The right time to move your child from a crib to a bed

I had mixed feelings about moving mine, too, but life intervened. For my daughter, we moved right before she turned 2, and I had a new baby. Her transition was very easy. We just moved my son, when he was 26 months old. When we moved into our new house, we didn't put the crib up and put him in the Pack and Play. Several poop accidents and smearings later, the mattress is disgusting. So he is now in a big boy bed with rails. He did great, too.

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My 2 year old is also in a crib. I don't believe we will be transitioning for a while and I am ok with that. I like it that he does not have full range of the house while we are asleep. It is comforting for the entire family. We are not holding him back. We have a Little Tykes race car bed set up in his room for when he is ready. You will know when the time is right. Listen to your child.

Good luck,

Jamie

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We put out daughter in a toddler bed after she flipped herself out of her crib one afternoon. She was standing in it, put her hands on the rail, pulled herself up and her weight caused her to flip forward and land on her back on the floor. It happened over the course of about two seconds; I watched it happen. She was about 20 months old.

So she had a toddler bed then. I was newly-pregnant and had to take frequent potty breaks. I left her w/ my husband during her wind-down time so I could use the bathroom. He says that she began to have a tantrum at my leaving, ran over and flung herself into the bed. She split the skin over her eyebrow & we had to take her into the ER for two stitches. Her scar is invisible now.

Other than those two incidents, we had no problems w/ the crib-toddler bed conversion. She was very happy & safe in the toddler bed and only recently transferred to a twin bed w/ a rail (she's now just a couple months past three years old). For us it was a matter of safety. We have friends whose daughter is the same age as our daughter and I believe she's still in her crib. If your child is happy & safe in his crib, I see no reason to move him out of it.

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My daughter started climbing out (very unsuccessfully, I may add, with a couple of goose-eggs on her noggin) at 18 months. We got her a toddler bed, but she preferred her crib(as in -screamed like crazy if you even asked her to climb in) so we waited.....when she was 2 and a half she suddenly decided she liked it and after we came home from vacation we just switched her over. It was only used for about 6 months though, as she quickly became restless in it and now has a twin size bed. I might add she sleeps 11 hrs a night straight through now that she can thrash around with room to spare.

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My daughter got a toddle bed for her first birthday.

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My son hated his crib for months before we got him his toddler bed. He would fuss, and run from one side and plow into the other (seemingly trying to knock it over. I thought he would break the bed!) and was making efforts to crawl out. At around 18 mos, we got him an Ikea toddler bed that extends into a regular bed. So it's wider than your average toddler bed. Now I lay down with him and bedtime is blissful. He scoots around til he falls asleep. Bedtime is so peaceful now.

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Leave your son in a crib as long as it's his (and your) preference. Transitioning to the big bed might go smoothly for some families, but for us it's been extremely difficult.

At about 18 months, Baby A started gleefully telling us there was an elevator in one corner of her crib, hiking a leg over that side, and falling out. (Other times she said there were kangaroos in with her and jumped around and out.) We delayed switching until I felt the crib was just far too dangerous--several months too long for her pediatrician.

Now she's up and out of bed all the time, and we are *not* permissive parents. We calmly and authoritatively put her back every time, take toys and privileges away until behaviors improve, but...ugh. There have been some smooth weeks, but for the most part it's been a sleepless, sleepless time. We are the parents you see on Super Nanny putting the kid back in the bed two hundred times a night.

If your son likes to sleep (many do, just not mine) and is relatively calm and obediant, it might not be so bad. But if he's a firecracker, do wait.

- L

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We started with a mattress on the floor, assembled the "big girl bed" outside her room for awhile, and hyped it up. About a month later, we moved the big bed in, and made a bigger deal if it with Finding Nemo sheets.

She was a little over 2 when we finally did this, and aside from two falling out of bed incidents (it's a mates bed) onto huge thick pillows, we've never had a problem.

Number 2 will be doing this soon as well, and I'm worried 2 in a room together will be my bigger problem, since neither will be contained in a crib.

We didn't make it a bigger deal than it needed to be, which seemed to work.

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No big deal for us either and no trauma. Once they each (the younger two) began climbing out of the crib, it had served it's purpose. We moved them all into toddler? beds (crib mattress and side rails). As they outgrew those, we moved them to adult beds.

They were probably somewhere between two and three years old.

Now their feet seem to be overhanging the adult beds. Where do I go now?

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My daughter was 15 mos old when I got pregnant with my son. I was nowhere ready to put her in a real bed, but we didn't want to buy a second crib, either. When she was around 18 mos we purchased a twin mattress and put it on the floor next to her crib. We let her choose which one to sleep in. SLowly we transitioned her out of the crib. I spent a couple (pregnant) months sleeping on the floor with her.

My son is 27 mos (23 adjusted) and I think he will be in his crib for quite a bit longer.

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Our son was in a full size mattress on the floor with rails when he was 13 months old. He just moved around too much and was getting hurt from banging his head on the crib. We have to put big pillows on the floor at the foot of his bed, the only side not with rails/walls because he still falls out of bed! He never got out of bed the first 18 months in the bed. He would call us to come get him. Maybe he thought he was still in a crib and unable to get out alone...which was fine, as I didn't have to worry about him roaming while we were asleep!

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I got a big girl bed for my daughter (20 moinths old) from freecycle but we have yet to set it up for her. I am happy with the 10 o'clock wake up times I get because she is content to play in her crib from when she wakes up at 7 until between 9 and 10. She often watches Sesame Street during those times. She isn't climbing out of the crib.

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My boys moved to mattress on the floor before they were 2 b/c there was another baby on the way and because they slept better on a real mattress. My daughter has no looming little sibling and sleeps wonderfully in her crib - so at 2 1/2 she's still there. We may get her a toddler bed for Christmas b/c I'm thinking she might outgrow the crib pretty soon - but my ped said there's no rush

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My 20 month old girl just gave us a scare and climbed right out of the crib while we were downstairs. We heard an aweful bang and then crying. Me and my wife ran up there to find her on her back crying. She seems ok, nothing broken and was up and walking around in a few minutes. I think it scared her.

Anyway, I took the side off her crib right away (turns into a toddler bed) and we are crossing our fingers that she will sleep in it!

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