Big girl bed or crib for this little cuddle-monkey?
Two of the best parts of my days are when Sophia goes to sleep and when she wakes up in the morning. Every morning while I’m getting ready for work, she wakes up and I hear through her door “Daddy! Come HERE!!” over and over until I walk in to pick her up and out of her crib. At night, I generally carry her to bed, with her head laying on my shoulder. Followed by a hug and a kiss and down into the crib she goes. It’s those little moments that make life as a parent pretty great. But, we now face ourselves with the decision of whether it’s time for the crib to go and move to the toddler bed.
It’s a tough decision to make for many reasons. The biggest question mark is really knowing, “is now the right time for the change?” There are other concerns, like how is she going to react to not being in a crib anymore, will she get up in the middle of the night and somehow get her bedroom door open and start wandering through the house. We’ve been doing a lot of reading about the topic, and we still haven’t been able to come up with the answer.
We’ve seen many people say “you’ll know when it’s time”. Well, we don’t fall into that category. It’s been said if the child is trying to climb out of the crib, it’s a good time to make the switch. Well, Sophia does that, to an extent, but she hasn’t actually been successful yet. I don’t want to hear the crash and boom in the middle of the night of her falling while trying to climb out, either. And there lies the problem. We’re torn between making the switch and holding off.
My other worry is that I’ll lose those going to bed and waking up moments. She’ll easily be able to get in and out of her toddler bed, so the yelling for me in the mornings and being carried to bed at night could come to a screeching halt.
For those of you that have made the switch, any advice?
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My Journey Through Fatherhood 
Hey Nick! I haven’t had that problem yet, but I believe my sister-in-law put a baby gate in her son’s door to prevent him from wondering around the house, as well as a baby gate at the top of the stairs in case he did so he wouldn’t fall down. Good luck!
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We have talked about doing that, too. Thanks for the suggestion, Holly!
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Try it for a few nights after her bday…she will probably surprise you with how well she transitions. We were afraid of that both times we had taken a and r from the crib, but they happily surprised us … As for the bedtime routine, you can still have that. Just make it a point to. For the wake-up, it will change … But in a good way. Hearing them come to you in the am (after you get rid of a gate if you choose to use one), is an awesome thing. Sometimes, will be earlier than you would like but that’s all par for growing up …
Good luck. She will do awesome !! It is hard letting them get bigger, but it has to be done.
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We had been talking about switching shortly after her birthday. I know I can still make the bedtime and waking up traditions work, it’s just so hard to believe it’s time for the crib to go away.
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Well, we never had a crib, so I’m not sure if my comments will truly be relevant…but we have had Potamus in a big-boy bed (a mattress on the floor) since he was 11 months old. He was ready. I was not.
But even though he is “ready” he still wanders around his room sometime. We have a baby monitor that we listen to, and have baby-proofed (as well as we can) the room, so that it’s safe for him to be toodling around if he decides to get up and “read a book” in the corner. I one time found him sleeping next to his bed, on the carpet, facedown. He stayed that way for 6 hours, before he woke up crying and wanting to nurse.
Some nigh I have to sleep in there with him to help him settle down, but our routine has been helping, and he’s been adjusting just fine.
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Wow he was ready early! Once we do make the switch, we’ll definitely be making the room safer and adding more books and toys to keep her busy should she wake up in the middle of the night.
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