Our Second Change

So far this year we've gone through several changes at our house. The first, I explained in a previous post. The second, we decided to transition Little Sister from a crib to a Toddler Bed!

It took me a long while to decide to transition Big Sister. I think she was around 15 months when I busted open the box and put together her toddler bed. I just didn't want to give up my baby and a toddler bed meant she was a big girl. Big Sister adjusted to the change better than I could have ever imagined, so this time around with Little Sister I was hoping it would go just as smooth.

We were given a toddler bed and it has been sitting on the porch since I was pregnant with Little Sister. Little Sister was trying to climb things, which made Hubby and I a little nervous about the possibility of Little Sister deciding to climb out of her crib. So, on February 26th I washed off the toddler bed, brought it into the house, and set it up in Big Sister's room. I put a small desk lamp in the corner of the room on the dresser so that she wouldn't be scared of the new room since Big Sister's night light was burnt out and I needed to buy new bulbs.

Both girls had not had naps all day, which I did on purpose, I figured it would be easy to get them to go to sleep at bedtime even with the new change. I put Little Sister down first, she was a little restless so I gave her a bottle and stayed with her until she fell asleep. After I was sure Little Sister was asleep, I put Big Sister in her bed and tucked her in. Piece of cake, it went PERFECTLY!

The next day proved to be a little more difficult. I hadn't really figured out what I would do at nap time, but once Little Sister fell asleep I took her in and laid her down in her bed. Big Sister was awake but ready for a nap as well, so after about 30 minutes I put her down in her bed. Well, that was a bust. Big Sister decided she wasn't really ready for a nap, so she woke Little Sister up and they both were up for the rest of the day. Bedtime was okay, Big Sister crashed and burned and was out cold. This was good because Little Sister cried and cried for a while, even with me sitting next to her bed waiting for her to go to sleep.

The third day, I reexamined my nap time plan. I decided to let Big Sister skip her nap and just put Little Sister down in her bed during nap time. At bedtime Big Sister was exhausted and went right to sleep. I decided to turn off the lamp to see if the darkness would help Little Sister fall asleep better. It worked, I gave her a bottle and she rolled over and went right to sleep.

Fourth day, same as the third, it was a success however Little Sister fell out of bed at bedtime. I went in to put her back in bed. She whimpered a little from the fall but was easy to sooth right back to sleep.

Day 4 I crept in to take a photo of my Sleeping Beauties!

Day five was insane! Both the girls woke up in the morning really fussy but Big Sister was running a fever. I HAD to run into town so both girls skipped naps. At bedtime, Big Sister went to bed early. Little Sister went to bed smoothly but fell out of bed again. She went back to sleep well with a little soothing rub on her back. For some odd reason though, Big Sister woke up around midnight and decided to turn on the light. I went in and turned off the light and told her to go back to bed. I did this three times, but on the third time it woke up Little Sister. I was able to get Little Sister back bed and brought Big Sister out to the living room with me. Daddy agreed to stay up with her until she went to bed, I was glad because she didn't crash until 5:00AM!

From day six on we have had great success and no major issues getting the girls to take naps and go to bed. It kind on depends on the day as to what nap time is like. Little Sister usually goes down for a nap every day, unless we are running errands. Some days Big Sister will take her nap after Little Sister gets done with her nap or if she is really tired she will curl up on the couch and nap there. Little Sister has only fallen out of bed two times since the fifth night.

I have to admit that a couple of those early nights when we were first transitioning Little Sister, I REALLY wanted to just take her back to the crib in our bedroom. My hubby wasn't much help, he wanted me to bring her back into our room, especially when she kept crying that second night. I held my ground and worked through it and am SO happy about pushing forward. I know that other Moms out there have a much tougher time transitioning their little ones from a crib to a toddler bed, but my one piece of advice would be to stay strong and create a routine! It will get easier and you will be happy in the end!

How well did your little one transition and at what age did you decide to make the change to a toddler bed?

Have a wonderful night dear Followers and happy transitioning!