thread: Introducing a BIG BED - shut the door or not??

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  1. #1
    Registered User

    May 2007
    3,341

    Introducing a BIG BED - shut the door or not??

    Soon we will be introducing DD into a big bed (when i get a mattress on the weekend).

    Wondering what you did to make the transition smooth?

    At the moment she is in a portacot and we shut the door...

    (at this exact moment her mattress is on the floor with the door shut)...

    When she is in her bed should i have the door open? or will this just encourage her to wander and not sleep as she isnt restricted?

  2. #2
    Registered User

    Jul 2005
    Rural NSW
    6,975

    We left the doors open when our older two went into big beds for the first time. They panicked if it was shut tight. Also their rooms were quite a distance from ours and I wanted to be able to hear them if they cried. They didn't generally wander... they would sometimes come into our room to sleep but that was/is ok... we wanted them to feel safe and able to access us. Also I would worry that if their door was shut and there was an emergency then they'd be reliant on someone letting them out as our doors have very high old fashioned handles. I's a tricky one... if their room was closer to ours and they were prone to wander I guess we'd have to shut them.

  3. #3
    Registered User

    Dec 2005
    5,951

    We've always had the doors shut, and continued to do so as this is what Nina was used to. If we left them open, especially at night, she'd never sleep. She's never been distressed that the door is shut. When she wakes up, she has a little play, then knocks on the door and calls out to me.

  4. #4
    Registered User

    May 2007
    3,341

    mmm our rooms are quite close - perhaps i leave our door open to hear her once the monitor is in #2's room.

    Jodi how old was nina when she went into a big bed..

    Also atm DD sleeps in a sleeping bag.. i am worried about this with a big bed - ie getting in and out..

  5. #5
    Registered User

    Nov 2006
    WA
    1,228

    We shut DD as when she was in a cot it was always closed aswell, she doesnt mind at all and is the same as Jodi's DD she will wake have a play and then bang on the door when shes ready to exit! my DD is almost 21mnths and has been in a big bed since 16mths

    goodluck i hope all goes well

  6. #6
    Registered User
    Add Beatrix on Facebook

    May 2007
    within a puff of pink
    3,315

    I shut the door... Annika will not sleep with the door open

    I tried shutting til she drifted off then opening when i went to bed.. only to wake up a few mornings with the house a bit trashed and someone asleep on the lounge

  7. #7
    Registered User

    May 2007
    3,341

    thanks Blanche

    and lol Nessa. i have a feeling this is exactly how i would find our house lol
    Well she is on the floor atm asleep so will see what she does wheen she wakes up.

    I wonder if i should take the portacot away for a while and have her on the mattress on the floor.
    But then will she get confsued going up in height??