transitioning to a bed...Hi, there! No judgement here, either! I rocked my child, lay with my child, held my child on my chest/stomach in my bed, anything I could do to catch a few hours of sleep...lol...those days, thankfully are long behind me. It was rough when he first transitioned to a bed, and I did lay with him at night until he drifted off to sleep, then rolled slowly off the bed, crawled on hands and knees and prayed to the powers that be that he wouldn't wake up when I went out the door and closed it behind me. I had actually forgotten some of that until you posted!!! As he got a little older, it was easier, with beditme stories and a very, very specific ritual of recital (Good night, sleep tight, I love you, see you in the morning). Wow, I miss those days! Now he just pops up with "i'm ready for bed" and maybe "I love you" but I miss sleeping with him some. He is now very possesive of his bed and won't let anyone on it, including his big brother, who he worships Do what you have to do...lay with him, rock him, whatever....just enjoy that he is yours and enjoy every moment of the little things you can Hi there I used a crib for both my kids ASD & NT until they out grew them as well. I would have kept using the one for my dd (NT) but the owner finally asked for her crib back How about a mattress on the floor? If you are worried about him being up without supervision, a few people have suggested a gate. But I would also suggest now is the time to go thru the house and check all your childproofing and door locks too. Hello!! I am in exactly the same boat. We want to move him to a bed, but the crib is just so easy! We just kiss him goodnight, lay him down, and leave the room. He loves it and so do we but it is getting too small for him. So far, all I have done is placed a mattress on the floor. I figure this way he wont be hurt if he rolls off. He is used to it being there now. He jumps on it happily, but climbs into the crib when he is sleepy. I think the next step will be to remove the crib from the room. Then prepare myself for MANY nights of repeatedly placing him back in the bed until he wears himself out (hopefully that will be before I am worn out...) Let us know how it goes. Oh one more thing- I am paranoid about my son getting out of his room too- so I put in one of the plastic door knob covers on the inside of his bedroom door and he still can't master them, and I also have chain locks on all the exterior doors to the house high up so he can't reach them- and for overkill, I still use a baby monitor Hi there- oh the things we have to do as parents to get our ASD kids to sleep! My son is very tall for his age and he has beein his twin size bed for about 8 months now. I was terrified of switching him to a bed, but it went very well. The hardest thing was about 6 months prior putting him to bed without rocking- I stopped rocking him at 2.5 years and it was sooooooohard for us. He was still in the crib and he would cry until he threw up each and every time he cried it out in his crib. Talk about frustrating! So we switched him to the twin bed at age 3.5 and I bough a bed that has a high headboard and footboard so he can't crawl out on those two sides; I pushed it up against the wall for the left side then I used 2 toddler rails (meant for either side of the mattress) and I slid them both under the one side of the mattress. I staggered them so they overlap a bit and there is no escape route. I pinned the rails onto the boxspring and he not one time ever even tried to get out. It went really well- until he started not sleeping over the past 3 - 4 weeks. I have been pulling my hair out and so exhausted that I am sleeping in his little bed with him so that he stops screaming and we both can sleep. I am so tired- we are trying a prescription to help him sleep- I sure hope it kicks in soon! Good luck to you- I know how hard all of his is for you!!! Our guy moved from his crib to a race car bed that held his crib mattress.This lasted one night. He hit his little head on the hard plastic of the bed frame and would not get in it again. He slept with us for about a week until we had the bright idea to get an inflatable mattress and place it on the floor of his bed room. He slept on this for 2 years until the jumping on the bed took it's toll and the thing developed a leak. Rather than replace the inflatable, we took this opportunity to recycle his crib out of the attic and convert it to a full size bed. This is a function of the crib and all that we had to do was purchase 2 bed rails when we bought the full size mattress and box spring set to accomplish the transformation. From that point, has spent the bulk of every night in this bed. He still magically goes to bed in this bed, but wakes up somewhere between me and his mom around 4:30 AM every once in a while. I would just get the bed that you choose to use and then continue the rocking him to sleep. After he accepts the new bed then I would think about a social story to transition away from the rocking to sleep. The deal about the inflatable mattress is that it was only 1 ft off of the floor. He wouldn't be anything more than startled if he fell out of bed. All of this stuff worked just fine for us. But do what you think is best for you guys. I really do not think that you have to worry about anyone doing any "Judgements" here, we are going through pretty much the same things, only differently. Good Luck, and Pleasent Dreams to you all. Hi there! We transitioned Katie from the crib (which had a great crib tent) to a bed a couple of months ago. The transition was successful, with one exception - we still have to lie with her for a few minutes each night until she falls asleep. We started off very slowly. We got the bed with rails and set it up in her room but kept her in the crib, so she would get used to the bed being in her room. We then removed the crib tent from the crib which meant she could get out of the crib during the night so we also put knob covers on her door knob so at least she wouldn't escape her room and bolted down all of her furniture. Slowly she got used to the bed being there. Then we would wait for her to fall asleep in the crib and take her out and lie her in the bed with her blankets and stuffed toys. The first morning we found that she woke up in the middle of the night and climbed into her crib. But we did it again and she stayed in the bed all night. Then finally we started putting her right to sleep in the bed but we had to lie with her until she fell asleep. That's where we are now, its been a few weeks now and we still have to lie with her until she falls asleep. I'm trying to wean myself from the bed before this gets too ingrained but I am just pleased she's sleeping all night in the bed. I think the social story is a great idea. I also think you should go slow because it is a big transition. Oh, we also put a night light in her room for the first couple of weeks in case she woke up she would know where she was (prior to the bed, she slept in total darkness). Best of Luck. can you put a baby gate across his door so if he gets out of bed he cant leave the room i no someone that had to do this cuse her kids had severe adhd an would have wonder the house at night if that wasnt there or maybe you can get side for the bed or something No judgements here.My little boy transitioned to a big-boy bed easily, but we also did it when we moved to a new house. I figured if he had to make a change, may as well go all the way. He was only 2, but he had outgrown the crib already. We bought him a captain's bed with a trundle. I pull the trundle out most nights so he'll have something to land on if he rolls off, which he has done a few times. Having said that, my little boy wouldn't allow us to hold him, much less rock him, when he was sleepy. The first time he ever fell asleep while I was holding him was well after he turned 3 years old. I would have loved to rock him to sleep at ANY time, even now and he is 5. So, I absolutely will not pass any judgement for anyone laying with their child or rocking them to sleep at night. [QUOTE=paws1129]I am sure this has been asked about before but here I go... I personally don't don't see anything wrong with rocking him to bed everynight, I would do it too if my little guy wanted it! My son out grew his crib when he was 4 1/2, and he has since refused to sleep in his own room. His bed (along with a matching bed tent) is in my room, he sleeps in it everynight, unless he gets scared, which isn't too often. My mom is always making comments about how he should be in his own room, I just say "butt out, he will do when he is ready" It's a big change going from a crib to a bed. My guy has bed rails and a tent, it makes him feel more secure, I think you have to do what works best for you. The social story sounds like a great idea, as are all of the others like using bedrails, an air mattress, and a safety gate. The air mattress one is cool, I wish I had thought of that last year! Best of luck to you! I am sure this has been asked about before but here I go...My son will be four at the end of May and is still in his crib. We need to transition him into a bed because he is too tall for his crib. He is non-verbal and I am not sure how much he understands. Please no judgements but my husband or I still rock him to sleep each night. It has been this way since he began having seizures and was very very sick in Feb 07. I know we need to stop this too and I plan on doing it when he gets his bed. Any suggestions on making this transition. I plan on making him a social story book with his bedtime routine in it and with pics of his friends going to bed. I am worried about when he wakes up in the middle of the night him walking off the bed without realizing it. We are going to be a bed with adjustable height so it won't be far off the ground. We plan to use his crib mattress next to his bed. Bedrails and in a corner up against the wall. Any ideas would be appreciated. Thanks |
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It was so hard, I had just moved into an apartment, filed for divorce and we were both so exhausted because he would go to sleep just fine with the rocking- problem was each time he awoke at night he cried until we re-rocked him. I was getting NO sleep so I toughed it out. He cried and threw up 2 X the first night, cried and threw up 1 X the next, then from that point on just whined a bit but he did not throw up any more. That worked for about 6 months then I moved him to a big bed once he could go to bed after we read books and then said goodnight and he went to sleep on his own. You may want to try this for a week or two before transitioning him to a bed- both at once may be hard!