Toddler Bed Transition

[NaturalMama311]

DD is almost 22 months and we just finally got the guard rails for DD's bed (after being on backorder for months) and now she refuses to sleep in her bed. She absolutely freaks out when I put her in it and immediately climbs out.

She seems to be scared of it even though its her same crib, just with a guard rail on the front insted of a full height side rail. I don't think its the novelty of being able to climb out since she cries and screams as soon as I try to lay her down.

I've tried letting her climb in herself and she refuses, or she gets in it and cries. I tried laying in bed with her but she just wants to play. I tried leaving her in her room to just get used to the bed and she either sits in the bed and cries or plays in her room. I've tried letting her sleep in our bed and she just rolls around, plays and then gets out of bed and runs around.

I finally just gave up on the nap and I'm letting her go without a nap today, hoping that she will be so tired tonight that she will go to sleep without issue.

She can't be rocked/cuddled/swayed/nursed to sleep anymore. For many, many months we've just put her in bed and she goes to sleep on her own so I don't really have any methods for soothing her to sleep.

Any suggestions? Anyone else had these problems when transitioning to a new bed? TIA!

[Areia]

We talked up the big girl bed a long time before we transitioned and also did mini room makeover. We went shopping and let her pick out the bedding and new decals for the wall. We needed to rearrange her room so she had fun helping putting her stuff in new places. The first few days I asked her where she wanted to sleep (with us), but we did lots of playing in there, esp. centered around the bed and got her all psyched for sleeping in her new bed. Within the week, she wanted to sleep in her "big girl" room.

[Violet2]

We are delaying the big girl bed until I'm willing to live without nap time. DD is almost ready to give it up, but I'm waiting until after vacation and after preschool starts just in case she still needs down time.

So we are still in the crib.

However, we did put her big girl bed up and loaded it with all her stuffed animals. She loves to play there and read books there and we have talked about how she'll be sleeping there soon.

So far it's been a positive experience. Although I don't expect her to stay in bed and I am pretty sure there will be zero napping once we fully transition.

Honestly, at 22 months, your toddler probably isn't ready to give up naps and I would maybe go back to the crib. She's also a little young yet to 'reason' with which makes it harder.

V

[dividedsky]

my boys are 18mos - i have them in twin mattresses on the floor in their room. i know what you mean about the wanting to play/popping off the bed thing. my kids are different...

a will go to sleep just fine usually when he's tired if i sit with him and rhythmically pat his butt. it's his thing. if the butt pat isn't working, i leave the room for a couple of minutes. he usually plays for a bit and then calls for me - and then he's really ready to go to sleep.

n was the same as your little one - i could leave him in the crib and he'd roll around and happily put himself to sleep. now, he wants to get up and play at bedtime, bop around the room, whatever. if i leave the room, he'll stay up playing for a while. so i let him. i poke my head in every so often and try to lay him down and sing him a song - eventually he's ready to mellow out, gets that glassy look and i can leave him and he'll doze soon after. if he cries when i leave, i know he's just overtired and can't settle, so i go right back in and try to get him to focus on me... then on a song... and then he'll finally relax.

that's what works for us. hope it helps you somehow!