Transitioning My 18-Month-Old Cosleeping Toddler To Her Crib

We are finally seeing some progress with transitioning my cosleeping toddler to her crib.

If you follow me on Instagram, then you may or may not remember when I shared a post last summer saying that we were attempting to start sleep training my younger daughter who was 13 months then.

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And I hate to admit this but we failed with sleep training her.

I couldn’t stand to hear the constant crying and neither could my husband so we decided to give up and go back to cosleeping.

For those who may be new here, we have been cosleeping with my daughter since she was born.

• Read More: Safe Ways To Bedshare With A Newborn

We also did it with my older daughter when she was a baby and successfully transitioned her to her crib by 8 months.

So naturally, we figured that we would be successful with moving our second child to her crib around the same time.

That clearly was not the case.

When we first attempted to move her to the crib around the 7-month mark, she would not stay asleep long.

She was waking up pretty frequently which resulted in me being exhausted from constantly getting up so I started putting her back in our bed so that I could get some sleep.

Attempt number 2 was around 12 months when she was sleeping longer at night.

However, because she was so used to being in our bed, she was very resistant to her crib.

Which lead to so many nights of endless crying and screaming.

This process was nothing like how it was with our first daughter so my husband and I were at a complete loss on what to do so we gave in once again.

Fast forward to October of last year when we moved into our new home, I told my husband that I was going to buckle down and start trying to move our daughter to her crib again.

This is exactly what I did and we are finally seeing progress with our toddler sleeping longer periods in her.

And the best part is that we did it gently without a lot of “crying it out”

I know we aren’t the only ones who struggle with getting their toddler out of their bed, so I want to share what we did for those who are trying to transition their toddler from cosleeping to their crib.

If you want to know how we have been transitioning our 18-month-old cosleeping toddler to her crib, then just keep reading.

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When Should You Transition Your Child From Cosleeping To Their Crib?

Before I dive into how we transitioned our cosleeping toddler to her crib, let’s talk about this.

When should you transition your cosleeping child to their crib?

Because I feel like this played a big part in why we were having such a hard time.

According to Baby Sleep Made Simple, there isn’t a perfect age to transition from cosleeping.

You can transition as early as 3 months.

Or you can wait to transition later around 12 months.

So the sweet spot likely falls between 6 and 9 months.

Which I would agree with.

As I mentioned above, we transitioned my first daughter at 8 months and were able to do it within a couple of weeks.

Even at 4 years old today, she is a great sleeper who stays in her bed the whole night and hardly ever gets out of it.

But as parents of multiple children know, you know that every child is different

Our girls have some similiarities, but one of the biggest differences between them is their sleep.

My older daughter is way better at falling asleep independently and sleeps so much better in her own space.

As opposed to my younger daughter who prefers to sleep near someone and sleeps better because of it.

Once we realized this, we knew that it would likely take longer to transition her.

We were hoping that we could have her sleeping in her crib by 12 months but unfortunately, that didn’t happen.

So here we are.

And we are finally starting to get somewhere with her sleeping in her own bed at 18 months.

Now that we know when is a good time to start transitioning your toddler from cosleeping to their crib, let’s get how to do it.

Transitioning My 18-Month-Old Cosleeping Toddler To Her Crib

Have A Positive Mindset

My very first tip on transitioning a cosleeping toddler to a crib is to have a positive mindset.

Because you’re going to need it.

There is likely to be some level of resistance.

Especially the older child.

This is very normal and should be expected.

You have become their comfort and sleep aid so this will be a major adjustment for them as you transition them away from that.

But you have to remain positive and consistent and trust that they will eventually learn how to adjust in a space without you.

Dedicate A Separate Space For Them

Next up is dedicating a separate space for them.

You all may recall that my girls shared a bedroom at our old home.

• Read More: Room-Sharing Tips With A Baby And Toddler

When we moved into our new home last year, we acquired an extra room so the girls no longer share a bedroom.

As much as I loved the girls sharing a room, I don’t think they were quite ready to share a room.

Not only because my younger daughter wasn’t sleeping through the night, but also because she didn’t associate the space as hers and somewhere to sleep.

I feel like she thought that she was in her “sister’s room” and that this room was a playroom for her to play around in.

However, at our new home, I noticed that once she got accustomed to her own space in her room, she made the association that this room is hers and that the crib is her bed.

In fact, when it is time to start her bedtime routine, she runs to her room to get ready to go to bed.

So I highly recommend finding a separate space outside of your room for your child whether it is another room or even a small closet.

Consider Converting The Crib To A Toddler Bed Or Floor Bed

Part of the issue we were having with putting her in the crib was the “dropping” sensation she would experience when we lowered her into the crib.

She could be asleep in our arms, but the moment, we tried to lay her down over the rail into the crib, she would wake up and start crying.

Which lead us to have to comfort her and start the process all over again.

When we were in the process of moving late last year, my husband and I went back and forth on whether we should convert the crib to a toddler bed in her new room

We didn’t convert our older’s daughter’s crib until she was 2 years old and here we are considering it with our second daughter at 16 months.

• Read More: Transitioning My Toddler From A Crib To A Toddler Bed

But we ultimately decided to give it a shoot and I’m glad that we did.

It became much easier to put her down and she seemed to settle much easier in her toddler bed.

The one con about converting her crib to a toddler bed much sooner is her ability to get in and out of the bed on her own.

So we will have to work on her staying in the bed when she does wake up, but as of right now, she will sleep in her bed 6 to 7 hours before getting up.

Start With Daytime Naps

I shared in a previous post my daughter’s nap schedule when was she 10 months old.

And in that post, I talked about how she would take 2 naps a day with at least one being an attempt in her crib.

Because she had developed a crib aversion, naps in her crib were also a struggle.

But if I had to pick whether to struggle with her during the day or at night, then I’m going to pick the day.

When she started taking only one nap a day around 16 months, I started getting intentional with laying her down in her crib when she fell asleep during the day.

Of course, it was a struggle early on.

Some days she would cry immediately upon being put down.

On other days, I could lay her down, but she wouldn’t remain asleep for more than 30 minutes.

But I kept at it until the crying became less and she started sleeping for at least an hour.

Now at 18 months, she takes naps really well in her bed and naps anywhere between an hour and a half to two hours.

I believe by getting her used to her bed during the day helped with getting more accustomed to it at night.

Create A Bedtime Routine

If you don’t already, then you need a create a bedtime routine.

Having a bedtime routine in place signals that it is time for bed which is exactly what you want to instill in your children so they know that it is time to start winding down.

My oldest daughter has had a bedtime routine in place since she was 1 and we started incorporating our youngest daughter into that routine as well.

• Read More: My 2-Year-Old Toddler’s Bedtime Routine

Their bedtime routine goes as follows:

• Bath
• Pajamas
• Brush Teeth
• Read Book
• Bedtime

This entire routine takes place between 7 PM and 8:30 PM and both of the girls are very familiar with this routine.

After we have read books, we put my older daughter to bed first and then I head into my baby girl’s room to put her to sleep.

She does still nurse to sleep at night, so I nurse her first and then proceed to lay her down in the bed.

This leads me to my next tip.

Gradually Remove Your Presence When Putting Down

Since my daughter relies so much on my presence to sleep, I knew that I am going to have to gradually remove my presence in order for her to learn how to go to sleep on her own.

We attempted the CIO (cry it out) method when my daughter was 12 months and that method just did not work for her.

To go from sleeping with mom to being alone in a room crying endlessly just did not go over well so we decided to scratch that method.

I talked to my pediatrician and she told me that many parents who have bedshared have had success with the “Chair Method.”

This method is where you set up a chair by the crib or bed and sit there to soothe your little one to sleep.

And gradually, you move the chair further and further away from the bed until you no longer are in the room for them to sleep.

We have not graduated to me being out of the room yet, but I no longer have to sit directly next to the bed touching her.

After nursing my daughter, I put her in the bed to tuck her in, and then I will sit in the glider in her room until she falls asleep.

She is learning how to sleep without my touch and because of this, she is able to soothe herself back to sleep sometimes when she wakes up a night.

Selectively Respond To Wake Ups

Speaking of wake-ups, I selectively respond to wake-ups.

A rule that I go by is if my child is flat-out crying and screaming, I respond immediately.

If they are crying lightly and whining, I hesitate briefly (5 minutes or so) before going in.

And lastly, if they are quiet, I don’t go in until they start to make noise.

As my daughter has gotten more accustomed to her bed, she is crying less when in it.

In fact, when she wakes up sometimes, she doesn’t even make a peep.

When she does wake up and is not crying or whining, I just wait and watch her through our baby monitor just to make sure she is ok.

And sometimes, she just lays back down and goes back to sleep.

If I would have just gone into her room, just because she was up, she wouldn’t have had the opportunity to fall back asleep on her own.

Of course, there are some nights when she wakes up crying and gets out of bed to which I respond by going into the room to tend to her.

But if she appears to be ok, I try to give her a chance to go back to sleep on her own.

Remain Consistent

My last tip for transitioning your cosleeping toddler to a crib is to remain consistent.

As much as I wish this is something that could just happen overnight, it likely won’t.

This means that you will need to be ready to commit to doing this process every day until it finally clicks and you no longer have a cosleeping toddler.

I know for me, it felt like we were never going to get our bed back.

But since we have been committing ourselves to this process of getting her more and more used to her bed, we have been seeing progress.

At first, our daughter wouldn’t sleep past 11 PM in her bed.

Then she got to the point of sleeping until 1 AM before waking up.

And as of right now, she will sleep until 3 AM.

So she is sleeping a total of 6 to 7 hours in her bed almost every night which is way better than the 2 to 3 she was doing before.

With time, we are hoping that she will sleep even longer to 5 AM and then eventually 7 AM.

We know consistency is key so we will keep at it until we get there.

Your Turn

Well, that is everything we have been doing to transition my 18-month-old from cosleeping to her bed. I want to hear from you all now. For my cosleeping and bed-sharing parents out there, what are your tips for transitioning your cosleeping toddler to their crib? I would love to hear from you in the comments and while you are still here, check out my previous post below! Until next time!

• Read More: New Year’s Resolutions For Moms

Love,

Just Jass