DD's first night in 'big bed' ..any tips?

immoral_angeluk

Well my baby girl is growing up.... we took the sides off her cot and put a stairgate on her bedroom door.. she's already fallen out of bed once but she has stayed in bed like a clever girl. :T (She's 2)

Any advice or anything we should be prepared for?

TheWaltons_3

Welcoming her into your bed at 2am!!!

We spent almost £300 (bed, mattress, protectors, pillow.. duvet... sheets all in mini size) on a 'big girl bed' for our 22 month old... and she now sleeps snugly right in the middle of us!

I have no tips... will be watching this intently as I'd love to get mine into her bed!

immoral_angeluk

TheWaltons wrote: »

Welcoming her into your bed at 2am!!!

We spent almost £300 on a 'big girl bed' for our 22 month old... and she now sleeps snugly right in the middle of us!

I have no tips... will be watching this intently as I'd love to get mine into her bed!

That's why I've put a stairgate on her bedroom door.. I'm just expecting rattling noises and 'muuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuummmmy' at 4am or something!

poppyscorner

We made a big fuss of our DS telling him what a big boy he was sleeping in his own big boy bed.

Several times we found him on the floor playing with toys in the middle of the night new found freedom eh!

Overall he adjusted really well to it and not too much trouble so I can't advise on any probs but I am sure someone will have experienced some.

Good luck you must be bursting with pride

Poppy

TheWaltons_3

immoral_angeluk wrote: »

That's why I've put a stairgate on her bedroom door.. I'm just expecting rattling noises and 'muuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuummmmy' at 4am or something!

Your best bet is put the Bed in the Loft... remove the Ladder... and wear Ear Plugs

We occasionally get our little Miss in her bed... to be woken around 5am to her clambering on to my head shouting 'stuck' until I pull her in properly!!

Woby_Tide

we just use the bedguard as a store for toys and books, our 2 year old is more or less stuck in the bed, until he hears someone ina morning he will sit and play/read or go back to sleep (ideal for a lie-in till 8/8.30 at a weekend ) For whatever reason he's only ever onec climbed out but he ran back in once he heard us. Just as above, tell them it's a special bed but don't fuss over what they should and houldn't do, take it naturally, they may not take to it. We had advantage of moving house and managed to tie in moving him into his newly painted new bedroom and new big boys bed in one go.

Becles

With my boys, the first couple of nights they kept getting up. I said "no, you stay in bed" in a firm tone, picked them up and tucked them back in and said "now I don't want to see you again till morning" and walked out.

They soon got the message that once they were in bed, they stayed in bed as I wasn't happy to see them if they got back up again.

ChasingButterflies

Hi,

Have you popped some spare cushions/ pillows/ anything soft on the floor?!

Sounds daft but all our 3 managed to fall out (even if there was a bed guard on!)

Good luck - hope little one sleeps tight!

edit: sorry for the next time lo falls out!

immoral_angeluk

ChasingButterflies wrote: »

Hi,

Have you popped some spare cushions/ pillows/ anything soft on the floor?!

Sounds daft but all our 3 managed to fall out (even if there was a bed guard on!)

Good luck - hope little one sleeps tight!

edit: sorry for the next time lo falls out!

Yep.. huge furry beanbag on one side and 2 large cushions and a pillow on the other... fingers crossed!

WestonDave

We were very lucky with our 2 year old DS1 when he moved over a few months back. In his case it was literally a move as we moved him from the cot bed to the single spare bed in his room (we will eventually move DS2 - age 2 months - into the cot bed in that room hence not just taking the sides off!). Once DS2 had arrived we offered him the chance of sleeping in the "big bed" A while previously we had become frustrated about him spending hours shouting downstairs for attention so had given him a bit of a talking to and introduced some "rules" i.e. that when he was in his bed there was to be no shouting or crying (that wasn't intended to exclude crying if he was ill or genuinely upset and he knows that). Those rules became the "rules of the big bed". Maybe because the cot bed is still in the room there is an implied (but never outright stated) threat that he could be put back in there if he misbehaves.

The rules kind of work but if he's over tired we still get a bit of up and down while he asks for drinks, his lost bear/snuggly etc, but he has never yet got out of bed without one of us being in the room and giving him permission. For some reason it just doesn't occur to him! At the moment he still has his cot bed duvet and pillow rather than a full size one as when offered the big ones he wanted to keep his little ones which is fair enough as he'd be lost under a proper duvet.

He has fallen out probably about 3 times in 2 months plus once while we were away on holiday in a cottage (so strange bed). We have got a bed rail but its easier just to put a folded up duvet on the floor + there is a tall unit next to the head end of the bed with a cushion stuffed against it which given his small size probably prevents most falls.

I can't claim any vast wisdom enabled us to get this right - we were just extremely fortunate but if anyone can pick anything useful out of that then they are welcome to.

immoral_angeluk

Thanks everyone.. well last night went pretty well. She fell out once, typically before I'd remembered to put cushions down, and apart from that slept in it soundly all night until 6 am when I heard a dawn chorus of muuuuuummmmmy at her bedroom door... :rotfl: