Moving From a Crib to a Bed: Why I Recommend Waiting
While I have a blog post on To-Do’s before you switch your child to a big kid bed, found here, this post is going to focus mainly on why you should wait until your child is over 3 years of age.
If your child has been in a crib most of their life, their crib is their safe space. Moving to a big kid bed is huge change! It’s a lot to ask of a young toddler to expect them to stay in their bed for sleep. I believe that as parents, our job is to guide our children. Children look to us for boundaries so they know what is safe, and what is not.
Ideally we would transition a child into their own bed, once they can understand the concept and boundaries of staying in their bed. Consider;
Is their room baby proof?
If they left their room, is the house safe for them if they decide to explore (children do not give us a memo before they decide to do something new)?
How is sleep currently going?
Are you wanting to transition because of a new sibling arrival?
Is the hope of transitioning to remedy a sleep issue?
Now let’s look at some examples of when would not be an ideal time to transition;
your child has gone through a huge change such as a move, or maybe a parent deployed
your child has recently experienced a trauma or passing in your family
your child is currently potty training
your child’s sleep is currently haywire
you have a new baby coming and would like to use their crib for new baby
Echoing what I said before, moving to a big kid bed is a huge change that does best without the added pressure of other huge life changes.
Potty training is a process in itself, and choosing to switch to a big kid bed during this time can leave a child feeling very confused. You can absolutely potty train your child while they’re in a crib.
By waiting until a child is over 3 years old, they can understand the concept of “staying in bed.” If sleep is a struggle, I would remedy sleep while they are in a contained space before transitioning. What I often see is, sleep is rough, a child is transitioned, they sleep well for 2 weeks and then they realize they can get up, cruise around and PARTYYYYY. Now you’ve got a kid who isn’t sleeping and can open doors!
After 3, they can also understand logical consequences. For example; your child gets out of bed 2x overnight. You respond with, “mommy/daddy are sooo tired because we were up several times last night, therefore we aren’t able to go to the park today (or bake those cookies, etc) because our bodies need to rest.”
If you are expecting a new baby, rather then transition your child in response, look into purchasing a used crib or a pack n play!
Regardless, before transitioning, or if you have a toddler in a crib, head to my Toddler Bedtime Download to download your Family Sleep Rules chart and a guide to making bedtime easier (linked below)!