Changing from a Crib to a Toddler Bed...

If He is the type that would get up and waunder around, I would leave him in the crib a little longer. A rule I always had with my kids and grandkids has worked great. Once they went to beds. I told them they had to call me before they got out of the bed. I told them I would be there if they needed me. But I did not want them to get out of the bed till they called my name out and I answered. I was abused as a child and it still frightens me, when someone taps me to wake me up. So it worked out great.

I put my son in a toddler bed a when he was 11 months, due to my 2nd son being born. He did great. We put the bed against the wall and had a bed rail on the other side so there was no way for him to fall or climb out of it. He is now 18 months old and has always slept great in it.

Hi J.,

My daughter is 21 months old and we put her in a toddler bed 2 to 3 months ago. She is doing great. At first, she would get out of the bed after we left the room and would sleep on the floor (which I was told is just fine), but now she sleep in her bed all the time.

Hi J.,
My daughter was a little over 2 when we decided to put her in a toddler bed. Since her crib had been our room, we put her toddler bed in there too. She transitioned pretty well. At first we put her in there just for naps, then for bedtime. But we soon discovered she wasn't happy in that little bed. So when she turned 3 we got her a twin bed, and she was much happier. So my advice to you would be get a used toddler bed for the transition. I've met alot of other moms who found out that a twin bed worked much easier. And if your worried about your son falling out, you can buy bed rails anywhere. But dont worry, like it or not, he'll still come running in your bed at night. Mine still does! Hope this helps & good luck =)

I switched my children from crib to toddler bed at 1 year old. It took a lot of patience to work with them, keeping them in their bed, but they finally got it down. You just have to keep working with them letting them know that this is where they will sleep and they need to stay there. Once they figured it out, they stayed and actually loved it.

I am a sahm of 3 of my own and step mom to 4 others.

we put our daughter (who is 2 1/2 now) in her toddler bed at 21 months. we had bought a house and was moving so we went ahead and did it all at one time...the only problem with that was she kept getting up and coming to our room in the night. i put a baby gate up at her door and when she got up she couldn't get out. of course she cried but after about a week she realized it wasn't doing any good to get up and didn't get out of bed any more. (now she is in a full sized bed...we got that when we realized she slept much better in our bed than her toddler bed...the toddler bed wasn't comfortable with that little mattress) hope that helps...good luck!

My daughter switched to a toddler bed 2 weeks before she was 2 (and 2 weeks after our second daughter joined us). I wanted to wait out of fear of too much change at one time but she jumped out of her crib twice over the New Year's weekend so we decided it was time (we didn't want her to get hurt). She transitioned with no problems at all... didn't get out of bed once we put her to sleep. She will get up and grab a toy or book and take it back to bed with her but that's it. Your son will let you know when he's ready. If he's content in his crib and not trying to climb out, don't worry about it. If he stays in his crib for another year- it's ok too! With you just starting back to work, he may find comfort in his crib and not want to change that just yet. Don't worry too much about it!

J.,

I just recently changed my sons crib to a toddler bed about a week ago. He's 16 months old( as of yesterday). I was a little nervous about doing it so soon, however when I walked in his room to get him up from his afternoon nap and caught him straddling the top of his crib I decided it was time to change it. So far its working out great. Just do what you feel comfortable with. I don't know what kind of crib you have( if its a convertable one) but consider this you can always convert it, try it that way for a night or two see how he does and if he's not ready for it turn it around or convert it back.
hope it helps

My daughter's crib also turned into the toddler style day bed. We converted it as soon as she turned 2. It took her a couple of weeks to get use to it. She cried the first few nights, but she didn't fall or try to get up. So we continued with our bedtime routine & she is fine with it now.

hey J., what you do if you can is put up a bed in the room with his crib and let him try it like when your off the next day in case he plays and is up later then normal!!! he will really let you know when he is ready!!! Good Luck D.

J.,
I found with my son that if I'm nervous whether or not he's ready for something, I ask him. Have you introduced the idea to him of a "big boy bed"? With my son, he is very particular about what happens, so it really helps him to explain it out before we just change something. Perhaps take him to the store to look at toddler beds and get him excited about it. Also, one thing that helped our son was getting him a special pillow and blanket for his new bed. He hated his crib, so a bed was a welcomed change for him.
-C.