Time for Big-Kid beds? - Part 1

Last Saturday, the day started with a loud thud, followed by the crying of one of our daughters. Or at least, my husband’s day started like that; I’m glad I didn’t hear it as I went for a run in the early morning and came home just a few minutes after it happened. When my husband rushed into our daughters’ room, he found one of them sitting on the floor between the two cribs. We knew this would happen at some point, it was only a matter of time until they would find out how to get out of their cribs. But we had hoped to have a little bit more time… Fortunately our daughter was all right and the fall didn’t leave any bumps or bruises – it seems our choice to put carpet on the floors was a good one.

As soon as I stepped back into the house, my husband shouted from above “It already happened!” Even though I had hoped we would have more time and I didn’t think it would happen this fast, I immediately knew what he was talking about. After checking quickly to see if everything was ok and glad to see she was laughing again as if nothing had happened,  I started to think about the now inevitable next step: the transition to ‘Big-Kid’ beds. Many questions, doubts and worries filled my head. Should we make the switch right away (today??) or can we still wait a little longer? What changes should we make to their room to make sure it’s safe enough once they’re able to get out of bed on their own? Will our excellent through-the-night sleepers adapt to the change easily or will they now start getting up during the night (just because they can)? How will I still convince them to sleep at naptime once they have big-kid beds, considering that that’s already difficult now when they are still in a crib?

Some parents might think ‘Why so many worries, isn’t the transition to a big-kid bed an exciting milestone?’ I can imagine it will be, once they’ll have fully adapted to the change. However, with twins (and especially twins sharing a room) things do get a bit more difficult. Together with the upcoming and also inevitable “Twin Potty Training”, the switch to big beds is one of the developmental milestones I’m most worried about. Because of being together, they will have plenty of extra reasons to get out of bed during the night and naptimes. Just try some of these: ‘My sister is right there – let’s go and have some fun together!’ - ‘I’ll show my sister that I can get out of the bed’ - ‘My sister got out, so why can’t I?’ - ‘Today, I like my sister’s dolly more than my own, so I’ll just go and get it!’ - ‘See that gate there in our doorway? Let’s go and work as a team to try to climb over it and visit Mom and Dad!’ See, plenty of reasons to be worried that they won’t stay in their beds just because we say they should.

At some point of the day, I thought: what if we just try to wait a little longer? Maybe the shock of the fall was enough to convince her not to try again for at least some time? Maybe her sister won’t try it yet? Or maybe they’re not ready yet to move to a big bed and will be afraid without the crib rails there to make them feel safe? But then in the afternoon I saw both girls trying to get out and the only reason they didn’t do it was because I was there and told them not to, but they made sure to show me that even with the mattress on the lowest possible position they have no problem at all with swinging one leg completely over the crib rail. ‘Piece of cake, Mom.’

In the end, we decided that even though the transition will probably need to happen soon to avoid any falling accidents, we were not going to make any hasty decisions. We want to make sure to do things right and create an as safe as possible environment first before removing the crib rails – including some kind of latch on the door (to make sure one girl cannot close it while the other still has her fingers in between…). Fortunately, we had already installed a safety gate in their doorway anticipating this moment – hopefully that one will still work for quite some time before they find a way to climb over (or open) it. For now, we have put a very thick blanket on the already carpeted floor in between both cribs – to make sure they’ll at least have a soft landing in case they would fall again while attempting to climb out. Which, I have to say, they haven’t done anymore during the last two days and they have slept wonderfully in their cribs both during the nights and during their afternoon naps… which of course makes me doubt again – should we wait longer?

Once we’ve made the step and the transition has been completed, I’ll write another post to share our experience, things that went good or bad and any suggestions I might have by then for parents who are also considering to make the transition from crib to big-kid bed. To be continued…