Converting Crib to a Toddler Bed

I started late with my youngest daughter jordayn who started sleeping in her toddler bed just last month she was waking up and having nightmares so my husband and i thought it would be best to put her in a toddler bed and it's worked out awesome. You can start when ever you feel comfortable and you think that she would like it. If she has a hard time just stay there with her until she falls asleep it might work but try it and see how it goes good luck. J. B. South Paris Me

If she's happy in the bed, leave her there! Mine started crawling out of it at 16 months old, so I was forced to switch too early for her safety's sake. She's almost 28 months now, and stays in her bed at night, but not at nap. I have to SIT in her room for up to an hour a day until she dozes off. If you think she's ready, and she minds you, and you aren't concerned too much about the safety of her room, then you might try it soon, but I say, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." :)

Hi - I think 2.5 or 3 is a great age to move to a toddler bed. We made a big deal about taking the front off of our convertible crib and making it a "big girl bed," and we told our daughter that if she was big enough to stay in the bed by herself, we'd keep the front off. She's a good listener like yours, and just telling her the rule (stay in your bed) and the consequence (or we'll put the front back on) was enough to keep her in the bed.

Your little one is ready! :) It's a neat step too! We switched my little man just before his SECOND birthday. (He's getting ready to turn 3 and I can't imagine still having him in a crib!) We were expecting a new baby 6 months later and wanted to make sure he felt REALLY established in his new room. I thought it would be REALLY hard (we have a few toys too) but it was easy! I will tell you for safetly's sake we started with a baby gate at his door so he couldn't wander out and fall down the stairs (my stairs aren't "gateable"). We only had to leave the gate for a month. Have fun!! It's SOOO cool to see your little one make such a big step. It's eerie almost to go in while they're sleeping and see them in a real bed!

If she's fine in her crib, you don't have to switch now.
My son was still sleeping in his crib until almost 3 years old or so or about 3 years old. Then one day he just said he wants to sleep in a bed and didn't want to be in his crib anymore. It was fine.

If she is potty trained she needs to be in a big girl bed so she can get out to go to the potty if necessary.

We put our daughter in a big girl bed right before she turned 3 and she loved it. We've had no problems at all with her wandering around at night or anything. We did put up a bed rail for convertible cribs so she doesn't fall out.

We let her pick her own bedding for her big girl bed and she loved doing that. She loves her bed -- it is hard to get her out of it! She wants to go read in her bed during the day too.

Good luck. The transition was seemless for us, I hope it is for you too.

It sounds like your daughter might be ready, but you know her best. We just converted my son(23 months) to a toddler bed a couple weeks ago. Mostly because we are expecting #2 in May. I planned for it to be a really hard transition, but he has done wonderful. In fact he seems to sleep better in the toddler bed. I don't know if having a little freedom made it easier for him. These are a few things we did to try to help make the transition easier. My husband, son and I spent a morning converting the bed together, we had him very involved and made a BIG deal about him having a "big boy bed". He seemed really excited he was climbing in and out and thought it was really cool. We also took pretty much all the toys out of his room except for some books and stuffed animals. We thought that would make it less tempting for him to play rather than sleep. Hope these suggestions help, but like I said surprisingly it went a lot easier than what I thought. I think part of me didn't want my little baby to be growing up so fast. Good luck!

To me it's part safety and part parental comfort. The obvious indicators are toddlers that climb out of their cribs or kids that are playing with window coverings or other things that may be within their reach from the crib. This is obviously dangerous and switching is simply for safety.
Other things to think about are how you feel? Are you ready for the switch? Is her room safe for her? If she gets out of bed will she be safe in her room?
Personally, unless they are climbing out of the crib I would switch around 2 1/2 or 3 years of age. If you're concerned about her wandering the house, use a baby gate at the door instead of physically closing the door and keep the baby monitor on so you know what's happening.
Hope that helps.

Our daughter had just turned 2 1/2 when we changed her crib to a toddler bed. That whole week she was climbing out of her crib in the middle of the night saying she had to go potty, she even tried turning on her night light. All week we were preparing her by telling her that we were going to take her front rail down. That Friday, we took the rail off and she was so happy to have a "new" big girl bead that she wanted to go to sleep right then! We told her that she was not allowed to get out of her bed and that if she needed something to call us. That was 3 weeks ago and we have not had any problem since. I feel so much better knowing that she's not going to hurt herself climbing out of her bed, but at the same time I'm sad because my baby girl is growing up. I hope this helped!

We swtiched when our little sprite climbed out of the crib at 21 months! That was quite a bit earlier than we were planning, but I would definitely say your child is ready, especially since you say she is potty trained. What is she to do if she wakes in the night now and needs to go potty, wake you up? No matter what age you switch, there is going to be a transition period where she has to learn how to deal with her new freedom. Recognize this is a major change for her, and it will take some time to adjust. She will play with things in her room to begin with and she will come out to see you. If you set limits and are firm and consistent, it will all settle down in a few weeks.

I think this depends on the child. we put my daughter in a bed when she was 2 1/2. we started with a mattress on the floor and then moved her to the bed a few months later. She did not leave the bed without permission until she was 5 and if she did get up to go potty, she returned to her bed shortly afterwards. It was like going out of the room alone didn't occur to her. My son was a different story. he climbed out of the crib at 2 3/4 and we converted his crib to a toddler bed. Almost a year later he has only slept one night in it. We child proofed his room and took most toys out at first. My thoughts would be to discuss this with your daughter. Talk about how wonderful being in a big girl bed is for several weeks. Ask her how she feels about it. and then wait for her to decide she wants to try it. If you don't need the crib (we needed it for my son so we had to get my daughter out) and she is happy in it, I'd leave her alone until she is ready.

Hi Jennifer,
I've read different opinions on this topic for nearly the entire time I was pregnant. Some say switch ‘em when they are ready and others say switch ‘em when you're ready, others say after potty training is done, and yet others say wen you stop nursing (personnally, I think that's cruel, all your security blankets being jerked away all at the same time.. but hey, that's just me).
Anyway, my belief is that if the child is ready to move on to another mile stone in his/her life they will tell you in one way or another - and weather you're ready for it or not, really doesn't matter - or so I've found out.
In any case, I wanted to wait until my daughter was ready to move on to the “big girl” bed ( I didn’t have a convertible bed like you though)… The tell I was waiting for, was climbing out of her crib... Hmmm, that becomes difficult when your child doesn’t adhere to the natural order of things though… My daughter decided she didn’t want to climb out of her crib – ever. By the time she was 2 years old she was potty trained and I worried that if she had to “go” in the middle of the night she would be stuck in her crib and all her training would be ruined.
So, instead of waiting for the oh so elusive “bump in the night” - I took her to the furniture store and showed her all the “big girl” beds that she could have her pick of, when she was ready. It didn’t take her long to decide she was ready for a bed without bars… She got to choose her bed and viola, she’s a big girl now. We made a big deal out of the transition too, we had chips and dips for the movers and soda and she served them. It was a real party! LOL. I believe because she was involved with deciding when she was ready to get into that “big girl” bed, she didn’t have trouble adjusting to the new bed, and didn’t seem to mind that she didn’t have a crib anymore.
I hope this helps you at least a little,
Aloha
E. C

I would recommend using bed rail guards on the bed and a pressure gate at the bedroom door so your little one doesn’t wander around the house at night. Also, for your piece of mind, make sure to babyproof her room looking at electrical hazards, furniture that can tip over, unsafe window openings, window cords, doors, access to bathrooms, choking hazards, etc. Visit www.safestartbaby.com. They're offering free shipping on orders of $100 or more (oversized items excluded). Hope this helps!

We switched our daughter right after her 3rd birthday, b/c my husband was insisting she needed to sleep in a toddler bed. Luckily, she's transitioned really well, but I think as long as they're sleeping well, have a good routine and arent trying to get out of the crib, why mess with it? Our dd wandered out of her room the first night, but that was the only time.

We moved our son to a toddler bed when he a little over 2 and he did great! We had a convertible crib but when we took off the front rail we just felt it was too high off the ground so we went ahead a bought a $50 toddler bed from walmart! My son was not potty trained when we moved him but he has always been a bigger child so we felt the toddler bed was just the safer option! He never got out of bed - he would yell for us if he needed us! He will be 4 in June and we just bought him a twin bed - it is backordered so we won't get it until May but he is excited about his even bigger big boy bed!

It is all up to you and what you feel comfortable in doing! Obviously, if it turns out to be a nightmare then you can always put the crib rail back on! :) Good luck!