Big Kid Bed

With all the new freedom that comes with this milestone, a little preparation for both you and your child can go a long way.

Here are a few tried and true tips from the team at Family First.

Before you begin.

• Make sure your child is well rested. A full tank of sleep will make any temporary disruption in sleep easier for your child to manage.
• Together with your child, pick out the actual bed, sheets, pillows, and anything special that can go in the new space. Include the special items from your child’s crib that they want to take with them. Putting the new bed in the same spot as the crib (if possible) is another way to help blend the old and familiar with the new.
• Find a time to transition when no other big transitions are taking place. This means avoiding the start of school or camp, the arrival of a new sibling, or the move to a new home, etc by 4-6 weeks.
• Create new “Bed Rules.” There is lots of flexibility here on what to say, but you may want to reinforce that your child has to keep their body in their beds, and call a grownup if they need something instead of coming out. Emphasizing this from the start can help keep your child out of your room and in their own (even if you have to attend to them in there!).
• Role-play staying in bed and calling for you. Practicing what your child should do when they wake up in the morning, or need something at night, to reassure them about how the process will work.

When you start.

• Have an early bedtime. Give your child lots of time to practice getting used to the bed and expect it to take a bit longer to fall asleep. Once they get overtired the process will be harder to manage, so starting early can help.
• Practice patience. If your child calls for you repeatedly, go to them a few times and reassure them of the process. Maybe you leave for small increments of time and keep coming back. For example, you can invent a small task to do and tell your child you will be back in 2 minutes. Then, come back in 2 minutes and offer praise for staying in bed quietly. Then stretch it to 5 minutes, or 10. You may even decide to sit in the room with your child for a bit until they fall asleep. Eventually, you can phase out these checks, as you may have done during sleep training.
• If your child does come out, calmly and quietly walk them back to their bed. Get them settled (silently if you can), and tell them you will see them in the morning. Remind them that they can call for you, but should keep their body in bed. Avoid giving your child too much attention by yelling at them, lecturing, giving into food demands, doing extra cuddles or books, or other special behaviors. Remain calm and return them to bed. You may need to do this “silent return” many times at first, but after time your child will realize that they do not get the attention they desire by coming out of bed.