Easing the Transition to a Big Kid Bed

We moved Leo to a big boy bed in July.  I had it on my calendar for Summer and Kevin came home from work ready to rearrange furniture one day.  He's always slept in our room and he's a great sleeper.  Those two things made me drag my feet a bit with this milestone.  He's also the baby so I wasn't in a big hurry to graduate him to sleeping upstairs.  We both agreed that we could finally trust him on the stairs at night and we were all excited for his move.

I did a few things to prep for this transition that definitely made it easier.  

The first week was touch and go with some fighting bedtime, confusion, wandering around at night, no longer sleeping through the night, etc.  Now a month or so later and we're all back to sleeping pretty well.  He's napping inconsistently these days, but he still likes to read/rest in his new bed in the middle of the day and some days catches a car line nap when we're picking up the big kids from school.

I am excited to share the things that helped make this a fun milestone for all of us.

 

1. New Bedding

Leo moved in with his big brother and they each got to pick out new bedding.  Fletcher opted for a solar system theme and Leo wanted dinosaurs.  Stay tuned for a room tour!

2. Hype them up

Big kids upstairs!!  Yay!  This was always our goal and it was fun to see it coming true.  All the kids are upstairs and excited to be in the kid zone together.  Any time we have company Leo insists on showing them his "cowboy bed".  We've been calling it his big boy bed and I'll feel sad the day he realizes that we aren't saying cowboy bed :)

3. Order a bumper/rail for the new bed

Leo's twin bed was already up against the wall from when Olive slept there so we just added a bumper on the other side.  He's only fallen out of bed once.  I think he was trying to get up and got tangled up.  The bumper we got really does a great job keeping him in his bed.

4. Adjust your routines

I rock him if he asks - we moved our rocking recliner upstairs just in case.  We still use it so I'm glad we moved it to his new room.  Fletcher loves reading Leo a book or two at night.  Or telling him stories.  Or snuggling.  I never know which bed I'll find these two in when I tuck them in for one last time before I go to bed.  Sometimes there is a cat in the bed, too.

These two are cute together!  Fletcher has really stepped up to be a helpful big brother.  He loves being in charge and making sure things go smoothly at bed time.  I'm glad we started this transition this Summer so that they'd be settled once school started.

Do you have any questions!?  Leave me a comment!