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

[youngmumof3]

we have always shut the door to the boys room and they have been fine with it we have a nite light in there and they listen to a tape while they go to sleep but they know they only come out to go to the toilet

[Charlyfrog]

we propped the door open with the tigers paw.... yes DD#1 has an almost life sized toy tiger so his paw worked a treat. We've transitioned to a shoe as we've moved her bed around so there really isn't much space for the poor tiger anymore, hehe.

I kept the door open probably more so for me as we had just moved house so wanted her to feel she wasn't shut away in a strange place iykwim? (we shut her door at our old house) and so I could hear her but we taught her from the beginning that she was allowed to call out (our rooms aren't too far apart) although she didn't go into her big bed til 2&1/2 - the cot converted into a single bed with side rails.

Am having to remind her that I want her to stay in bed til I get her up as I am finding her sitting on the lounge with a book but its so dark she can't see anything! I mainly want her to stay in her room as its freezing in the lounge first thing in the morning! But she does know that she can come out to go to the toilet.

[christy]

We never shut the door to the girls room.... not all the way. BUT Jovie goes to sleep with us in the room, and Matilda goes to sleep holding my hand.

[Nai]

DD went into her toddler bed on her 2nd birthday and she wears a sleeping bag with legs in case she needs to get up and walk. We leave her door ajar but we always have as we don't have a monitor. She has only got herself out of bed twice in 6 months - the rest of the time she will call out to me to come and get her, even in the mornings!

I think if you normally close the door then keep doing what you normally would as that is what she is used to.

[PinkPalace]

thanks girls... i might have both set up in the room so she can get used to the bed slowly.. rather than popping her straight in there!

[blizz]

I have never liked closing DD's door except for day time sleeps, I like to be able to hear her in the night and I found the monitor became too distracting overnight, We put DD in her big bed just before she turned two and we used a safety gate in the door way just until she started sleeping through the night fully in the bed which was just after her 2nd birthday, now she pretty much stays in bed and has only on a couple of occasions come to find us in our room when she usually hops in with us.

[~clover~]

I have never shut the bedroom doors. Too paranoid.
When DS was sleeping through the day in our room I'd pull it, but never shut it & only coz our brm is right next to the lounge room.
Both my girls went into a big bed at 13 - 15 months.
Neither of them wandered. If they did it was dark, so they came into our bed. DD2 still does sometimes & DD1 will usually just go on the lounge.
They've never done anything else though.

[BekZ]

Pink, I don't know if the informaiton below will help you but I posted this last year for another mum.

BTW - We don't close doors in our house but my SIL does and it works for her.

I went through this a few months ago and it took a good month for DD to settle properly into her new bed. Good to see you are doing this now before you get too big and can't move!! I decided to transition DD in my second trimester and I am so glad I did.

One big mistake I made was to try and get DD to sleep in her big bed during the day and then put her in the cot at night. I did this for 3weeks and every day time sleep was hell. I eventually got rid of the cot and she transitioned within a week.

Tips

Be consistant
Tell her before bed that she is going to her big bed to sleep
Prep room for sleep - draw curtains, take bubs shoes off, put music on etc ( do this every sleep time)
Tell DD to hop up on bed and put her head down on the pillow
Say to her "It is time for sleep"
Rub/pat her if need be (only till she is calm)

ok now the tricky bit.....your dd may not want to stay on bed....my dd got up constantly and this was the hard part!!!!! This is what I did :

Sit beside the bed on a pillow with my back to DD. Everytime she got up I put her back down and repeated calmly...it is time to sleep. I did not make eye contact and I did not say anything else. This may go on for an hour. DD did end up in tears a few times, but she went to sleep in the end.

After few days I moved myself to the door and waited for DD to settle. Then some days I did not have to sit and wait....now she knows not to get off the bed and she loves her big bed.

Don't forget to make a big deal of your dd after she wakes up from sleeping in the big bed.

Goodluck