Big Boy Bed

This week we are going through the transition to a big boy bed for my youngest, Will. At almost 18 months old, I never thought I would be heading this direction so fast, but since he is such a climber I can't seem to keep him safely in his crib anymore. So we turned his crib into a toddler bed, put a little side rail up and crossed our fingers hoping he would stay in bed.

Transitioning to a bed is not easy. It takes planning, routine and perserverence. We made the big switch right after he woke up in the morning. This gave him time throughout the day to get used to the look of his new bed so that by nap time it wasn't something to play with. The first nap wasn't to hard to keep him in bed, but he woke up early. Since then keeping him in the bed has been a struggle, today has been the worst. This week I have been trying to stick to routine for naps and bedtime and not allow him to come out of the room even if he doesn't want to go to sleep.

If your having trouble transitioning out of a crib, remeber to keep constant. Put him back to bed after he crawls out and make him understand that it's time to go to bed. Soon enough he will understand that bedtime is time to go to sleep and will stay in his bed.

Now that the crib is gone I am looking forward to getting rid of the changing table... all in good time.