Toddler Bed - Fort Stewart,GA

Updated on April 24, 2012
K.L. asks from Fort Stewart, GA
13 answers

While we know that our 17 month old is not ready to transition to a toddler bed, we are assuming that we will be making the transition within the next year. What were the signs that your children were ready to ditch the crib?

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D.K.

answers from Pittsburgh on

We moved my son because we wanted him to get up himself and go to the bathroom rather than calling us. He was 2 when he trained and was probably 3-1/2 when we switched to the toddler bed. Seriously - if he still fit in it (he is 6 now) he would probably still be perfectly happy in his crib. Never climbed out, never complained about it. He has been in a twin bed for over a year now and still occasionally falls out. We really only switched because he seemed too old to be in a crib.

We had a drop side crib. If I had to do it with a fixed side crib - he would have been in a toddler bed way way earlier.

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D.C.

answers from Pittsburgh on

We didn't move my 1st child until he was almost 3, because he didn't try to climb out. Then, when he was about 3, we asked him if he wanted to sleep in a big-boy bed and he said yes. He moved into the new bed that night and never went back to the crib. So for him, it was mostly a matter of our convenience - he would stay in the crib and that meant we did not need to worry about him roaming the house at night. And the major sign that he was ready was that he was old enough to ask and decide for himself.

My 2nd - he is 27 months now so we tried to move him. We put up the toddler bed and tried the same thing - "look at this awesome Elmo big boy bed! You can sleep in it!" He wants absolutely nothing to do with the toddler bed. He won't go near it. So I guess he will move when he's decides too, because I'm not going to take away the one place that he sleeps well.

There is no rush really. And to be honest, bedtime is much more simple when they are in the crib. They will move when they are ready.

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S.B.

answers from Dallas on

I was in no hurry at all. We slowly transitioned my son a few months before my daugter was born...he was over 2, probably around 30 months old. We did then so he wouldn't feel "kicked out" by the new baby. Otherwise I probably would have waited until he was 3. With my daughter we were going to keep her in the crib until 3, but she started crawling out before she turned two. I was very disappointed in this development.

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N.G.

answers from Dallas on

Don't rush the transition. As long as he's not in danger being in his crib (climbing out, falling out, etc.), keep in in that. I think our oldest daughter was in her crib until 2 1/2, when we converted her crib to the daybed, and she stayed in that until age 3, when we got her her twin bed. Once they are able to climb out of bed, they will. I had to keep her door to her bedroom shut so she wouldn't wander off in the middle of the night while I was asleep. I would go in there in the mornings and find her sleeping on the floor sometimes. She slept a lot of nights on the floor until she learned to stay in her bed!

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J.✰.

answers from San Antonio on

my son (at age 2 yrs) could climb IN to the crib, landing head-first onto the soft mattress. I switched him to a toddler bed that night, not wanting to see if he could climb OUT and land head-first onto the hard floor.

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A.V.

answers from Washington DC on

When DD was about 2.5, she was flinging herself into/out of her bed and getting hurt, even though it was on the lowest setting. We figured it was time to change the rail.

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L.O.

answers from Detroit on

when they escape from the crib. they need a bed.. keep them in the crib as long as possible.. you do not want an unreasonable toddler that can have the run of hte house ..

my kids were over 3 when they got a toddler bed..

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A.L.

answers from Chicago on

We wanted to wait until she tried to climb out on her own, but she potty trained last month and she hates having diapers on and gets really upset when she can't get out and go potty by herself so we just moved her to a toddler bed this week and she will turn 2 Friday. Both of my girls moved at 2.

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S.F.

answers from Utica on

We switched our daughter at 14-15 months because she was putting her leg up over the side of her crib and I wasnt about to wait for her to hit the floor one day. Instead we made the decision for her and switched her out of her crib and into a toddler bed. She is now 28 months and we just switched her from her toddler bed to a double bed last week. OMG she is getting so big
Good Luck

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G.B.

answers from Oklahoma City on

Well, your child is a toddler now and soon he will be too old for the toddler bed. All of my grand kids were in the toddler bed by the time they were 18 months. All went in by the time they were 14 months for naps and were in it all night soon after. Toddlers are ages 12 months up to 24 months. The beds were made for kids that age.

The sooner you move them the more they understand it's a bed and they don't realize it's a freedom thing. None of my grand kids wandered. They went to bed and slept almost all night.

I truly believe that the younger you move them the easier it will be.

Just make sure you have taken safety precautions. Put a door knob protector on every bathroom in your house. You don't want to wake up to a child that has drowned in the toilet. Make sure you put them on the doors leading outside too. I usually had a gate up across the door to the room and they could not get out. I could hear them loudly and if they were just up and playing okay then I would let them play a bit.

If their room is child proof you can do this. If not then you have to child proof it now.

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T.F.

answers from Dallas on

My daugher was 17 months when she climbed out of the crib. That was the last time she slept in it.

We had a queen sized mattress/boxsprings we placed directly on the floor in her room and she slept there a long time, then she moved to another room with the bedframe, etc maybe around 2 1/2.

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B.C.

answers from Dallas on

By 17 mos., my youngest was in a toddler bed b/c she kept climbing and or falling out of her crib even at it's lowest setting.
My 1st was in a crib until she was 2 1/2 b/c that's where she was the most comfortable. We got her a twin sized captains bed with a rail all the way across and so that's what she tranistioned into.
As long as your little guy is happy in his crib, let him stay! :)

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A.C.

answers from Atlanta on

We moved my son to a toddler bed when he stopped waking up regularly at night, except when he had to pee (we were potty-training). He was a little over the age of two, and never once climbed out of his crib. He was probably ready earlier, but we felt no need to rock the boat (our daughter was born when he was 19 months old, so even if he was sleeping well, we weren't!) It was not a difficult transition, when we did it. He adapted very well. We explained to him that he could call for us but he had to stay in bed, and he grasped that.

Our daughter is 18 months old and is not nearly ready. I'm not seeing any of the signs yet that I saw with my son. I'm not in any hurry. I think it makes sense to wait until you can explain things to the child, just from my experience. However, she has climbed out of her crib twice, so we're working on containing that. If it doesn't work, we may have to move her sooner.

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