The Crib to Bed Transition

The time has finally come. You need to make a HUGE change for your toddler. You are making the plunge to transition your toddler from their crib into a bed. I say ‘toddler’ because it’s ideal to keep your child in their crib until they are 3 (or super close to it). Any time before 3 years old, children have a hard time comprehending WHY they need to stay in their room, bed, etc. It is also hard to consequence them if they don’t understand why they need to stay there anyway.

So to make this transition easier on you, keep them in that crib until they’re super super close to being 3 years old.

If you’ve come this far and your child is younger, turn back!! Read this blog post on signs that your child will show if they’re ready to transition.

My son, Drake, turned 3 in April, and in March, he started crib climbing. Crib climbing isn’t an immediate sign that we need to switch them into a bed. In fact, there are a few steps you can take beforehand. The first being - make sure they are in a sleep sack! They make HUGE sleep sacks. Keep those feet restricted so they can’t manoeuvre their little leg above the rails to climb out. The second piece of advice is to turn the crib backwards. The back wall of the crib is usually slightly higher, so by turning it around, it becomes harder for your child to climb out. The last piece of advice I offer, is to drop the crib mattress to the floor. This means that it is not on any sort of platform anymore. It is just a mattress on a floor with the crib rails surrounding it.

If you’ve tried all of these things and your child still won’t stay in their crib, then it’s time for a bigger bed!

I generally advise parents to skip over the ‘toddler bed’ and to just go right into either a twin or double bed.

Why?

Because a toddler bed is still a crib mattress - so if you have a tall toddler, they’ll be growing out of it quickly and it’ll be a pain to change out their bed again within a year!

When making the crib-to-bed transition, it can feel really intimidating. Your child will likely get out of their bed and explore their room because they’ve never had the freedom like this before.

Here are a few tips to make this transition a bit more smooth:

1. Outline your new bedtime rules.
   Your new bedtime rules include: staying in bed, don’t come out of the room, and to fall asleep! Easy enough hey? Easier said than done, obviously. By minimizing the distractions in their room, the easier they’ll be able to fall asleep. I would recommend removing any toys or books that would be distracting. Some children will feel insecure with this transition and they’ll want you to stay in their beds with them until they fall asleep. I don’t want you forming any bad habits, so let them know that you will read their stories while laying with them in bed, but after story-time you need to go. Let them know that if they stay in their bed and try to fall asleep, you will check on them later. It’s one of the oldest tricks in the book, but it works so well!

2. Keep the bedtime routine the same.
   If you have a solid bedtime routine that you’ve been doing for years (or even months!), keep doing it. Toddlers love predictability and consistency, so be as consistent as possible. If you always rub their back after their book, then still do it. Just because they’ve switched into a big bed doesn’t mean they’ve ‘grown up’ all of a sudden and don’t want their usual bedtime elements. If you DON’T have a bedtime routine, now is the perfect time to start one. A great routine for toddlers looks like this:
   -Bedtime Snack
   -Bath or Shower
   -PJ’s
   -Read Story or Sing a Song
   -Goodnight kisses

3. Expect some pushback - you’ve changed their bed!
   I want you to set your bedtime expectations really really low for the first night or two of this new change. I remember Drake taking a lonnnnng time to fall asleep in his new bed because he said it felt too big. He wasn’t crying, but he did take upwards of 2 hours to fall asleep. He was exploring his new space and figuring out how he liked to sleep on his new bed. It is common for kids to cry about this change - imagine how you would feel getting a new bed when you least expected it! Well - that doesn’t actually sound too bad 😉
   Although it might take a while for them to adjust and fall asleep, continue holding your boundaries and remind them of their bedtime rules. Positive affirmations also work wonders!! Tell them that they can do hard things, they are brave, they are capable of sleeping in this new space!
   In the morning, CELEBRATE them! Tell them how proud you are of them for sleeping in their ‘big bed’. This will bolster their confidence and make them want to continue making you proud. I remember telling Drake “WOW! Mom is so happy that you stayed in your new bed. I’m so proud of you!” and he smiled and said “yeah, you’re proud of me!”

4. Get a toddler clock.
   This is a MUST for switching your child into a big bed. The chances of them coming out of their room in the early morning hours are high. What can help them distinguish between coming out of their room and staying inside their room, is a toddler clock. My favourite clock being the Hatch Baby Rest (affiliate amazon link). There are programs that you can set so if your child comes out of their room before it’s ‘morning’ you can refer them to their clock and escort them back to bed. More on the Hatch here.
   You will have some demonstrating to do for your toddler so that they understand when it’s bedtime and when it’s morning, but they can absolutely learn.

5. If it’s a problem, take it away.
   I know this might sound weird, but the light in Drake’s room became a problem. So much so, that we were going into his room 3+ times a night to turn his overhead light off. Having a bright light on while you’re sleeping is doing nothing good for your melatonin production. So what did we do about it? We took the lightbulb out of his fixture so when he went to flip the switch, nothing happened. I could hear him say ‘huh?’ while watching him on the monitor, but he quickly adjusted and we were able to reintroduce the light again by reminding him that he couldn’t turn the light on until he heard the birds (a program we set on his Hatch).
   Another thing that can become hazardous is having a sleepy-toddler wandering around the house while everyone else is sleeping. If your toddler is an escape artist, then I would highly recommend putting a toddler lock on the door so that they aren’t escaping at night while you’re asleep. In the event of a fire, having a closed door is much safer as well, so the toddler lock comes in handy! The great thing about a toddler lock is that you can easily take it off so the knob is accessible again, it’s just a matter of time!

6. Hold firm to your bedtime boundaries.
   This one is huge. I want to remind you (in case you forgot), that YOU are in charge of bedtime. YOU are the parent and you make the rules. If you are always giving in to your toddler’s night-time requests, then they are becoming the boss and the stalling will increase. No one wants to go to bed when they know there’s other stuff going on. But we know that our children need their rest to grow strong and healthy - so bedtime it is! The more you hold strong to your bedtime boundaries, the more your child will feel supported because of the stability.

The crib to bed transition can feel super hard, but I know that if you have a sleep trained toddler, it can be a breeze. Prepare for a couple nights of kickback, but hold those boundaries and it’ll become easy.

If your child isn’t sleep trained or maybe if you’ve made this transition a little too early and now their sleep has regressed and you’re not sure what to do about it, send me an email and we can chat to see if working together would make sense!

I wish you nothing but luck as you make the crib to bed transition! If you need some help making this change, take my crib-to-bed transition course! It’ll guide you through each step.

You can do it!