Hellobee Boards

I had problems with my daughter too. Switched her to a toddler bed and then she would hide writing utensils in her room. At bed time I would tuck her in and she would get up and decorate the walls. At 2.5 yrs old I am trying it again. Three weeks in. So far so good.

We transitioned DD at 16 months to a twin bed. The first couple nights we just rocked her to sleep and then put her down. We are just over a month past the transition and we can leave at night while she is still awake and she will go to sleep herself. It was a completely new bed in a new room (crib stayed in the nursery for the new baby), so I don't know if that helped? We are also able to sit on the bed with her and occasionally lay down and cuddle with her, which is why I love the twin bed.

Good luck!

We transitioned at 22 months. We spent a long time talking about how big boys don't sleep in cribs, etc. etc. When the bed arrived, he got to watch DH and a neighbor assemble it, then he got to have a cookie party in bed with DH. We just kept talking about what a big boy he was. We left the crib up for 2-3 days and he did end up back in there a couple times, but the initial transition went pretty smoothly.

Unfortunately, he hit a sleep regression about a month in and started using his get out of bed powers. After a couple nights of awful, we put a baby gate at his door. He cried for about a minute and that was that. We just (at 28 months) stopped putting the gate up, mostly because we're potty training and he gets up at night to use the potty, and it hasn't hurt anything.

ETA: Although all went well with us, I really don't think there's a rush to transition. I understand not wanting to buy another bed, but if I were doing it all over again, I may have left him in the crib longer.

I think if he's hysterical about it I would switch back to a crib or just turn his crib around so the opening faces the wall.

We just switched DD to a toddler bed last weekend and she was excited about her big girl bed and being able to get in out of it herself. Maybe too much because it's challenging to get her to STAY in bed. After I tuck her in and leave she would hop out of bed and call for us and we would have to go in there and tuck her back in. It would take a few times before she actually stays in bed and goes to sleep. She's 27 months.

@fuzzypeaches: we tried putting him back repeatedly, then just put up the baby gate. On rare occasions, he has gotten out of bed. He did it once at 3 am when he was mad at me, got about 6 books, "read" them in the dark for 5 minutes, and went back to sleep. But generally, after the baby gate went up, he just stayed in bed. Even with the gate down now, he stays in bed and calls if he needs me.

@fuzzypeaches: the first time was at nearly two.