blackout blinds, later bed time.

One of the best pieces of advice I ever got from this site was not to move my kids out of their cribs until ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY. Our oldest didn’t climb out until he was 3. Our youngest still in a crib at almost 3. And we have extremely tall children. I will hold onto the crib as long as possible!!!!!

Anonymous wrote:I will never understand why people don't just wait until their kid is ready for a bed. We switched both of mine (two VERY different personalities) after they turned three and had zero bedtime issues. Two years old is too early and "we need the crib for the new baby" is a stupid excuse and so unfair to your older child. You took away her bed to give to the new baby, how do you think that makes her feel? Poor thing.

Between 18 months and 2 years my kids had figured out how to climb out. We put the mattress directly on the floor. We zipped them inside sleep sacks. They outsmarted us at every turn. At some point, it does become dangerous and it’s a better idea to suck it up and move them to a bed.

I don’t know OP’s situation but it’s very possible she has a climber and wants to get her toddler used to their new sleeping arrangement before the baby is born. Also, both of my kids were thrilled to move to a bed and had no issues or sadness around leaving the crib.

I will never understand why people don't just wait until their kid is ready for a bed. We switched both of mine (two VERY different personalities) after they turned three and had zero bedtime issues. Two years old is too early and "we need the crib for the new baby" is a stupid excuse and so unfair to your older child. You took away her bed to give to the new baby, how do you think that makes her feel? Poor thing.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How old is she?

She's 2.5. WE have DC2 due sometime in the next few weeks and I'm really nervous about my toddler's ability to get any sleep once we introduce a new baby into the equation.

Was she climbing out? Maybe this is a terrible time to mess with a good thing.

Anonymous wrote:Lock the door.

+1

Lock the door.

Anonymous wrote:How old is she?

She's 2.5. WE have DC2 due sometime in the next few weeks and I'm really nervous about my toddler's ability to get any sleep once we introduce a new baby into the equation.

We have a baby gate on his door and we couple it with an OK to wake clock. If it's time to get up and he whines, we go to him immediately. Otherwise, we try to make him wait.

We lock the door.

AFirst child transitioned a little before he was 2yrs old and second at a little over 18 months. First whined a bit (5 min or so) by the door the first night but would mostly just wander his room and pick up stuffed animals and then fall asleep on the ground. Once asleep, we’d move him to his bed. Second child shares a room with his big brother so they just play around for a while and eventually pass out in the same bed.

Lock the door.

I tried the silent walk back and after a few nights was losing my sanity because it was taking HOURS and he thought it was the most fun game ever.

So, what I did was tell my son that it was time to sleep and he needed to stay in his room. I told him I could see he was having trouble staying in his room, so I was going to help him by closing the door.

He freaked out and wanted the door open and tried to open it. I held the door closed, and told him I would only open the door if he got back in bed. He immediately got back in bed. I opened the door. He got out of bed and I shut the door again and held it. He freaked out again, but he learned.

The entire process took like 5 minutes and some tears, and I only wish I'd done it sooner.

We got an Ooly ok to wake clock and told her she had to stay in bed until Ooly turned green

How old is she?

All the advice I see says to walk the child back to bed when they get out - but what if DD won't stay in bed long enough for me to even get out of the room? Any tips? It's been a week and first few nights she actually stayed in the bed, and just started waking up earlier (i.e. 5 am), but last few nights it's taken her 1-2 hours to fall asleep and she has a lot of trouble staying in bed. She also still seems to be unable to connect that last sleep cycle and is up around 5:15 everyday, if anyone has tips for that too, but mostly just how do I keep her in her room???