Transfering Toddler from cot to bed

Hello,

My DD is 21 months and I have decided to try and transfer her from cot to a "big bed.". We have set up her new room complete with mattress and guard rail.

Until recently DD thinks that all beds are great jumping tools and finds them heaps of fun. I decided 1 week ago to try and get her to have a day time rest in her big bed. First day was hard, it took 1 hour of putting her back down and crying to finaly get her to settle for sleep. Next 2 days were great, just put her to bed and she rolled over. At this point I thought that we had achieved a good day time sleep routine. Not so.....DD went to daycare on the 3rd day and by the 4th day she has been so hard to put down I just can't do know if I should revert back to her cot.

Unfortunately DD is not one that likes a lot of comforting when going to sleep, she likes to do it herself without us patting or lying beside her. Therefore all I have been doing is putting her back down every time she gets up. I try not to talk to her except to tell her that it is time to sleep now.

Also if I leave the room when DD is not well on her way to sleeping she will get up and start playing with her toys.

Am I doing this right? Should I persist? Should I take her out of the cot full time?

Should wait until she is older? Only reason I thought to introduce a bed now was because our next bub is due in December and I wanted to make sure DD was comfy in her new big bed.

Bek, you have my every sympathy. What you have written is pretty much exactly what we went through with my DD Olivia at the same age.......

I have no real suggestions for you apart from persistence and do everything with love, despite the frustrations. I honestly believe is is simply novelty: they can get out, so they do!

With Olivia, it took around a month (of very vey tedious putting her back to bed) for her to get in, stay in, and drop off without dramas.

We ended up altering the bath/book/bed ritual a little in that we had bath earlier, the read 2 stories sitting on the couch in her room, then tucked into bed for one last story. But she was allowed to sit up and read a few more books to herself with the nighlight on as we exited.

Believe it or not, the thing that worked really, I think, was leaving the door open for her! As soon as we started doing this, she stopped getting out of bed?! NO idea why this worked!

We also contined to use a CD at bedtime, but not on repeat, and I noticed that when the CD finished, around 35 mins later........ is when she seemed ready to snuggle down and actually sleep......

Not sure if any of that helps you? Either way, I really sympathise, I honestly do. (We will be going through this soon with my 2 year old son, Charlie. I'm dreading it, LOL!)

GOOD LUCK!!

I agree with Lucy, it is a novelty for them for a while. We changed Hailey to a big bed about 3 months ago. We made a big deal out of her getting the bed and watching us put it altogether & buying the bed linen etc so don't know if that helped a little. She had no issues saying goodbye to the cot which I thought she would.

She climbed out of bed for a couple of weeks. She'd also play with her toys instead of sleeping but I would always just explain it was quiet time and if she didn't want a sleep that was ok but she had to stay in her bedroom and play quietly. Seemed to work for us. She eventually got over the novelity and would stay in bed.

In the first week or two, one day she climbed out of bed a couple of times and eventually went quiet for about 20min.....so I went in after this time to see if she was asleep but found her completely naked & wee on the carpet!!! Grrrr.....so you win some & you lose some. (Her) Daddy, Nana & Grandad all got told so she was constantly remindered by us all that we don't do that & bedtime means we stay in bed for some quiet rest. We didn't say she was naughty or growl etc, just more explain how it is iykwim.

I think it just takes some getting used to. We also have to leave the door open now whereas we never used to. Funny that. We still keep everything else routine reading in bed etc.

Good luck.

Thanks ladies for your advice. I just went through it all again today, I feel I really have to persist now. because I am going to be way too tired to deal with this in my last trimester!!!!

Hey Bek,
We are going through this now with Ivy. You have my every sympathy.
I have both Ivy and Noah in the room together now to train them to a big bed. It was too hard having one in one room and the other somewhere else. So you can imagine the mucking around that goes on! What I did with the other kids and what I am doing witht his pair is to have the normal sleep routines and after I tuck them both in, I sit between the beds with a book. If they muck around or get up I just get up put them back into bed and tell them it's time for sleep. Ivy and Noah have been sharing now for just over a week and I am starting to see that they are settling better. I think you are doing the right thing by pushing through it. It might take a little while but you(and she) will get there well before your next baby is welcomed into the household!

I'm about to go through this with DD, we are setting up her new room next weekend. She is a bit older though, 2.5, so hopefully she's old enough now that it won't be a nightmare!

I would have done it sooner to give her enough time to settle in before the bub arrived, but renos have prevented us from doing that.

I'll let you know how it goes!

With Aidyn, we had to lie on a mattress on the floor next to his bed until he fell asleep (because he would cry and get up if we weren't there). And after many many months of good and bad periods, I now sit outside his doorway on a beanbag (with laptop ;) ) ready to send him back to bed as soon as he hops out.

Another thing I have contemplated is putting a baby gate in the bedroom doorway to keep him in there...

All the best with this Bek... I can truly sympathise with how trying (and frustrating) it can be!

Hi Ladies,

Today was slightly better although it still took 1 hour of replacing her to her bed and of course yet again we had tears. I must persist, I must persist I keep telling myself!!!!! Thanks for your stories I need them for reassurance.

Ambah - I found sitting beside her bed and not looking at her helpful. I think I need a bean bag now!!!

Willow - Goodluck with your DD. Let me know how you go.

We have a 17 month old son and are expecting our little girl in November. Our DS is a terrible sleeper so we've decided to buy another cot and keep him in his own cot as long as possible. My DH wanted to try him in a big bed but I felt it was too soon so it will be 2 cots for us for a while.

Good luck with your little girl she sounds like she's doing exactly what Ewan would do!

Today Sara was excellent!!! I told her it was time to have a sleep in the big bed, she went to the room, took her shoes off, laid down and went to sleep!!!! I hope this lasts.

Kris - My DD was born in 9/11/05. You'll love having a little scorpio around, they are full of adventure.

Oh Bek, that is great news! Lets hope she continues on like that! Sara.....what a lovely name, and what a clever chookie!

Moving to baby & toddler general discussion forum.