Amalia’s transition to a big girl bed has officially gone as smoothly as it possibly could have gone with only one small hiccup. If you couldn’t tell, I let her pick (almost) every detail in her room centered around said bed, and while I might not have chosen this much pink, she adores it. Her face lights up when she shows her friends or our family or even the plumber (true story) her room. She is so proud of it and tells everyone that she picked out her heart bed all by herself.

The room itself is a lot bigger than her nursery in our old house, and it felt empty for the first few months that we were living here. But now it is just perfect if not a bit over the top in the best way possible for a 2.5-year-old girl.

Amalia’s transition to a big girl bed

Our plan was to keep her in a crib for as long as possible but that didn’t work out so well… She saw a “big girl bed” at a friend’s house and it was all over. She talked about it constantly and every night she would get upset that she had to sleep in a crib. To the point where getting her down at night became a major battle. So our first step was to transform our crib into a toddler bed by swapping out the side rail. That did the trick and she immediately started going to sleep normally again.

My biggest concern was that she would get up in the night and wake us up but we were happily surprised to find out that she never once got out of bed on her own. For some reason when it’s dark, she thinks we need to come in before she can get up (to this day!) and we’re not telling her otherwise because it’s been a dream.

We kept her in the transitioned crib until her new bed arrived a few weeks later. When she walked into her room and saw the bed for the first time with the pink heart bedding she had picked out online, it was like Christmas and her birthday rolled into one. I have never seen the kid happier!

The first few nights in the bed, she woke up because the covers would come off or she got tangled in the sheets. Our biggest mistake in this process was laying down with her when she woke up in the night. Because the bed is so comfy, we would both fall asleep next to her when we went in. She got used to that then started calling for us every time she woke up in the night.

We had to nip that in the bud so one weekend night we took turns going in when she woke up (which was 3 times) and explained to her that we had to sleep in our bed and she had to sleep in hers. Since then it hasn’t been a problem.

Our nighttime routine is so much nicer with the new bed because we can read to her in bed then turn out the lights and cuddle for a few minutes before she falls asleep. It’s pure bliss. We moved her glider out of the room because we had been using it for books, but we don’t need it anymore. I definitely shed a tear over that one.

Safety

We inherited a guardrail from our neighbor which you can see pictured here. Ultimately, we decided to go with toddler bed bumpers (on a reader recommendation!) on both sides because it’s both easier to make the bed and easier for us to get in and out of it. They have a textured bottom so they can’t move around on the mattress. You just place them in on either side of the mattress and put the fitted sheet right over them. Amalia moves around all night in her sleep, and they keep her from falling off.

Her bedroom details

When designing the room around this new bed of hers, we wanted to make sure she had a place to read and play. She finally graduated out of her My First Anywhere Chair into the standard size. A friend of hers has a canopy that she fell in love with so I added this one above the chair for a sweet little reading nook. She often picks out a big pile of books from her new bookshelf and reads to herself in this chair while I’m getting dressed in the mornings.

We kept her dresser from the old room and as soon as she’s potty-trained (soon!) we will remove the diaper changing station from on top of that. Next to it, I added these heart baskets that I planned to fill with toys and stuffed animals, but whenever I moved stuff into them, she brings it back downstairs. I guess she likes to keep her room for sleeping and reading only! We’ll see how that progresses but I remember spending hours playing in my room as a little girl and I assume she’ll do the same at some point.

We’re still using the Hatch light every night. Amalia picks the color before we read books (always a shade of pink or purple, of course) and we put the white noise on 30%. After she falls asleep, I turn the light down to very low. This has helped immensely with her fear of going to sleep.

Room Details:
Hampton Bed (gifted)
Hampton Nightstand (gifted)
Organic Cotton Heart Sheets (gifted)
Organic Hearts Duvet Cover (gifted)
Organic Hearts Shams (gifted)
Monogrammed Sham (gifted)
Cameron 4-Shelf Bookcase (gifted)
Pearl Dot Border Rug (gifted)
Jana Bek Brushstroke Lamp
Serena & Lily Raffia Dresser
PB Kids Linen Blackout Drapes
Rainbow Wall Decals
Pink Basket (only available in blue now)
PB Kids Anywhere Chair
Target Canopy
Sheepskin Rug
Scalloped Mirror
Name Glo Neon Sign (gifted)
Linen Tissue Box Cover
Hatch Light
Un Deux Trois Print
My PJs
Amalia’s PJs