3-4 days before he would stay in the room. He got 3 chances to stay in bed and than I put him back in the crib (which he didn’t want). I think it helped that there are almost no toys (just stuffed animals and books) in his room so there was little temptation, not much to do.
I saw this post on another blog I read and thought it may be helpful to you. My little ones will be 13 months apart, so we are going to have 2 cribs for now. I hope that the transition to a big boy bed goes well for you and that I can learn something from your experience for when the big boy bed transition comes for us. :O)
http://www.thetarrpit.com/2010/12/our-big-boy-bed-success-story.html
I have 4 kids and each one was different with the transition to toddler bed/big bed. My daughter played and played at night and wouldn’t stay in bed for the life of her. We gated her room and waited it out. She usually would fall asleep on the floor. We eventually made a sticker chart where she earned stickers each time she fell asleep in her bed. It worked! We took the crib down and didn’t leave it up as an option. It was bed or bust (or in her case, the floor).
Timmy stayed on his bed. He was so sweet. He never once got out of his bed and when we transitioned him it was a piece of cake. Took the crib down, set up his bed and that was that. We did buy him a race car toddler bed so maybe that helped a little bit. :)
Kenan. Well Kenan is his own boy. He does things in his own time when he wants to and no amount of stickers, or any other thing will get him to do it unless HE wants to do it. He will call your bluff and isn’t afraid to do it. He would constantly get out of his bed. Up and down, in and out. Quite stressful. My husband came up with a wonderful routine. He settles in next to Kenan (and now our little Micah) and they tell stories to each other. Jeff used to do it until Kenan would be asleep or very drowsy, but it really worked. It still works! Micah and Kenan have a much easier time settling down now because of this routine, and it give Jeff a good chance to talk and spend some sweet time with his youngest boys.
Micah is our baby. He’s three. We transitioned him to bed by moving his crib mattress to the floor. His crib had been through 3 other kids and fell apart. Thankfully not while he was in it. We put his mattress on the floor and that was that. No problems. The first night Micah moved the mattress over by his door but that was it. He was really easy about and pretty excited about being a big boy.
As far as your little boy – go by his cues. If he is easily motivated by stickers use those. He might surprise you and adjust perfectly. Stick the crib mattress on the floor at first and see how he does. I would start all this sooner rather than later. It’s no fun adjusting to new baby and new big boy bed. Trust me. Just when you sit down to nurse you’ll see two little eyes peeking at you around the corner. :)
If he is challenging you with this every step of the way let him think he has the control but you really do. Gate the door way. Just prepare yourself for anything and don’t set your expectations too high because then you won’t be disappointed with yourself. Don’t put this on you guys or Micah either. It’s new territory and little scary. Good luck and use lots of patience. He will sleep in a big boy bed eventually. Maybe right away, maybe not.
What we did with our first 2: boys 23 months apart.
Wait to move #1 out of the crib until after the baby is born. Risky move, yes. But I value my naptime more than I value “preparedness” whatever that is.
Move #1 to a toddler bed, aprox 6″ from the ground. No rails. He fell off more than a few times. A crib mattress (or twin mattress) on the floor would also work well. After a few weeks, they figure out how to stay on the bed without falling off.
Baby slept in our room for the first months, while kid #1 was making transition.
My sis did the same thing for hers (19 months apart) but also added the additional step of putting them in a shared room. Kids are exceptionally adaptable. Obaby will do just fine. :)
I WILL come babysit. When?
Love, Dad
We are as I type this transitioning my son’s bedroom. He is 600 miles visiting his grandparents for a total of 8 days. AHHHH! Everyone keeps telling me I should be enjoying the freedom and peace and quiet. More than anything I just miss my little bug. Anyway, (wiping tears) since my little climber keeps climbing out of his pack and play at day care and can mosey on up the changing table with no problem, and the night before he left flipped himself into the crib like the monkey he is pushed my husband and me to decide to get him a “big boy bed” because I would rather that than broken bones.
So while he has been gone we have painted his room, disassembled his crib and put together his captains bed. His room will have super cool transportation theme, cause he loves cars and trucks.
So I can keep you updated on how our transition goes. However, he may not sleep in his bed the first night, because I will be completely stripped of any independence at that point and may make him sleep in my bed because I miss his snuggles, snores, and smells (well most of them). :-)
Simultaneously…just my opinion! Pump him up for his new room and big boy bed! Let him pick out bedding, decor, whatever to get him involved. It’ll go well as long as you are consistent and communicate with him. You are great parents!
Yeah, I think you def have to watch their cues. Every body is different and there is no one right way. Don’t sweat it, though.
We have 3 boys – 5 y.o., 2 1/2 y.o. and now a 3 month old. With the bigger 2, the oldest stayed in his crib while middle (baby at the time) roomed with us (that lasted a year….a little longer than we planned). We changed the crib to a toddler bed right before #2 was born, I think, for the oldest. After about a year, #2 stayed in the crib (in a spare room) for most of a year. During that time, we had bought a GREAT bed by IKEA (a reversable bed http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/10123996 ….starts out as a bed for one and then you can flip it bunkbed style so the bigger kid sleeps on top and the younger sleeps on a mattress on the floor underneath!…still MUCH lower than a traditional bunkbed). Oldest stayed in the reversable bed for one for a little while, then we flipped it and he was excited (and big enough) for the top (it also has an optional starry canopy/tent type thing that kind of helps you not sweat them falling out! #2 finally was ready to room in without too much disturbance or issues. They’ve been in there together for 9 months or so.
#3 is in our room and mostly in our bed (though I have a co-sleeper).
The bottom line I think is….make sure the most people are getting the most sleep…whatever that looks like. If your “plan” doesn’t work out…try something out and don’t feel like a failure :) I think it’s great that you want them to room together. I think so many of the millennial kids are missing out on SOOOooo much by not sharing rooms (or much of anything else for that matter).
Good luck!
Ahem. Let me start by saying that my little ones are 20 months apart and we had 2 cribs for a bit. Yes, I went a little insane but I had two kids! Under 2! Pretty much anything is excusable.
However, once we decided to move my daughter (older one) into a bed we set it up in her room and then let it be her choice. We lowered the railing on the crib and put a chair in front that she could safely climb in and out on and let her either sleep in the crib or in the bed. She started choosing the crib for nighttime and the bed for naptime, but having the railing down let her adjust to the freedom of being able to move around before she moved completely into the bed. Once she made the switch she and I went to the store to pick out new bedding and make it all pretty and exciting.
Good luck! And really, however people are sleeping is best.
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I know I am a little late here but my girls will be 22 months apart as well when this one arrives in April and I fully intend on them sharing a room. I transitioned O (my 19 month old) to a toddler bed when she was about 14 months old, for reasons similar to yours. #1 she worried me that she would high-tail out of that crib, #2 I had just found out I was pregnant with #2, and #3 she was having a lot of sleeping issues and didnt like being confined to her crib. She had 2 rought nights, but since then has done really well. We have a baby gate on the outside of her bedroom door so she cant escape into the depths of our upstairs, she can open every drawer and door handle which worried me. She seems to feel like a ‘big girl’ and likes that she can get up and look at a book or two (I leave very few things in there but some books and a couple lovies) before finally going down for her nap. Hope it works out well for you!