Tips for How to Transition Your Toddler to a Toddler Bed

One day, after putting my toddler in her crib for nap time, I heard a loud "thump" from upstairs in her room. When I opened my daughter's bedroom door, she was standing in the middle of the floor with a sheepish grin on her face. Instead of taking her nap, she had learned how to climb out of her crib.

Once her crib became a climbing hazard, we had two choice: Let our growing toddler risk life and limb by climbing out her crib on a daily basis, or transitioning her to a toddler bed. She chose the toddler bed, and she did so happily. In fact, the night following the nap time climbing incident she slept for twelve hours in her own toddler bed. Here are some tips for getting your toddler to transition to a toddler bed without missing any sleep.

Tips for Transitioning Your Toddler to a Toddler Bed: Let Your Child Get Used to the Toddler Bed

First, buy a toddler bed or a twin bed with rails and put it in your toddler's room. Our daughter loved her toddler bed when we put it in her room when she was just over a year old. She would climb in it for story time, and she put her dolls to bed in it with her favorite blankets. While she was not yet ready to sleep in her toddler bed at such a young age, she was getting comfortable with the idea that it was her bed, that it was special, and that it was a regular fixture in her room. When it was time for her to actually sleep in the toddler bed, she was accustomed to climbing in and out of the bed herself and the newness had worn off of it.

Tips for Transitioning Your Toddler to a Toddler Bed: Don't Force the Issue