Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Or We Could All Sleep In The Crib.

As I'm sitting here typing this post, I hear a little Cub babbling over the monitor. He went to bed almost an hour ago, and yet sleep has eluded him thus far and he has chosen to respond by chatting it up with a few stuffed animals in his bed. I'm sure the conversations are thrilling.

A bit one-sided, perhaps, but thrilling nonetheless.

It's really quite nice to realize how much Cub loves his crib. I remember a few days during my first trimester when I just needed an extra break and I could stick Cub in his crib for 30 minutes or so and he'd play contently by himself while I passed out face-first into my bed for a quick snooze. So nice.

But, now we are embarking on a new stage in life. We have a new little one on the way, which means big changes for all of us, but especially for Cub. From the moment Cub came home from the hospital, we put him down for naps in his crib (and bed time in his pack-n-play) and then he moved to the crib for good five days after that. We all slept better then.

Which means, if Naomi follows suit, then Cub will have a new bedmate come June.

So, naturally, it's time for us to consider the next step. We have some options. I am going to list them because writing a paragraph on random sleeping arrangements might seem a bit tedious.

1) Cub in crib, Naomi in pack-n-play
2) Cub in pack-n-play, Naomi in crib
3) Cub in big boy bed, Naomi in crib

Okay. So. Cub will be moving into his big boy room at the end of the month (hopefully). When Naomi is born in June, she will move into his nursery. The crib is wonderfully solid, which makes it a bit tough to take down and take apart and transfer. So, I just assume leave it in the nursery, since Cub will need to phase out of it eventually, anyway. I want to move Cub into his new room sooner than later, simply because I want his big life changes to happen in small increments, rather than "NEW BABY! NEW ROOM! BIG BOY BED! ADJUST!!!!"

That might be a bit rough on the little kid. Not that he wouldn't eventually just deal with it, but, you know. If we can be nice about it, I'd like to be nice about it.

So. If Cub is still too small for his big boy bed, then I plan on setting up the pack-n-play in his new room and letting him sleep in that, so we aren't fighting the big boy bed transition whilst also dealing with the whirlwind of New baby! Toddler! In the same house!

Then we can wait a few weeks while Mommy re-attaches her head and try again.

But, these all might be horrible ideas. Because I've never done this before. Some Moms advise to move toddlers ASAP into their "big" beds before they actually realize what's going on. Then some say to wait until they're almost three. I'd rather try sooner than later, since we have a bun in the oven and that tends to hurry things up a bit.

So. Have any of you Moms out there dealt with this? What advice do you have?

Have a lovely day.

19 comments:

  1. my girls are 19 months apart and the big one (now 26 months) is still in her crib :) she LOVES being in there and has never tried to climb out. i figure she'll let me know when she's ready! now that we're all adjusted to the baby being here, i'm ready whenever :)

    i think moving cub to his new room while still keeping him in a safe "nook" seems like a good plan. then when he's ready for a big bed he's not having to adjust to that and a new room...

    (on the flip side, i know lots and lots of kids that were in "big" beds before they turned 2 and did just fine :))

    lol. i'm no help! sorry!

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  2. We transitioned Will at 22 months because we were going on an RV trip and I did not want to bring a pack and play. Otherwise I would have waited I think. I was worried because I had heard horror stories about the transfer to a big boy bed. But it was smooth for us. He knew he was not allowed to get out of the big boy bed and would get a spanking if he did.

    Now Will spoke A LOT VERY EARLY so we were TOTALLY communicating with him. Cooper on the other hand is not 18months and does not have any words, so I can't imagine transitioning him at 22 months! But a lot can change in a few months so we will see :)

    Just know that it doesn't have the be an awful transition like everyone says it will be :) Or, it might be :)

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  3. I obviously don't have experience in this myself, but I have a friend who has 4 kids ages 4 and under. The distance between them ranges from 12-18 months. When each new baby came along, they moved the previous one to a toddler bed. She said that the younger they were, the less of a problem it was...the one that was 18 months old actually had the hardest time. Another mom friend and her husband moved their son when he was 2 and had to spank him every night to get him to stay in his bed. Ah! So, like you, we are trying to figure out what to do...

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  4. Not that i have any experience, but is there anyway you can move Cub into his new room now and allow that transition to occur for a couple months, and then try a transition into a big boy bed all before baby comes?

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  5. No advice here but I have been wondering myself when to move Livy to a big girl bed. The thought of that makes me sad so I may be holding onto that crib a bit longer;-)

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  6. Selah moved to her big girl bed at 19 months. She really liked it and had no desire to go back to her crib. Of course, we did have to do a couple of nights of teaching her to stay in bed, but overall it went much more smoothly than I expected!

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  7. Ugh...I just posted a comment and forgot to type in the little security thingy...

    Um - Good luck! Haha...I haven't given much thought to how Alex will transition, so I'm going to just throw him in his big boy bed and see how it goes...Mikayla will be a in a cradle for the first bit of her life and so I figure Alex will transition then or a month or two before she's born. That way, I don't have two screaming babies in the night :-)

    (P.S. Enjoyed your answers! I like country music too...can't get enough of Jason Aldean :-)

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  8. No advice, but I do have a question for you! My parents Christmas gift to us was to buy us a cradle or bassinet once we picked one out. Now I am debating whether or not we should do that or just put him straight in his crib once he's home. Thoughts on having a newborn in your room vs. across the hall in a crib from day one?

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  9. Sophia moved to her big girl bed at 15 months and it was no big deal to her. She actually loves her big girl bed. You have to do what works for you... good luck!

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  10. We are considering the same thing, but since Aidan is already 22 months and our baby won't be here until Sept., we definitely have more time. However, just a couple of nights ago we forgot the pack n play and made a little bed on the floor for Aidan to see what he would do. He did great! It was not for the whole night, but he slept for the evening until we left for home and didn't even seem to mind. He went right to sleep! I think if your child is well adjusted to sleeping and enjoys bedtime without a fight, than transitioning them is a whole lot easier than with one that fights sleep. I am pretty sure we'll be moving Aidan to a toddler bed shortly after he turns 2, but I am not so worried about it now that we had that impromptu "test" the other night.

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  11. Awwww, Caleb is becoming SUCH a big boy!! :*( & :) at the same time.

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  12. When I found out I was pregnant with our third our middle child was still in her crib sharing a room with her older sister. We knew eventually we would have to make the switch before the baby was born and before she was two. She turned 2 Oct 5th, I gave birth Oct 24th. So to get her use to sleeping in a big bed we would put her down for her naps in her sisters bed. About 3 months before I was due we moved her into her own big girl bed and she was exited to be able to sleep and take naps in her own big girl bed.

    We tried a toddler bed but she didn't like it at all.

    Best Wishes

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  13. Have you thought about a cradle? It sounds like your kiddos stay in the nursery right away, but we had Grace in our room in a cradle (I guess pack n' play would be the same) for the first few months (mainly for nursing ease) and then she napped in her room. Cub is so little to be switching to a big boy bed, he would probably do just fine, but I think we kept G in a crib until she started jumping out of it around 2. It's nice to keep them contained as long as possible!

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  14. Hi - I just found your blog through Sassy Times and this post is so appropriate for us. I have a 2 year old and 7 month old and we ended up buying a 2nd crib b/c I couldn't get Henry to sleep in his toddler bed. I wish I knew some tricks but he's a slow talker so we can't have a deep conversation about it either. ;-)

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  15. We moved our oldest to her toddler bed when she turned 2. She had trouble at first--wandering around at night & calling mommy. Very strange for her since she'd always been such a great sleeper. Then we figured it out--she was falling out of bed. We had put pillows down so the fall wasn't her, just waking her up. We installed rails and she slept through the night from then on.

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  16. Didn't occur to me to move the Ashlee out of the baby bed because there are six years between her and Tyler. I finally moved her to a big bed when she was almost four. I always just left the side of the crib down, but she never climbed out. Tyler started climbing out when he was about 1 1/2, so to a big bed he went and we also had trouble with him getting out of bed (night owl like me) and he was a sleep walker. Yikes. I guess I would put Mr. Wonderful in the new room in a familiar bed - the crib or pack and play - at least until he adjusts to the new room. Shouldn't take too long.

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  17. oh, my goodness, we're about to do the same thing! I'm hoping that things go smoothly, but I'm preparing myself for the worst! we're going to try the "big girl bed" pretty soon, just in case it goes horribly, we can go back to the crib and then try again a few weeks later, so I don't feel too much pressure to get her out of the "baby room" before #2 arrives. oh, what an adventure!!!

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  18. I dont have much experience in this area but your little one is fabulous and I am sure he will do just fine with whatever you decide. Kids are very resilient and they adapt very well. Good luck... and CONGRATULATIONS of your baby girl!!! (sorry I didn't say it earlier, I've been having internet mishaps!)
    -Jen

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  19. Ours were sooo close together, we just bought another crib that was a convertible, that made it super easy.

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