A Big Boy Bed and Baby Girl Crib
This weekend our household is going to experience a big change – Elias is getting a twin bed, Adeline is getting a crib and both will be sharing a room!
Up until now, Elias has been sleeping in a toddler bed (his crib converted to one) and Adeline has been sleeping in our room.
Since we have our condo on the market, we hoped we’d be in a new place before needing to move Adeline.
But we are still here.
So we are making things work!
We bought the twin bed at Mattress Firm using in part a Groupon I had- Groupon has everything, don’t they? 🙂 And, I’m really excited that Delta Children’s Products sent us a their Venetian crib in white to review. I can’t wait to get it set up. It is so pretty.
Here’s Elias’s room currently. This plan is this: We are going to move the armoire to the right corner, the twin bed beneath the window (along that wall), and the rocking chair in our bedroom.Adeline’s new crib will go beneath the DREAM letters, where Elias’s crib is now. We couldn’t use his crib for Adeline because it had a drop-down side which malfunctioned, and we didn’t feel comfortable using it as a crib anymore.
Any tips for transitioning to a big boy bed? What about tips for two little ones sleeping in the same room? Or tips about anything else related?
I will definitely be posting an update next week!
Back in the day…never had the issues with transitioning to a big kid bed! But we did have to have both kids (toddler and infant) share a room and I was very nervous is wouldn’t work out. BUT I have to tell you we had NO problems. I remember one being ill even and me in and out with that BUT the other one slept through it all. Best wishes!!!
we transitioned our boy right from crib to big boy bed – no toddler bed. Something I found helpful is that I took him shopping to pick out his own sheets so that he would feel part of it all and be very excited to use his new sheets. I think it really helped. He had no problem whatsoever going into the big bed. And he was young too – just under 2 1/2yrs. Good luck!!
I don’t have any advice, but I’m going to be watching to see what everyone else says! We will be going through the same situation soon. Our daughter is 18 months now and we’re expecting another in March. We plan to have the baby in our room until we get some kind of sleep pattern established but they will be sharring a room eventually. I also can’t decide if/when we should move our daughter to a toddler bed so that we can use her crib for the baby or if we should just get another crib. When did Elias make the transition from crib to toddler bed? Good luck this weekend! Can’t wait to hear how it goes!
I can’t remember exactly – right before Adeline was born, I think.
Whoa Amanda – we have the exact same situation.
We have a similar situation with only a two bedroom duplex so our kids share a room. I was worried, but they do great! My daughter, who is 4, sleeps through most things and my son,2, can be loud. Just know it will be rough for a few nights but it will work. Kids adjust and I think it makes them better friends. Some nights they are in there talking to each other and now some mornings they get up and play in their room together. Another thing I sometimes do is just make sure my daughter is really tired (no nap) and then she goes right to sleep regardless of how fussy her brother is. Good Luck!
I have 3 children, ages 9, 3½, and 2½. The two little ones share a room, and have since the youngest was 2 months old. What we feel helps is a sound machine. We purchased ours at Bed Bath & Beyond with a 20% coupon, and it ran us under $20. They love getting to decide which sound to fall asleep to, (i.e. heartbeat, rainfall, ocean waves, etc.) and if there is ever a night when we need to go in there, it really helps because it filters any sounds that we make while checking on them. It also helps because my daughter is especially chatty, and some days, she will talk for 30 minutes before falling asleep, while her brother is already in a peaceful slumber. We haven’t had any issues at night where one has woken the other one up. In the mornings, however, is a different story. When one wakes up, they immediately want to play with the other. Yours are farther apart in age, so you will probably be okay. Somebody mentioned to us that they will become attached to the sound machine and not know how to fall asleep without it, but we have gone on countless trips with no issues at all. (If it had become an issue, it is only about 6 inches wide and light as can be, so it would fit inside the side pocket of any suitcase without a problem.)
With Elias already being in a toddler bed, moving to a twin bed shouldn’t be an issue. I think he will do great! 🙂
My biggest fear when they first started sharing a room was that my middle son would climb into his sister’s crib, (all of my children are monkeys and were climbing in & out of their cribs by 15 months) so we talked to him every night before bed and told him that it wasn’t allowed. He never climbed in there.
Anyway, sorry to go on & on, but I hope this helps you out.
Hugs,
Jessica
a sound machine – interesting! They have one at day care in the baby room and Adeline sleeps well with it. Elias falls asleep to music… I will definitely keep this in mind.
When our daughter (now 8) transitioned to a “big girl room” with new bed and everything. She had no issues whatsoever. However, our little boy (now 5) had all kinds of issues going from crib to toddler bed (back to crib after 6 long weeks then finally toddler bed) and recently to bunk beds. The biggest thing is to let him be part of the decisions, help pick sheets, bedding, help Daddy put together (with Handy Manny tools) etc. Our little guy likes to HELP do everything and it gives him a sense of control. With the lastest tranistion to bunk beds, it took about a week to get our bedtime routine back to normal.
Patience! Patience! Patience!
As for the room sharing, my kids only have to on vacation but it’s never been an issue! I shared a room with my brother for many years and we LOVED it. I had a purple canopy bed and he had a race car bed. It was obvious who’s side of the room was whose.
Good luck! Please keep us posted on the outcome.
I bought his bedding a while ago, but we need to get sheets, so I am going to take him shopping to pick some out. We have been talking about the change coming for two weeks, so I think he is prepared…
My boys have a bit more of a span in their ages (8 mo & 4 1/2 yr) but they’ve been sharing a room since the little one was about 2 months old. He wouldn’t sleep in a bassinet, pack’n play or in bed with us so we tried the crib and he loved it. Anyway, when we moved the big guy from crib to bed we just made a big deal of how cool it was that he was such a big boy and not a baby anymore and he was so excited to be in a big bed like we are. As for the sharing a room, I guess it really depends on how well both kids sleep. My big guy sleeps very soundly and rarely wakes up during the night. If he does wake up then he just wants a drink of water and he goes right back to sleep. Sharing has actually helped the baby to sleep better in our case. He was a fairly light sleeper and having other noises in the room during the night has helped him learn to sleep though a bit more. Another thing we talked a lot about was how cool it was going to be that the baby was going to be close by so that our big guy could watch out for his baby and he would get to be the first one to say good morning every day. He loves the fact that he gets to watch out for his baby more and loves being a big bro. 🙂 I’m sure your transition will go well! Good luck to all of you. 🙂
When we transitioned our oldest son he was really into Thomas the Train so we made it special by letting him have a Thomas blanket and pillow and we found this really cool over the bed Thomas tent that wrapped around his bed and made it look like Thomas. It was super easy to put up because it was just made of that collapsible play tent material and it was easy to take down once he was ready to go without it. He loved sleeping in Thomas and one end was a little enclosed so I think it made him feel secure, too. I know your little guy likes trains, too, so maybe something like this could work for you! Good luck!
The BEST sound machine — Marpac Sleepmate! We’ve used it in our girls’ rooms since they were born. We got ours from amazon. We actually have three in our house! 🙂
When our 3rd baby was born, we moved our 2 bigs (girl and boy) in with each other and gave the baby his own room. They were 3 and 2yrs old at the time, and I really worried that we’d be constantly in there, telling them to be quiet and go to sleep—not the case! They were so little, and adjusted quickly. It also bonded them in a beautiful way—they are really close, even now at 10 and 9 years old, even though they only shared a room for less than a year!
When the baby was about 9 months old, we moved him in with our preschooler boy, and gave our daughter her own room. It was 2 or 3 nights of transition, and that’s it. The boys have shared a room for 6 years now, and sleep through each other’s bad dreams, sicknesses, etc. A noisemaker is key—it keeps all sounds muffled. We’ve been through a number of them, and I highly recommend spending a solid $50 or $60 on a good one—it’ll last for years. We ordered ours from Target, it only makes one sound, 2 different speeds—cuts down on the fighting about what sound to listen to. 🙂 The noisemaker is portable, so it can go anywhere, and with 4 kids in the house, it’s a necessity for us! They might be addicted to it, but I’m sane, and they sleep! Works for us! 😉
Another side benefit to kids sharing rooms is that vacations are sooo easy. We never a hard time getting them to sleep—they’re so used to sleeping with a buddy in their room, they go right down.
Man! Sorry to ramble on. 🙂 Love your blog. Good luck, it’ll be great!!
My daughter switched to a twin at 22 months – way before I thought it would happen! A friend visited and slept on an air mattress in her room (while we moved her crib into our room for the visit). When the friend left, my daughter said “I want to map on that!” pointin to the air mattress an did great – tried it at bedtime and that went great too do we said “We’re running with this!” and got a twin mattress immediately. She got to pick out all the bedding which made it exciting and the transition was just that easy. So unexpectedly easy:). I have a feeling he will do great too – that “Im a big kid now” thing is powerful, plus it’s just from bed to bed so it should be easy.
As far as two in one room, I have no personal experience but many friends have that situation and it works great. Both kids sleep thru any waking the other does which is awesome.
I’m sure others have posted this, but I have found that having something making noise in the room is helpful. I have a 4 year old and a 1 year old in the same room. In the summer we had a widow air conditioner that was constantly on. The kiddos became used to the noise so after we took the unit out of the window, I had a fan blowing. Anything to make white noise. I am looking into getting a noise machine for their room. But my point is that they sleep better in the same room when there is something making noise in there.
We have three kiddos… 3 1/2, 2 1/2 and almost 8 months… the older two share a room now, and we’ll be moving the littlest in at some point soon. We’re also in a condo, waiting for God to reveal His master plan for our housing situation! I agree with the sound machine/fan idea listed above, although in our situation, it was to keep them from hearing us, not each other. Also, try to set apart a little space that’s just theirs. Our older two sleep in a bunk bed, and each have their own “Treasure Shelf” hung on the wall near their feet. You’re a little ways from that with Adeline, but it gives them something of their “own” in a shared space.
I agree with posts from above… makes them awesome sleepers, creates a great bond as siblings, and although there will be tough moments at times, there’s something special about knowing God’s using this time for everyone to try something you didn’t think you would.
Love your blog! Blessings!
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Caedmon started sleeping in a twin bed when we moved into our new place, around the time he turned 2. We had a gate up at his door so he couldn’t escape during the night and we had to remove most everything out of his room for the distraction factor. He would be playing with toys or reading books for hours after we put him to bed, but a nearly empty room made him bored enough to sit and fall asleep in bed. When Lucy started sleeping through the night at 3 months, we moved her into the crib that was in his room. It wasn’t a terrible transition like we had braced ourselves for. She slept, he slept. And even, my biggest fear, when she woke during the night, he slept right through it and his going to bed later or waking up earlier didn’t bother her. They both sleep through each other all the time.
My advice is to not make it a big deal for Elias and he may just roll with it and the change won’t phase him! Hope your transition is as smooth as ours has been!
The twin over full bunk bed with trundle is manufactured to contain a double mattress on top and a larger, full size mattress below. The top bunk is perfect for kids who like to explore, climb and pretend they are in a loft or ship, or perhaps even a disaster lighthouse.