It’s one of those things you know is coming, yet I was not fully prepared for the day my toddler figured out how to climb out of his crib. Thank goodness for Amazon because I went from having nothing to toddler proof his room to everything I needed overnight. I also wasn’t prepared for how emotional it was taking the front of his crib off his bed, cue the waterworks for that one.

I know he is growing up, but he’ll always be my baby, so moments like these where they take a step away from infancy and truly become toddlers with their own personality and really grow up pull at my heart strings.

Not only are these moments tough for momma, but my toddler is having a rough time too. He was so excited to sleep in his big boy bed Thursday night, but when the time came to actually sleep, well that was another story. And I totally get it, he went from being confined to his crib to having an opening that he can easily get out of, I’d be exploring all over too!

I knew I needed to ask  around for their best tips on transitioning a toddler from their crib because I want this transition to be as easy as possible for both him and my husband and I.

No gate keeping here, I went through all the comments and compiled all the great advice into a list.

Let’s face it, sleep is a beautiful thing that sometimes we take for granted and I don’t know about you who is reading this right now, but if I had to guess, you’ve found this article for a reason, and are looking to get back some of that sleep yourself.

We can get through this together! I may be writing this while on my 5th cup of coffee but that’s quite alright.

So here are 6 tips for transitioning your toddler from their crib:

• 1. Skip The Toddler Bed & Go For A Twin

  With over 100 comments on my post asking for tips and tricks this tip was a large majority of the comments. Many suggest just getting a twin bed with rails instead of a toddler bed as it is one less transition to do later on. Another commenter suggested setting up the bed in advance of the transition if you can and letting your child play in it while they are happy and awake to help ease into the new bed and not go straight to it cold turkey.

• 2. Put The Mattress On The Floor

  This was another repeated piece of advice on my post. If you don’t want to go straight to a twin bed with the bed frame you could put the crib mattress on the floor or get a twin mattress and do the same.

• 3. Let Your Child Choose New Bedding

  Letting your child pick out new sheets and bedding makes it exciting for them. Kids love to be a part of things and to help out. After hearing this advice, we let our son pick out some new bedding and it definitely helped him get excited to sleep in his new big boy bed.

• 4. Toddler Proof

  This is not so much advice for transitioning out of the crib, but more so a safety precaution. When your little one is going to move out of the crib make sure all dressers and furniture are secured to the walls incase they get adventurous and start to climb. Also make sure any rooms you don’t want you’re child to get into have knob covers and if you have stairs you may want to consider adding a gate to the top.

  Others suggested to leave a few toys in their room so when they wake up in the morning they have something to play with so they don’t come right out of the room but not too many that it’s overwhelming and they won’t sleep at night.

  Also, making reading a part of the bed time routine and after it is done your child can still “read” a book when you leave but they have to stay in bed.

• 5. Stick To A Routine

  A consistent routine was another piece of advice I saw a lot. Keep a nightly routine, brush teeth, bath, pjs, book, bed. While they are getting used to their new bed stay a few minutes after you’re done reading and have tucked them in then each night shorten the time you stay in the room until they are comfortable to fall asleep without you being there for a few extra minutes.

• 6. OK To Wake Clock

  Without the crib to keep your child in bed the new found freedom to explore can be exciting, but that also means your child may be opening their door and leaving their room multiple times before they settle down for the night or early in the morning when they wake up. We have the Hatch sound machine, but there are others on the market that have a color changing feature. This can be used to teach your child that when the sound machine is one color (many use red and green) they have to stay in their room until it turns another color (green) and then it is okay to come out.

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