Managing the Transition to Toddler Beds
The move from cribs to big beds: Some like to call it a right of passage; some, the unavoidable jump into being “big kids.” I like to call it The Loss of a Mother’s Sanity.
Since our girls started climbing out of their cribs, I had been avoiding the move. First, I threatened. That didn’t work, so I resorted to crib tents. (You know, the ones that have the warning that says “Not to keep a child in, only to keep cats out.”) Anyway, the tents worked for a while until Courtney figured out how to unzip hers. So I stuffed the zipper way down. I thought I was so clever! That is, until Chrissa reached her little hand over to Courtney’s crib, pulled out the zipper, and then Courtney did the rest. It seemed like a losing battle; time for beds.
Mark and I tried to make the transition really exciting for the girls. And, believe me, the next few months were very exciting for me.
We moved our twins into their new beds in July. They were two-and-a-half years old.
Day One
Chrissa and Courtney got out of their beds and played for three hours. Fine. I knew this would not be successful overnight. I could deal with grumpy toddlers for one afternoon, then put them to bed early.
Day Two
My little escape artists left their room and proceeded to destroy their big brother Christian’s room. Soap all over his bed and floor, you get the picture. Time to put a lock on their door.
Day Three
How nice, they were forced to stay in their room! Even if they didn’t nap, at least they were getting “quiet time,” right? Wrong. They pulled every article of clothing out of their drawers and off their closet hangers, and threw them all over the room. You couldn’t even walk into the battle zone. Time to move the drawers into the closet and put a lock on that door.
Day Four
I think they slept this day from sheer exhaustion. I thought we were on our way. Think again.
Day Five
The twins have a jack-and-jill bathroom they share with their brother. We locked the door that goes into the bathtub (with a toilet) for obvious reasons. The sink, however, is still attached to their room. So, we put a baby gate there. Do you know what twins say to baby gates? “Ha! There is one of you and two of us!” They pushed down the gate and opened the cabinets. (Yes, the cabinets are “babyproofed” as well. They are not twin-proof, however, especially to twins who have a very dexterous big brother who taught them how to open these things.) They got out foam soap, shampoo, toothpaste, de-tangle hair spray, and two bottles of Robitussin (no, these did not have baby-proof caps), and proceeded to dump their contents all over the floors, walls, and mirrors. That was fun to clean up. Plus, I got to call my old buddies at Poison Control in case they ingested anything. So, we took everything out of the bathroom and re-installed the baby gate.
Day Six
The baby gate was knocked down again, but this time the twins went for the sink. They stuffed animals, blankets, whatever, in the sink and turned on the water. How fun, their own swimming pool! That night, Mark cut off their water under the sink.
By this point, there was nothing else to destroy. All they had was toys and beds. They do manage to strip their sheets off the beds many days, but I can handle that. Almost every day they have a party in their room. In fact, right now, 3 months after the transition to big girl beds, I hear them up there giggling, and occasionally I hear a loud “thump.” Should I investigate? Nah, they are just having “quiet time,” remember?
See? This is why my 3-year olds are still in their cribs…I’m petrified of losing my precious nap time.
They haven’t tried to climb out yet though, so I’m still milking that. Now that I’ve put it in writing, I’m sure I’ll hear a loud THUMP upstairs.
Oh dear, we’ve just bought our 22mth olds toddler beds. We haven’t put them up yet but it’s nearing time for us as they’re wanting to climb out of their cots. I’m dreading it – just as they’re sleeping so well it’s all going to change. After reading your blog I think I’ll take their drawers and toy shelf out of their room though!
When I switched my kids to toddler beds I put locks on their drawers, and removed anything that may harm them. I also put locks on the doors and, as awful as this sounds, would lock them in until they fell asleep. Worked for us though.
I did about the same thing as Amanada. Their room got a serious makeover, locks on most drawers, and their door is shut at night (Do not ask me why they just don’t open it, they can if they get really mad, but otherwise, they don’t, I have no clue) If we hear too much chatter or feet running around, we go in and either they lose their nightlight or a lovey dog. That works 9/10 times, the other 10%, eh, not so much.
Yep, my girls will be in cribs until they’re at least three! : )
Our boys were climbing out at 24 months so we had to transition. Their room is exceedingly empty now, but they sleep more than they don’t. So far, so good two months into it.
We did the same thing because at 18 months my son was climbing out of his crib. Well after many days without naps I tried the pack n’ plays. And guess what, they stay in them and sleep happily. So now we have a room with toddler beds on the walls and pack n’ plays in the middle. It works. For now.
Eek! This is why mine are the quite possibly the oldest kids to ever be in cribs, but I have put off the inevitable long enough… my girls are nearly three and a half. We are making the switch tomorrow. I feel as though this post was just for me. 🙂 Wish me luck! Thanks for the laugh. 🙂
Wow, that sounds rough! We moved our two singleton kids and our triplets into regular beds once they turned 1 year old. I don’t know why but something about having them in cribs once they could walk over to it and ask to get in seemed so wrong to me. Too much like crate training a dog. I wanted them to have the freedom to get in and out of their beds on their own whenever they wanted to. I certainly don’t think there is a certain age when every child should be out of the crib but at least for us, I think possibly doing it early avoided many of the typical pitfalls I hear about from other parents. For our kids it wasn’t like one day they were 3 year old’s trapped behind bars and the next day they were 3 year old’s with all this newfound freedom to explore. They just always had that freedom long before they were cognitively aware of what kind of trouble they could cause with it. We have had our nights when they get up and want to play instead of sleep but there is very little in their rooms to play with- a couple of quiet books, a glider, their beds, and their clothes- so pretty quickly they get bored and choose sleep instead. I also lock my kids in there since I’m not interested in having toddlers falling down the stairs in the middle of the night. Only one of them ever sat at the door and hollered for me until she fell asleep. Eventually she figured out the bed was more comfortable then the floor and just stayed in bed.
I hope they settle down and get some sleep soon. At least they’re bonding over shared experiences 😛
We did the same as Barbie mentioned. Our older daughter was 16.5 months old when her sisters were born, and we needed to use her crib. We set-up her toddler bed when she was about 13 months old. Never had issues with her leaving her bed at night.
We thought it might be a freak fluke, but we decided to repeat the experiment with our twins at about 16 months old. Same results – they stayed in bed!
Many Montessori-themed children rooms are set-up in this manner. All things in the room are at child level and child-friendly from an early age. Therefore, there isn’t a real desire to “destroy” things that are off limits because nothing has ever been off limits. 🙂
Just some thoughts for those of you with wee ones that haven’t made a transition yet, and are dreading the day you have a climber! Maybe give toddler beds a shot much earlier than planned, and things will go better than expected!
Here’s our experience. I wound up writing 3 posts on this transition. Whew! I’m so glad they are all settled.
http://mommawords.com/2011/06/19/transitioning-twins-from-cribs-to-toddler-beds-in-the-same-room/