Three-year-old’s first night in a toddler bed couldn’t have gone worse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is she too big for her crib? Our DD stayed in her crib until she turned 4; we just took off the side so that it was like a daybed when she was 3, but because it was the same bed she was comfortable and never got out.

We did the same for my son - crib with toddler rail until 4.5, and then we bought him a full sized bed and made it a big deal - let him pick out his own bedding, etc. He was thrilled.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Mom of older kids here. Did she sleep well in the crib? If so, maybe just go back to that and try again in 6 months. When you’re in the thick of these years, these things seem important. Trust me, they’re not. There will be a point where she no longer wants to sleep in a crib. If that’s not the case yet, and if she sleeps well in her crib (thus allowing you to sleep well in your own bed) enjoy your sleep and let it go.

We tried a toddler bed with my oldest around 3, and it was a disaster. After a week of none of us sleeping and not being able to take it anymore, back to the crib he went. At around 4, he started asking for a regular bed, and when we gave it to him, he happily slept in it from day one. It was a regular bed with rails, not a toddler bed. We followed that same plan for my next two. They are all teens/tweens, and whether or not they switched to a bed at 2, 3, or 4 has made no difference in their lives.

+1 Another mom of teens here. My only parenting regret so far is that I tried to force sleep discipline too much. It is not worth it.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Yes, she slept well in her crib. We were idiots to switch. We took the crib apart and gave it away the same day. Again, idiots.

She’s been asking for a big girl bed for months. She’s three and two months and it’s not getting better. I hate myself.

[Anonymous]

We've been dealing with this for the last few months. We decided to take the side off the crib bc she was climbing out, but I am tempted to just put her back in a crib bc it doesn't feel like we're making much progress.

We just put a baby gate at her door. She still has trouble falling asleep, but she did mostly stay in bed after I told her that I would have to close the gate if she kept getting out--and then I did close the gate shen she did get out. We're going to give this a few more nights.