Crib to Toddler Bed

I knew the day would eventually arrive that Meera would have to stop sleeping in a crib . Of course if I had a choice she'd sleep in it forever. But as she gets bigger it's only a matter of time before she doesn't fit in it. Luckily she was never one to climb out of the crib (I've read of some babies doing this but Meera was never that adventurous). To we decided to do it after our Tassie trip.

Once we got back though we weren't sure how she'd take to sleeping in a crib after 2 weeks of the kinder cot. sSo we let her sleep in the crib the first night we got back. We were both pleasantly surprised when she slept the whole night without any wakings. Guess the crib is a lot more comfortable than the Kinderkot (not surprising since it's basically a tent). So the following day we decided it was time to switch the crib into a toddler bed which basically involved turning it around and allowing one side of the bed to be exposed with just a small railing. I was very worried she would fall out during the night. Or worse still refuse to stay in bed and simply climb down.

Surprisingly she did not try to climb out of the bed when Jing put her down. He said it was probably too dark for her to see. Which left me worried that she might try climbing out during nap time. But since we were still on holiday mode (Jing was off for a few more days) and we were out most of the time, she didn't get to nap in her bed. So for the next 3 days she slept in the bed at night. The first night was fine; she didn't fall down (although I put pillows on the floor just in case). In the morning I heard her wake up and I quickly went downstairs to get her (before she got any ideas to climb down herself) I praised her for staying in bed and it seemed like she understood. The second night, we checked on her before going to sleep and she was on the floor! Fast asleep! Jing carried her and put her back in bed. The next morning I heard her wake up, went downstairs, opened the door, and she was right behind it! I was so shocked I didn't know what to do. I just scolded her for coming down the bed. She looked a bit upset, like she was going to cry but that was it. After thinking it over maybe she actually fell off the bed sometime during the night and when she woke up just walked over to the door. 3rd night we found her on the floor again. 4th and 5th passed without incident. Which brings me to today.

So far looks like she's transitioning well. She treats the pillows on the floor like a boundary; calling it a 'line'. So we keep telling her that she can't cross the line and this seems to work. When I get her in the morning she'll be sitting up and pointing to it and saying 'line'. I keep telling her 'good girl' and giving her lots of praise for waiting for me to come get her.

Not sure if I've mentioned this in a previous post but for the past few months I've been using an alarm clock to 'signal' her that it was time to wake up. I would normally wait until I heard her stiring and after a while I would ring the alarm clock and then go in and get her. I hope that she learns that the bell means it's time to wake up and until then she's suppose to be in bed. Seems like it's working well.