Everything You Need to Know About Crib to Bed Transition.

Crib-to-bed transition is one of the key milestones in the child’s sleep journey, when it happens at the wrong time or when the child is not ready, it is usually a step that is accompanied by sleep disruptions. So in this blog, I will share with you the best time to do this transition and how to prepare for it. 

What is the best time to move the child from crib to bed? 

1- It is highly recommended to wait as much as possible, until 3-4 years old at least. By that age, the child is developmentally ready to handle such transition, you are able to have a conversation with him/her about the changes through different communication techniques. 

2- The child is within the above age range or older and started to communicate interest in the big bed. 

Before jumping into how to prepare for this, let me share with you some situations when you should avoid doing this transition.

Don’t do the transition if: 

1- Your child is younger than the range of 3 years old and he/she starts to climb off the crib, climbing out of the crib is not a sign that the child is ready to move to a big bed yet. This is a frequent scenario that usually happens around 18 months, but there are many ways to manage climbing out. Moving to a big bed is not the solution though, of course, there are some rare cases where we need to do this transition earlier if there is a safety concern, but there are other ways to deal with this too! (will talk about this in a different blog soon). 

2- Your child is still not around the right age and you are having a sibling on the way, having a new sibling is a huge thing for your elder child already, so it’s helpful to be mindful about introducing too many changes at the same time.

3- Your child is not rested already. Before doing this transition ensure that your child is already having healthy sleep habits and able to sleep independently. A big toddler bed comes with a lot of freedom to roam around the room or the house if the child does not know how to sleep independently throughout the night, things will become messier with a big bed. 

How to prepare for it?

It is very important to prepare for this transition and talk about it as a family, you need to discuss all the changes with your child, children thrive with knowing what to expect. Making them part of the process will make this transition smooth, here are some tips:

• Family meeting: Sit together as a family to discuss the upcoming change, children don’t like surprises so talking about this and giving the child some time to take it in will help make a smoother transition. 

• Introduce a sleep poster: During the family meeting, help your child understand what to expect through a sleep poster, that you can hang on the wall beside the bed so that he/she knows what to do with night wakings. Use a lot of visualization to help the child to understand, remember children this age are very visual.

• Toddler room proofing: Treat the room as if it is a big crib, make it safe, ensure that there are no wires that could harm the child, and remove anything the child can climb. You may need to introduce a gate by the door so that the child is safe inside the room until the day starts. 

• Involve your child in the big bed shopping: Involve your child in the shopping for the new bed, new sheets, new pillow.

• Be consistent with bedtime routine: At this stage, bedtime routine becomes more important. Bedtime routine continues to be a great opportunity to bond with your child. While doing the bedtime routine, go through the sleep poster and remind the child of what to do if he/she wakes up at night. 

• Be consistent with your response: There might be “one more” kind of requests and nightwakings, and midnight trips to your room. Be consistent with how you respond to this, try to make sure that all the child's needs are met during the routine. 

Final Reminder:

This transition might be challenging and it takes time (could take up to 3-4 weeks), the key to success is having a solid plan and staying consistent with it. If you need a plan and support through this phase, I would love to help you through it through the sleep coaching program