Crib vs. Bed When to switch?

mabdoo

mabdoo

Cathlete
How do you know when your child is old enough for a bed? Our almost 2 year old has a crib that converts into a toddler bed and then a double bed. I would never use the toddler bed because all you really do is take the front of the crib off which I think makes my daughter more likely to fall out of bed. She put her foot on the side of the crib but really has not tried to climb out. I am so afraid of her falling. Apparently both my DH and I loved climbing out of our cribs when we were little so she comes by it naturally. The problem I see is that she won't stay in the bed once it is time to go to bed because she is so active. Also, her crib is where she sleeps and does nothing else. I don't put her in there to play or anything like that. When she was sick a few weeks ago and up a lot during the night we tried putting her in our bed and she thought it was play time so I am afraid she won't know that it is bed time. She does understand what "snooze" means so maybe I am not giving her enough credit. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks.
 
I moved my daughter into a real bed when she turned 2. I didn't do a toddler bed, just a regular twin bed. Never had a problem with it. I know people who have kept their kids in cribs until 3, which IMO seems a little long. I never had a problem with the switch. She never fell out until she was maybe 5 or 6, and we laughed about it. What's the worst that can happen if she falls out? It's not like you're putting her in a loft, right?

As far as her staying there...well, each child is different. Mine was more about wanting to come sleep in my bed because she was "scared". I've found that bribery works well. If she slept in her room for a week, I'd let her have X (this case was a Sully toy from The Disney Store). The theory was that the best thing to protect her from monsters was a monster. It worked for about a year. Then she needed something a little more ferocious and got our pit bull/shepherd. I showed her his teeth and told her that if anything came out of her closet, Duke would rip its face off. It worked. She's 8 now, and Duke still sleeps on her bed, though she knows nothing is coming out of her closet.
 
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I took my son out of his crib and into a toddler bed at about 3 years old. I wasn't ready before that! LOL It really depends upon the child and when you as a parent are comfortable with making the switch. As far as toddler vs regular bed. We would have put him in a regular bed but we are already strapped for space in his room and want to move his toy box upstairs (right now it's in our tiny family room) so we didn't need a regular size bed taking up space in there. Besides, we got him a Cars bed which he loves so it's all good. :) When we made the switch we told my son over and over again that he needed to stay in bed until we told him he could get up. We told him to call for us if he needed anything ie: if he had to go to the bathroom, etc. He got up a few times but not often. It wasn't bad at all. He's been in the bed for about 6 months now so he is slowly earning more freedom and is allowed to come downstairs on his own but if it's too early to be awake (before 7am) the he is told to go back to bed for a little while.
 
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We waited until our son figured out how to climb out of the crib before we changed to a bed, he was a little over 2. We did use the crib converted to the toddler bed, but put a rail on the open side. It covered most of the side, but left a big enough opening for him to get in and out of the bed. We also put a plastic storage tub on the floor at the opening to make it easier for him to get in and out of bed. I think it would have been almost impossible for him to have fallen out. We didn't use it for very long before we just moved him to a big bed with rails on the sides. He has never fallen out of that either.

As for getting them to stay in the bed, that is a bit of a challenge. For awhile I would just leave him in bed and close his door. Sometimes there was crying and pounding on the door, but eventually he would fall asleep. I usually would go back and check on him once I was sure he was asleep. Then if he had fallen asleep on the floor I could move him to his bed. Eventually he got to the point where even if he did get out of bed to play after I left the room he got back in once he was ready to go to sleep.

good luck
 
My daughter was less than a year old (10 or 11 mos) when she was climbing out of her crib. As soon as we found her climbing out, we bought a twin sized mattress and put it on her floor, with the little bed rails on it. It seemed to work really well for us.
 
Wow, we got lucky I guess! I neglected to mention that my son NEVER climbed out of his crib. Not once! No wonder we were able to keep him in it for so long! :D

He actually wanted to go back into his crib after the initial newness of his bed wore off. LOL
 
my son just switched this week and he is 2.6 years old. he never climbed out, but he decided this week he wanted to sleep in a big boy bed. he is a peanut, but he is in a twin bed with a step stool to climb in. he goes down fine in his big boy bed but wakes at night and lately i have then had to sleep with him. i am hoping that changes, and soon! also hoping he does not give up his nap:( i would have left him in a crib longer, but he decided for himself. good luck.
 
I'll bet it depends on the child. Some kids are all jazzed about a big, new bed (like mine). Others prefer the security of the crib for a little while longer.

When the time came, whenever that was...I forget how old the kids were...we just put a twin mattress on the floor. That way they weren't hurt if they rolled out. :D

If she naps, you could try having her nap in your bed. That way she'll get an idea of what sleeping in a bed feels like, but you won't be asking her to make the switch at nighttime just yet.
 
We got our dd a real bed when she was 2. She had started climbing out. At first we put the side of the crib down to it's lowest level so she could get in or out without falling and that little bit of side being up was enough of a bumper to keep her from falling out when she was asleep. After doing this for a little while, we found a regular bed and used the safety rail so she couldn't roll out. By three she didn't need the rail.

Jean
 
Thanks for all your advice everyone. I still don't know what to do. She doesn't hang out of it yet because she is tiny but so wiry and active. She puts her foot on the top like she wants to get out but I don't think she can pull herself out just yet. And she won't be 2 until next month. I guess if this is the worst thing I have to deal with right now I should count my blessings.
 
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