Well I must say that I do feel better after my unloading session last night.
Today I have a question for mothers with more than one child.
I know I've asked some of you what you did with your babies,
but here is my question, and my thoughts:
When your second child was born did you keep both kids in cribs
or did you move the older one to a toddler bed?
My Thoughts:
- Curtis will be about 26 months old when Baby Kitto comes. At the rate he's going with his speech I don't expect him to completely understand the fact that another baby is coming into our family. For that reason he may not be able to make the transition to a bed if he doesn't understand that he needs to "stay in the bed." I'm not sure it would be smart to have so much change (for me) right when a new baby is coming. (Obviously we'd try to make the change well in advance to make sure he's adjusted, but there's no guarantee).
-I am a little OCD about making things perfect in my home. I want to have the room ready when the baby is born, and I don't want to have to make many changes after. I also want something more permanent and stationary than a playpen or a mattress on the floor. We will keep the baby in our room until he/she sleeps (mostly) through the night, but at that point the kids will share a room. For some reason I think it's very important to have an established "sleep residence" where a child can feel safe and in a place that is constant. So, my choice will be between buying another crib or buying a toddler bed.
-I don't expect to keep Curtis in a crib longer than age 2 1/2 or 3. He's already attempting to climb the crib rails, and I'm sure it won't be long until he figures it out. He can climb out of the playpen already. Since that's the case I'd much rather move Curtis to a toddler bed before the baby comes so he (and we) can adjust to the change.
-If we buy another crib for the baby we're just going to have to buy a toddler bed soon after (or purchase the "conversion kit" for the crib we have). But, personally if we're going to convert a crib to a bed I'd rather just get a bed.
-Toddler beds are much cheaper than buying another crib. That alone almost has me sold.
-I am nervous to have a "free ranging" toddler at night time. Granted our apartment is tiny so it's not like he could get very far. But he's such a great crib sleeper and I definitely like the fact that he is contained in his crib. Then again it wouldn't do much good if he could just climb out.
Moms, what are your thoughts?
How was your experience with the crib to bed transition?
What do you recommend?
In my opinion I say get a bed. We went straight to a big bed. I didn't want to pay for a toddler bed for him to outgrow it in a year and I had a heard of a lot of people that their kids eneded up sleeping on the floor instead of the toddler bed. I also think that less change for the older sibling after baby is born is important therefore making the change beofre. We waited to switch Boston till he was almost three because Carter wasn't born yet and it was kinda hard. I hear the younger the better especially if you can make the switch before they climb out.
ReplyDeleteThanks Teresa! Great advice! I like the idea of moving to a big bed. I wish we had the room for a twin, but unfortunately the room is pretty small :(.
DeleteI would say go to the toddler bed too. Kassidy was 2 1/2 when we took off the crib front and transitioned it to a toddler bed. She did really well staying in it because we established some rules about when you're in bed you stay there. In fact she would call out to us in the mornings to come give her permission to get out bed :) Now I know that's not typical, but it worked for us. We moved her to a bunk bed (on the bottom) at 3 yrs when baby brother was born and needed the crib soon after. SHe transitioned great! I'd say 2 is big enough for a toddler bed and it might help Curtis feel like the big brother too if he has a big boy bed. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteWe moved Taylor to a twin bed just after she turned 2. She does great in it. Don't buy another crib. I think he will be fine in a "big boy bed"!
ReplyDeleteI really considered buying another crib when my two were little two as they are only 19 months apart. But I'm really glad we went straight for the toddler bed. I had the crib and toddler bed all ready in their room. The baby slept in our room in a pack n play until she was sleeping mostly through the night and then we moved her to the crib. My older one, had gotten to a point where she just wasn't sleeping great in the crib and so we tried out the toddler bed that was already in the room waiting for her and it went great! Generally I'm a fan of keeping them in the crib as long as possible, but that worked pretty well for us. Good luck! I know it can be challenging not having enough room for each child. Sounds like Curtis is a champ sleeper, so I bet he'll do well.
ReplyDeleteall my kids did great. My first son was a crib climber before we moved him out into a twin so we decided to have the mattress on the floor in our room for the first little bit. But before his sister was born he was in his own room sleeping with out waking up. Then his sister was easy because she shared a room with him! We got them bunk beds and every now and then we would find them sleeping together, which we didn't mind. With my last boy we knew we had to get him out of the crib before this baby comes or he will hold a grudge! So a few months ago we switched him out and surprisingly he has done wonderful. For the first month he wouldn't get out of his bed with out me there (he was not a crib climber) but now in the morning he comes and gets me up! Don't stress about it to much, Curtis might pick up on it. Just try to make it special for him. Have him "help" with choosing the bed or putting it together, choosing the sheets etc..... Also don't put to much emphasis on the crib, if you leave it in his room, put a light box or something in there so he won't be tempted to go back to it.
ReplyDeleteHere's my two cents about toddler beds- I don't really like them. The kids don't fit in them for very long, you can't really lay with your toddler to cuddle or read books, etc. We had our kids, around age 2, go from a crib to a twin size bed. Then they can have the twin size bed for a long time. Anyway, I've never had a baby and toddler in the same room so I am probably not much help but I think having two cribs would be kind of annoying and you wouldn't be using the second one for very long. I think Curtis might pick up on the big boy bed better than you think. Good luck, let us know what you decide!
ReplyDeleteOpps, sorry! I didn't see your comment about the room being too small for a twin bed. :(
ReplyDeleteim not a mother of two but since we have been trying to 8 months, I have thought about this and i say get a bed. I think 26 months is too young to move out of a crib. However, think about when they will actually move into the same room. C will probably be nearly 2.5 like you want, right? do not spend more money than you need. ALSO, use a portacrib for a while if you need to. thats what we are going to do. Unless baby number 2 takes two years like cason did. lol.
ReplyDelete