Making The Switch From Crib To Big Girl Bed

At 22 months old, we decided it was time....well, by we, we mean Poppy decided. She wanted to kiss her crib goodbye and move her way up to her very own big girl bed. This process can be difficult, but with both kids ( although both processes were different) we waited until they showed us that they were ready and initiated the change.When Poppy started daycare at the end of February, she began taking naps in the daycare cots. That was the first time in her life that she was in a bed without four walls, not counting her nights in our bed. After the first few days at daycare, she began screaming bloody murder each time we attempted to put her in her crib for bed and naps. She has always been the best baby where she would be asleep by the time her head hit the mattress with no fuss so we knew something was going on. After fighting with her to sleep in the crib for a good 5 days, we made the connection between the daycare cot and possibly changing her crib to a toddler bed. So that's what we did and it worked. She now was proud of her toddler bed and because it was still her crib and comfort zone, I believe it helped her adjust.Something we didn't plan but worked great was that across from her bed was a queen size bed. Once we upgraded to a King Bed, we didn't have any space for our queen so because Poppy's room is so large, it worked well to double as a guest room. Little did we know that after a week in her toddler bed (converted crib) she decided bedtime was now to be done in the big bed. We didn't fight her asks and started doing story time in the queen bed, leaving the crib set up just in case she wanted to go back to it. 3 weeks later she hasn't slept in her crib yet and has officially claimed the big bed as hers.Many of you watching our journey unfold on Instagram, have asked for advice as you embark on doing the same with your littles. Read their cues and wait until they are ready. When you rush your baby, it usually ends up being harder on both of you than it should be. I also believe that using the CIO Method when Poppy was a baby, allowed her to learn to self-soothe and adjust better when it comes to her sleeping situation. During the switch, the second night we had to do a reset with her and leave the room allowing her to cry herself to sleep. It lasted about 15 mins and then she was able to fall asleep on her own after that.If you are interested in our sleep training method that we sware by now that we've got 2 good sleepers on our hands, the book we followed is catered to starting at any age and adjust according to your needs. Its called 'Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child' and was recommended to us by both our family doctor and Naturopathic Doctor. We now make sure we include it in all of our baby shower gifts because us mamas need sleep to be able to be our best.Hope this helps all you parents out there going through this stage. I know it can be very stressful. But, when you are stressed, they sense that so make sure you are going into it with a relaxed feel.Next, get rid of the soother again....we had got her off it before she had pneumonia quite easily but it was the only thing to calm her after the hospital visit and tests. Once we figure out the best way for her, we will fill you in.