Tips from a Sleep Consultant

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How can you know when your child is ready?

There are a couple of signs you can look out for if your kid is asking you for a toddler bed or if they're able to climb out of their crib. Those are great signs that it's time to move to a toddler bed if you haven't already.

How can you prepare your child for the change?

Well, change can be hard for your little one. So in the days leading up to this transition, let's talk about it. Make it exciting. Talk about an older sibling's big kid bed, or a cousin, or even a friend. Tell them that they're gonna get their own big kid bed in a few nights, making it as fun as possible. Don't make it a surprise and let them know that it's coming.

How can you make this transition easier?

Saying goodbye to the crib can be a really emotional experience. My own daughter struggled with it a little bit. She loved her crib. If you think about it, she spent more time in her crib than out of it in her first two years of life. It was a really comforting place for her. Something that can really help with this is to take your little one out of the house, go get ice cream, go do something fun, and let another adult make that physical switch while you're gone.

How should you coordinate with other life events?

Let's try not to make this transition within three months of a big life change, like adding a sibling, moving, or potty training. This also probably isn't the time to redecorate the nursery. Let's just try to keep as much the same as possible.

How can you make their room a safe space?

When we move from a crib to a toddler bed, the whole room then becomes the sleep space. Your little one may fall asleep on the floor and that's okay. Now that your little one has the freedom to move around the room, you'll just want to be aware of any outlets, loose cords, curtains, windows, and maybe any toys that you wouldn't feel confident with them playing with unsupervised.

How can you minimize sleep disruptions?

It's normal for there to be some growing pains and hiccups when you make this switch, but the best thing you can do is remain consistent. Keep the same boundaries that you've always held in regards to sleep, and try not to change your schedule in response to protests. If your toddler leaves the room, we're going to calmly walk them right back to bed.

You may have to do this multiple times in the first few nights, but that's okay. If this keeps happening, know that there are toddler sleep consultants out there that can help.

How might this affect your other children?

Having multiple kids in the same room while you make this transition can be tricky. I would talk to your older child and tell them, "Your little brother's getting a big kid bed tonight just like yours. It's exciting. If you hear him tonight, it's okay. I'm listening. I will help him. You can go back to sleep."

If your kids have already been sharing a room, remember they're used to sleeping through each other's noises, but if this is new to them, it can help to bring the toddler bed closer to the door or add or turn up a sound machine in between them.

Jordan's Experience with Switching to the Floor Bed

I walk parents through this transition all the time, but something that I wasn't expecting as a mom myself when I transitioned my daughter from the crib to the floor bed was how emotional it was. I feel like I had to be out of the house with her when the switch was made just as much as she needed to be out of the house. I didn't want to see my husband take the crib apart and out of the house.

It is such a reminder that she's not a baby anymore, and it's hard to say goodbye to it! I even I kept some of the wood from her crib to make a picture frame out of it to keep in her room. It's sentimental and hard to make these big transitions, but she has loved her new bed.

The first night she did tell me, "But my crib loved me and I will miss it." And I had to remind myself that toddlers reflect emotions of the people around them. So I had to stay calm, and tell her, "Your crib did love you and so does your new bed. You're going to love your bed and it will keep you warm and you can sleep in it. It will be okay." And I had to kind of think and believe that myself.

With time she came to love her big girl bed. It's so fun to see her independence and watch her sleep well on her own terms.