HELP! I have no idea what to do-big bed problems

[miasmum]

Hi,

My dd is 19 mo and I am trying to move her into her big bed but she treats it like a game.  She's down almost before I can make it to the door.  I wait for her to come out of her room and then take her back in and put her down only to start all over again. 

I ask her do you want to sleep in your big bed or your cot and she really wants to sleep in her big bed.  I have tried putting a catch on the door which allows it to open a bit but not all the way and she screams her head off.  I give her a good 20 minutes to try and stay in her bed and then tell her that if she gets down again, she will go back in her cot.  So next time, put her in her cot.  She screams for a minute and then goes straight to sleep.  Is she just not ready?  I wanted to move her in and get her used to it before I had my second one (i'm 5 months). 

If I start her in her big bed should I stick with it for the whole of nap time?  Should I wait a couple of months?  I don't think she understands stay on the bed, don't get down, I could be wrong.

Please help - I feel like I have no idea what I'm doing.  If she is really keen to sleep in her bed, should I let her?

Thanks,

[elfin]

You may just want to stick to the crib for a bit longer.  Did you have problems with the crib, was she trying to get out?  Personally, my ds is 2 and I joke all the time that I am keeping him in his crib until he is 5!  He is just constantly on the go, so I am dreading the transition.

If you're wanting to stick with the big bed, then hopefully someone with experience will chime in here.

Good luck!

[onemodestdiva]

I too am thinking about trying to move my dd into a big bed although she is 17 months and I am due for #2 in March.  I have a cradle and a pack n play that the new one can sleep in to give us a few more months but I am trying to figure out how to transition into a big bed so that we can use the crib instead of the horrible habit of co-sleeping that we used with our first.  I know that I am not being helpful with your issues but I wanted to chime in and say that I understand it can be hard.  I know that Traci suggests moving them 3 months before so you have a little bit of time to get her used to the idea.  Do you have a kid rail up?  that might help too.
anyway not very helpful I know but I want to know what you find out too.

[sacmommy]

I always strongly encourage people with any potential sleep issues to stick with the crib! We put my son in a big bed when he was 2 1/2, and it destroyed his evening sleep habits for quite awhile. I literally counted him getting out of be 80+ times one night! I think if the kids are happy in the crib, keep them there. I'm hoping my dd will last in her crib til 3 simply to mitigate some of the potential get-out-of-bed problems.

[joslil]

I moved dd2 into a big girl bed with dd1 at 18 months (getting ready for ds to arrive).  No problems at bedtime.  Just sat on side of bed and read books, then sang songs, prayers and night-night.  We did have a problem each night with her waking in the middle of the night and coming to our room instead of just going back to sleep.  I put up a baby gate across the door.  The first time she got up and saw it and cried, I climbed over and put her back in bed a few times and then just left her to cry.  It took about a half hour for her to go back to bed on her own.  This stopped the problem in one night.  I'm sure it would work at bedtime too.  (Oh, I did leave the hall light dimmed so it was not completely dark and our room is next to hers.)

And, for some reason she started again about a month later.  I put the gate up the next night at bedtime and that was all it took.  We have never put it up again.  Same premise as a crib in my view....