Tell me about big kid beds. If your kid likes his crib and it hasn’t occurred to him to climb out, would there be a reason to move him to a bed?
I don’t want to move Linc to a bed, and he doesn’t want to move, but Clem is crawling all over and can pull herself out of the cosleeper, so it’s not safe to keep her in there any longer.
The plan was to move Linc to a bed when Clem was newborn, have her in the cosleeper and put the crib away, and then when she was 6 months old, get the crib out and put her in it.
The problem is that we’re about 6 months behind. Only in the last few weeks has Clem been in the cosleeper–before that she was in our bed. So she’s finally all content in there, and now she can crawl out. What the hell?!?
Linc doesn’t want to give up his crib, so we are considering getting or borrowing a second crib, but we don’t have room for one. The four of us are sleeping in a smallish area, and there’s not room for another crib.
There will be much rearranging of people and furniture in upcoming months, but that involves paint and spackle and whatnot and we are about 6 months behind on that as well.
What to do? Any tips on selling the grownup bed idea to the toddler? Of course this still doesn’t solve the problem of space, but somehow a small mattress on the floor seems more workable than another hulking crib.
8 responses so far ↓
1 Ginny // Jun 26, 2009 at 8:23 pm
We are getting ready to make that transition. Not sure if Miles wants it, but it seems like it is time. We’ll probably get ours at Ikea. Maybe Linc would be into the idea if he saw the display beds there or at another store?
2 jdL // Jun 27, 2009 at 6:25 am
we moved carmen into a big girl bed a while ago. we talked excitedly about it with her for a long time prior. we then put the bed in the room with her for a few days while she still slept/napped in the crib. this let her get used to it and explore (and jump) on it. when the big day came we all sat around and took the crib apart together. she slept like a champ in her bed that first night and every night since.
i know some of that won’t apply to you but hopefully it helps in some small way.
plus i really like ginny’s idea of taking L bed shopping.
good luck!
3 Renee // Jun 27, 2009 at 8:39 am
The bed shopping idea definitely worked for us. We went to several different stores and sat on the bed, talked about sleeping in a big boy bed, and then let Hayden pick his own bedding for it. He seemed to take pride in having his choice of what sheets and blanket he would have and when we got it all set up we read books in it before bed every night for a week before we actually had him sleep in it.
Have you thought of holding Clementine off for a few more months by borrowing a pack and play from someone? It would be smaller than adding a new piece of furniture to the room and she wouldn’t be able to go anywhere. I have one you could borrow if you would like to try it.
4 Brett // Jun 28, 2009 at 12:43 am
This might not be feasible, but why not let them sleep together in the crib?
5 Alittlegnocchi // Jun 28, 2009 at 12:29 pm
We converted Ila’s bed last summer when she started climbing out. So not so much an issue of having to sell the idea. When we moved here we got her this http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/S39858939 in red which she loves. She named the animals at the top. I think it will be a pretty quick sell if he gets to check it out first.
6 Cassandra B // Jun 29, 2009 at 10:25 am
Funny, I had the same thought as my husband.
Is there a chance of letting them sleep together in the crib?
Barring that, I’ll second the vote for letting Linc pick his own bed. They have a whole kids bed section at Ikea, including ones that start toddler size and extend as the kids age.
7 Julie // Jun 29, 2009 at 11:29 am
For some reason I thought the Pack n Play wouldn’t fit in our room, but it does, so yay, Renee, that’s what we did. Phew.
Now we can continue to ignore the fact that all four of us are in one smallish space and that we have some major rearranging to do.
Crisis averted.
Thank you for your ideas! We’ll get a bed for Linc someday…he seems very averse to giving up his crib.
And C and B–can’t have them both in the crib, b/c Clem is very grabby/pokey and would pull Lincoln’s hair all night…
8 Amy // Jun 29, 2009 at 8:05 pm
We have the opposite situation so I have no advice, but I feel for you. June has never slept in a crib and we couldn’t get her sold on it for anything. She sleeps in a toddler bed now and that is working great. Good luck with it, whatever you decide to try.
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