Going into Big Bed?

Ok, so have been slowly getting DS's new room organised for him to move into (its a bigger room and will mean the new bubs is closer to us). He's still in his cot atm and his car bed is set up in his new room.

Ive been reading bits and pieces on what age people transferred into a big bed, but would like to ask how you did it? Whether your kids were going into a new room or not? Whether you put their cot in the new room for them to get use to a different room first or left their cot set up while you put the big bed in their exisiting room or just made a clean switch into the new room and/or bed?

My initial thoughts are to put him in the new room in his cot to get use to the room, and then will transfer him into the big bed over the next few months.. but am just curious if this will work, or is the best way to go about it.. or is just leaving the cot in the "baby" room and stepping up to the "big boy" room and bed the best way?

Also wanted to ask.. how did you switch them to the big bed.. in terms of.. did you try and get them to sleep during the day in the big bed and then at night in the cot until they got use to it.. or transferred them from the cot once they had fallen asleep.. or just made a clean swtich?

(Hope that makes sense!)
TIA!

Hey Kell, positive thoughts for this mission lol.

We moved house in October and Darcy would have been 16 months old. I figured I might put a big bed in her new room in the new house and see how she went - if it didn't work I figured it didn't matter since we had no time constraints like needing the cot.
However the best laid plans can always be disrupted by a toddler and 3 weeks before we moved, Darcy decided (flat out refused actually) that she wasn't sleeping in a cot anymore. She slept on a fold out bed until a few weeks after we moved and I bought her a big bed.
It was not without issues though. I had major dramas until Christmas so about 2 months and I was letting her fall asleep on the lounge/my bed and then transferring her as it was such a battle and my husband has been away since we moved.
Then one day she just 'got it'. Now I say, let's go and have a sleep, I put her on the bed and she does - same at night.

We made a clean switch, let him shoose his own doona and sheets ect and got him excited about being a "BIG BOY" and explained that big boys sleep in BIg beds ect, and his new roon that he could help pick the decor ect. Had a couple of nights where we let him fall asleep on the lounge then moved him, and also put the COt matress on the floor in his room so he could sleep on that if he wanted to. Goodluck:D

Kell, we moved Jack into a new room at the same time. He was about 16 months old. Firstly, we made up his new room with stickers on the walls etc, and all the furniture. We moved his toybox in there from the playroom. I took him shopping and he picked his own linen and we put that on the bed. Then we started having play time in the room for a couple of days, and we kept talking about "Jack's new big boy bed". Then after a couple of days we did his night time routine in his new room (story etc), then asked him where he wanted to sleep. For the first two nights he pointed to his old room. On the third night he pointed to his new bed and climbed in. We never looked back from there.

GL with it!!

Oh well done Jack, Darcy and Mel's DS!! What clever little munchkins ;)

I am ordering him a Diego (Dora's cousin) Doona as he absolutely loves Diego. He has a shirt and just goes nuts when wearing it. So i know he will be attracted to that.

Yeh see i dont think Jesse is in mind set atm for me to say choose which room if you get me, he wouldnt have a clue what im talking about lol. Though i must say in the last month he is really starting to get cluey with speach like from both myself and talking himself. So maybe another month or so might be the idea and then he will understand alot more and just take our time.

Thanks guys for the info.. it really helps to see how things worked for you :)

Hey...

I put DD in her big bed just after Xmas she was 15 months. We moved her new bed into her old room, and just put her in. She goes to sleep fine on her own, so we jsut did the normal, gave her the bottle and dummy next to her head and off she went... slept through for the first few night beleive it or not! We have a side rail up now as she had a few tumbles, and that has worked a treat.

Sometimes she will get out now and cry for a bit, we jsut ignore her (as long as she's not hysterical) and she usually falls asleep at the door, within a few minutes and we just put her back into bed when we go to bed!!! She rarely does this though!

I guess you need to what you feel is best... you know DS better than we do. I think if he has one of those car beds then just put him straight in... he'll be ok... Kids adapt very easily!

We just made the move 3 days ago putting ds into his "big boy bed". I got him a Wiggles doonah cover and he was very excited. We moved the cot out of his room late Thursday afternoon and put the bed in, and he went to bed that night very proud of himself. He did come out of his room twice, but that was just because he could...

If I were you I would leave the cot in the baby room and put him straight into his new bed in his new room. Otherwise it's 2 transitions he has to make. As far as deciding whether to do it first as a night or day sleep, use whichever he usually goes down better for. We did a night sleep as the first as ds always settles quickly at night but usually mucks around for a while before his day sleep.

Good luck!

i just packed up the cot and set up the big bed and explained that this was his new specail big bed. Then i took him shopping and let him pick a doona, sheets and quilt cover set, he also picked a soft toy to sleep in his big bied with him. He didn't have any troubles whatsoever, except for constantly coming out of the bedroom at night, so we just started to shut the bedroom door. He has a nightlight so its not pitch black in there. The first couple of nights he was upset cause he couldn't escape anymore, but now he is just fine with having the door shut.

GL, hope you have an easy transition.

Kell, I think Tom would have have more trouble understanding that now and he is the same age as Jack was. But I think if we were to move him now (which we're not, there's no baby on the way this time LOL), we would use the same approach but maybe make the decision for him where to sleep.

We moved Nina into her big bed last month, and it's been a great success. She stayed in the same room, but we made a big deal out of it all. She helped us take the cot out, and we explained it was for baby Emily. Then when we set up her big bed, I put on her doona, telling her this is her special doona and pillow. And I took out all the 'baby' things, so made it up like a big girls room. She loves it so much that whenever someone comes over, she takes them into her room to show them her new bed, and we haven't had any problems with sleep either.
Good luck with it.

Wow, I was about to ask the same question...I don't know if we're ready yet or not but I have started thinking about the move... DS is quite 'tall' so he won't fit in the cot too much longer... ;)

sherie - that was one of the reasons I moved Nina in a big bed. She was waking herself up at night from hitting the sides of the cot. She'd definitely grown out of it.

I forgot to say kel, that the day we moved Nina into her big bed, we did it in the morning. So her first sleep in it was a day sleep. Just make sure he's ready for a sleep when you put him in it, otherwise he'll climb out of bed and you'll hear a knock at the door! lol

Thank you so much for your replies. It helps to give me an idea on how to approach it. Im now thinking the best idea is to transfer him to the new room and straight into the big bed. As Dee said otherwise it would be 2 transitions at different times. I think i might wait a month or so. I still have quite a few months up my sleeve so hopefully by then he understands a bit more. Will get his room and bed looking like we wont wanna leave!

Thanks Jodi.. will make sure he's definately sleepy!

Thanks again!

Thanks for posting this as we are thinking of this too. How do you stop them from moving around the bed like they do in the cot?

Nina moves around a lot, but the bed rail keeps her in. So far she hasn't fallen out of bed.

Alexa has been in her BIG Bed (cot with side off now as it is a convertible cot) 5 nights ago.. & counting LOL, this is our second attempt (I give in to easily & dont like playing the jack-in-a-box game)...

I made the big deal about taking the side off & she chose the bedding & 'helped' make the bed... the first night she kept getting out of bed so now I hhave to shut the door... she still cries & throws a tanty after she has finished her bottle, but the time is getting less & less (not a CC option really though)...

I also made her a bedtime sticker chart & have spongebob stickers & make a big deal about getting a sticker in teh morning if she stayes in her big girl bed all night... she sort of understands this (but i did put the chart out of arms reach though cause she tried to pull the stickers off LOL...)..

I slightly open her bedroom door when I go to bed & she jsut comes in to our room in the morning... so far no really early morning wake up calls...

HTH....

Belle - we started using a very flat pillow in ds's cot a few months ago to encourage him to keep his head at one end of the bed. Now he's been in his big bed for 4 nights and so far so good. he likes having the Wiggles doonah on him too so that helps keep him in place. ATM he only has a mattress on the floor and he has rolled out twice but just climbs back in himself.

It's funny in the mornings though as he seems to forget he can get out himself now, so he stays in bed calling to me and when I go in he asks "Up?" like he used to in his cot! It's very cute.

Belle.. that is going to be my issue too with Jesse. He has a pillow in his cot and i lay him down on it every night and pull his sheets up. As soon as i leae the room he's up and laying on top of his blankets with his head up the other end of the bed. His big bed is a car bed so it has side but am just wonder what i should do with the food of the bed. Im going to make sure i put something on the floor where he will get in and out of the bed just incase he falls out but maybe i should think about getting a bed rail for the very bottom. Hmmm.. all these things to think about! ;)

Kell - We have just done it. My son was almost 2 and we needed the cot for DD. I was going through exactly the same as you. So much worry. But we just thought one night, nope, we'll take the cot down and put him straight in his bed. He was an absaloute angel!!! I was sooooooo shocked! He cried out once when we left the room, and did not hear another peep from him. He has been perfect init ever since. I think we need to give our babies more credit. LOL. I was so worried that he would be scared, cry, fall out, keep coming out etc. But he has proven me wrong and he is an angel. I think it also might have been cause he was a bit older than your DS too.

Good Luck with it all.