Harper’s Big Girl Bed Transition

I sometimes (ok, all the time) can’t really believe how grown up my little girl is. Two years old, talking in full sentences & officially sleeping in a big kid bed. Although it was really hard in the beginning to see her not sleeping like a baby in her crib, the huge benefit to the twin bed is easy access for snuggling!! Brandon gets in bed with her every night to read to her & I get in bed with her every morning to snuggle & chat, it is my favorite time of the day! As soon as I come in her room to say good morning, she scoots over & pats the bed, “mama, come?”  
Yes, I will sleep in your bed with you forever.

The very first night (just a few days before her second birthday) she was a little confused, probably more thrown off by my crying, but she kept saying “oooh! new bed!” & loved getting in it. We kept everything for her bedtime routine the same, except we got in her bed with her to read books instead of reading in the glider. Then out she went, just like she did in her crib. We were shocked! She slept through the night, no issues & woke up sitting in her bed waiting for me to come get her.

The first nap time was another story, she hopped right out of bed after I left the room & went to play with books. I came in, put her back in bed & told her she can’t get out of bed unless I come in to get her. She got out two more times, I did the same thing & finally she decided to stay in her bed, although she never did nap. She played with her baby doll & stuffed animals for a solid hour until I came back in to get her out. I told her good job for staying in her bed until I came in & I think she maybe got the memo, because she hasn’t tried getting out since. I turn our monitor up a little louder than I would have had it previously so I can be sure to hear if she needs me (or tries escaping!). We put these door knob covers on both her closet & the inside of her door also to keep her from opening them. 

We bought the Jenny Lind Twin Bed & have been so happy with it so far! It was a breeze to put together & is very well made. Even sturdy enough that we might find dad wandering down the hall to sleep with the little monkey during sleepless newborn nights. The bed is a little on the pricey side, but it is definitely something that we can keep around for years to come & only requires a single twin mattress, no box spring. We had no clue where to start with picking a twin mattress, but ultimately went with this one from Amazon & it is great!

 We bought these Foam Magic Bumpers that go in between her sheets & mattress to keep her from falling out of bed. I was pretty skeptical about them at first, but they had good reviews so we gave them a try. They work surprisingly well, she can climb over them to get in & out of bed, but she will not fall out! The way this specific twin bed is set up, the single mattress sits below the wooden sides of the bed, so the bigger railings that tuck between a mattress & a box spring weren’t really an option. Plus, I of course love how these are hidden beneath the sheets & not such an eyesore. The sheets are just standard twin flannel sheets that I got on clearance from Target after the holidays & the foam pieces fit just fine underneath, although the sheet isn’t quite as snug as it would have been otherwise.

This is also when we gave Harper a pillow for the first time, she previously had just a few baby blankets in her crib but the pillow has worked out great & she hardly even moves throughout the night. She sleeps really well & we just know she is so much more comfortable than when we used to find her scrunched up in the corner of her crib with a leg sticking out. I am still working on picking a quilt/coverlet for the bed, but I had a blanket & pillowcase made from the Alexander Henry Market Stalls fabric that I love so much.

Baseball Tee \ Sweatpants \ Bla Bla Fox Doll \ Star Pillow \ Fur Pillow 

I am definitely no expert but I hope that sharing our experience will help ease some of your fears for the transition. I think having her in a totally different bed instead of just taking the side off her crib was a big help, I don’t think there’s a chance she would have stayed in it otherwise. We also don’t let her play in her bed, since she always wants to put her toys & books in it if she is playing in her room. We try to emphasize that the bed is for sleeping, which I think has helped a ton, she typically goes right to sleep both at night & during naps. We also really went wild praising her for staying in bed until we came to get her. There was a lot of encouragement from some of my close mom friends, who assured me that their kids did great transitioning as young as 18 months, doing the transition before they try climbing out of their crib seems to be a contributing factor to success! 😉

I hope this is helpful & can’t wait to share the rest of her big kid room as soon as we put the finishing touches on it this week! XO