My daughter is getting close to being ready to leave the crib and I was wondering if anyone has any input as to the next step. I'm wondering if we should get a toddler bed (the crib will be occupied when she leaves so we would also need another matress) or we have an extra twin matress we can just put on the floor. The last option is a twin bed we have set up. Any and all input/advice from mom's who have done this would be helpful!
Thanks!
Well, I have decided to skip the toddler bed and go straight for the twin. I think we are going to take out the boxspring (as suggested), put up a bed rail, and put the extra twin matress on the floor next to the bed.
For the next two months we are going to start introducing our daughter to the bed and bedroom but we won't be moving her out of her current room until we absolutely must move our new little guy into the crib.
Thanks for all the great comments and advice!
My daughter was almost 2 when we put twin mattresses on the floor against the wall, my daughter did great. She never got out of bed and I think she only rolled out once or twice. After she started sleeping better, more straight and not so all over the place we bought her a real bed. She has done great with that too. I am all about skipping the toddler bed, just one more phase to deal with.
Hi J.~
I think getting a toddler bed is the way to go and get another mattress to put in it. They are not that expensive. They have so many cute toddler beds now. Princess, castles, houses, etc. We had a cottage with a picket fence aroung it and a window that you could open and put babies or stuffed animals in. It was a Little Tykes brand (all plastic). I was worried that my daughter would get out of bed all the time, but that just wasn't the case. She loved to stay in it because it was "cool". I think putting a twin mattress on the floor wouldn't be as exciting for her to stay in. My toddler bed went through two children and I didn't have trouble with either one of them. Hope this helps.
I would definitely use the twin mattress. Why buy something if you don't have to. With my daughter, we put the mattress on the floor and that worked well. With my son, we tried using rails and that worked well also. Definitely use what you have!!
Hi J.,
We put my son in a full size bed around 18 months because he was trying to climb out of the crib. His crib converted to a full size but not a toddler bed so we just got the mattress and went for it. He used a safety rail along the outside and the other side was against the wall for about 6 months. He never fell out of bed and loved his "big boy bed" right from the start. He only recently fell out of bed for the first time and he is almost 3 1/2. I would recommend that you put her in the twin size bed right from the start and get her used to it.
Personally, we already had a twin bed set up, so we just moved it against the wall, bought a bed rail for the other side and called it good. We taught our daughter to ask to get out of bed and that seemed to work too. We also put a little stool at the foot of the bed to help her in and out, but it wasn't really needed...she is a little monkey :) I figured by starting her out with a regular bed, it would be one less transition. Good luck.
For both of my girls we put them right into twin beds and put the crib mattress on the floor so if they did fall out, it would be a soft landing. If you use a toddler bed you'll have to switch to a twin bed eventually.
I went right from the crib to the regular bed. If you can't afford the bed, the mattress on the floor is fine, but I never saw the need for the Toddler bed myself.
About a year about (when my daughter just turned 2) we converted the crib to the toddler bed setting and she slept in that for about 4mths. The only reason we went to a toddler bed was because she was jumping out of her crib. She was then pulling her mattress off (since it is light) and we decided to purchase a twin mattress. We put it directly on the floor and she is so light it will not hurt the mattress. She loves it since we got to go out and purchase fun sheets. For her 3rd b-day we are going to get her a daybed/trundle since she is now fine with the bed and I don't think we will have any problems of her falling out. I personally think a toddler bed is a waste of money unless it is part of your crib. The twin mattress on the floor works great and you get to use it for years and years to come. Good Luck I think it was a harder transition for us than her.
Hi J.,
We tried the toddler bed (taking the side off the crib and converting to a day bed) first with my daughter when she was 23 months and it did not work at all. I think it was too much like her crib. We put her back in the crib for a couple weeks then moved her straight into a twin bed that has the railing on the side. She has done so well with it. She loves her bed! Personally I think toddler beds are a waste of time and money (especially if your crib doesn't convert). A toddler bed would be just another transition for her and they grow out of them quickly. Maybe even hold off for a bit on transitioning her since she just went through a big change with having a new baby. Good luck! Remember if it doesn't work you can always keep her in her crib and just purchase another one. Some kids just see it as a security thing and there is nothing wrong with that!
Personally I went right to a twin bed because going to a toddler bed is just one more step she would have had to take, I bought her princess sheets and a comforter (all christmas presents) so she was super excited to have a big girl bed. Just be prepared for her to be able to come find you in the middle of the night, I think it took me a month of putting her back in her bed for her to realize she needed to stay there. FYI fighting and argueing at 2am is not good for either one of you lol I learned to just put her back in her bed and walk away, it took awhile but now she sleeps (usually) all night in her own bed :) Good luck
J.,
I'm in favor of putting the twin mattress directly on the floor for 3 reasons, its low to the ground, so if she falls out of it in the middle of the night its not far to fall, secondly you already have it so why not make use of it, and third it will be so easy to transition her to a regular size twin bed, you will only need to go higher, she will already be used the acutal size of the mattress already.
I put my 22 month old into his 'big boy bed' just last Sunday when he surprisingly decided to join us in the living room on Saturday night after climbing out of his crib. He never did that before! We put him directly into a twin bed, next to the wall and with a safety rail on the other side. We aren't using the box springs right now, only the mattress, so that he can climb easily in and out himself. I skipped the toddler bed simply because of the extra cost and it was one less transition that we had to go through later. The first night, he did come to our bed in the middle of the night and we had to lay with him until he fell back asleep, but he has done fine since then. We've had a few nights where he's not ready to go to bed at bedtime and will get back up, but we just are conisitent with giving him another hug and kiss and putting him directly back to bed.
Hi J.,
We are using a toddler bed, however my mom got us the crib that turns into a daybed that turns into a full size bed. She turned 3 a couple of months ago and we are in the process of getting her a full size mattress because she has already outgrown the toddler bed. I would not buy another mattress... I think it would be fine to put her right into a twin... whether on the floor or on the frame. I would have done that, but we had a different situation from the get go. I did really like the toddler bed, and my daughter did too, but now she complains every night that she wants a big girl bed.
I would use the twin bed. I had the idea of kids sleeping on the floor. We moved my son at 2.5 into a full sized bed and used a guard rail. No problems.
I put both in a double matress right on the floor--that way you don't have to transition away from the rails. Once they've slept in the bed for about 3 mths without falling onto the floor, I put the bed up on the frame and didn't have to worry about buying anything extra.
When my son was 9 mos old I put him in a queen size bed w/matresses on the floor. He never tried climbing out - he was just a squirmer. He would keep rolling around during sleep and wake up multiple times. After waking up with two bloody noses - even with bumpers on the rails - I decided to take him out of the crib. I placed him in the middle of the bed w/large pillows on the floor (in case he rolled out of bed). Luckily he never rolled out and slept through the night every night. I transitioned him to a twin captains bed when he was 2.5. He only fell out of that bed once, then he got his bearings on how big the bed was.
Good luck with your daughter!
Well what I would do is set up her toddler bed or twin bed, which ever you decide on, in her room to get her used to the bed. I read that it was a good idea to get them used to the new bed and change. So I had my sons toddler bed set up in his room along with his crib to get him used to it. He started climbing in and out of his toddler bed and it had been in his room for a few months. So I chose a time to remove the crib and get him used to sleeping in his toddler bed. That worked with him. Of course it was difficult that first week or two with him getting up, he was no longer locked in his crib, LOL, he was free so he got up and we had to go through his sleep schedule again but all worth it in the end. Good luck every child is different but if I were you I wouldn't take the crib from her and right away give it to the new child....
We moved our DD at 18 months because she could crawl and fall out of the crib. We decided to go straight to a Twin bed and I am so glad we did. We put it against the wall and got one of the side rails for the other side. It's nice because when she wakes up at night sometimes I can lay down with her get her calmed back down and then get back out of her bed. With a toddler bed you can't really lay with them. My DD is 27 months now and we have even taken away the side rail and she does fine with that now too. Good luck.
PS. We did not have any problems with my DD getting up at night and even in the morning when she wakes up she still just lays there and calls for me. We do shut her door at night so even if she gets up she can't get out of her room. When we did make the transition it was a fast transition. We took down the crib and put up the bed all the same day. She loved her new bed and we let her pick out her sheets.
Hi there
I put both my boys straight into a twin bed and attached rails to the side for safety. I was really thinking of it being less expensive and then one less transition for the boys to go straight to the twin beds. The bed rails are really inexpensive, you can even find them used on craigslist for about $5-$10. My boys loved that they were going into big boy beds and it was quite an easy transition. I think the toddler beds are ok but quite a waste of money really when you can just put your little one in a regular bed with a rail.
