Shifting Your Toddler From Crib To Bed

Your toddler cannot sleep in the crib forever. You need to buy a bed for your toddler. But the transition from the crib to the bed may not be as smooth as you envisaged. Most often, parents get alarmed by the fact that the baby can now climb out of the crib. The toddler is moved from the crib to the bed in between 2 to 3.5 years of age.

There are certain factors that can prompt the shifting of the toddler from the crib to the bed. Here are some of the most important ones.

• The toddler can now climb out of the crib. When the toddler is sleeping alone, the main purpose of the crib is safety. Parents get really alarmed when they see their active toddler climb out of the crib for the first time.
• The toddler sometimes grow too big for the crib. They get restless as they are caught up in the restricted space of the crib.
• There is a new baby who is going to come in the family and claim the crib. It is both logical and economical for parents to put the new born baby in the old crib. But your first born may or may not agree with your logic. So put the toddler in the new bed at least 3-4 weeks before the new baby arrives.

How to shift the toddler from crib to bed?

• Small children are often very attached to the place that they sleep in. They may not want to leave their crib willingly. The shift from the crib to the bed might give both the toddler and you, sleepless nights. Here are some ways to ease the change of place.
• Try to keep the toddler in the crib as long as possible. You can lower the height of the crib. That will automatically raise the walls of the crib and keep your baby safer.
• Talk to your toddler about the 'big bed' and how cool it is going to be to sleep on a bed. You have to sell this idea to your toddler that sleeping alone on a bed is a 'grown up thing'.
• Keep the bed in the same place as the crib in your kid's bedroom. Kids are attached to their place of sleeping and even a slight change of angle might disturb the quality of their sleep.
• Use the same baby bedsheets, cushion and blankets of the crib on the toddler's bed. This is for the sake of familiarity.

Have you shifted your toddler from the crib to the bed? What challenges did you face in the process?