Moving into the big girl/boy bed is a huge step. We are about to begin this process with our youngest Anna. She is almost 2 and everyday she tries to get in Emily’s bed. So we have decided to begin the transition.
The way we moved Emily into a big girl bed was very simple, although at first we had no idea what we were doing, and we spent several sleepless nights fighting her, then my sister made a brilliant suggestion that worked like a charm.
First, we set the bed up in the room with the crib still in the room. We would ask her if she wanted to sleep in her big girl bed, she would of course say yes, and we would put her in.
Second we would be sure to tell her that if she got out of the big girl bed she would have to go back in the crib, and she would agree. Of course, as soon as we left the room she would get out of the bed. We would without a word put her in the crib, and leave the room. ( Sometimes they can even be intimidated by the bed, so allowing them to get used to the idea, and be in control of when to go in it helps to ease the fear )
It took a few weeks, but it was fine. The great point here is there is no power struggle. If they can not stay in their bed like a big girl or big boy, then they stay in the crib. Finally one day at nap time Emily said she wanted to sleep in the big girl bed, I explained the rule again and she agreed. She did not get out of the bed, and we have had no problems since. No struggle, no sleepless nights, or tantrums, smooth as could be.
We will see how this goes for Anna, although I somewhat anticipate it to be a little more difficult with her being in the same room as Emily. I will let you know soon enough!
So if you are trying to make the transition, see how this goes for you, and let me know! If you have any other suggestions to make this easier, feel free to leave your ideas here!
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Can’t believe that Anna is moving into a big girl bed! We did exactly the same thing with Zach. Start out trying at nap time that way bedtime is still peaceful. Zach would sleep in the big boy bed in the day, but wasn’t so sure of it at night. Then after 2 weeks or so he slept in the big bed at night. All was well. We then put in place the rule that you could not get out of bed unless you had to go potty and then you still had to tell us. Zach still is good about letting us know when he is getting up for something. There are some mornings I wish he wasn’t though. He is such an early riser.