When to Transition to a Bigger Bed

Take your time and let her be little for a while. :) My 4 1/2 year old is still in a toddler bed. You won't have to worry about her falling out, too. Enjoy her being little, it only lasts a short time.

1 mom found this helpful

We have 3 sons. Only the oldest actually slept in a toddler bed. We moved him into a bunk bed with full on the bottom and twin on the top when he was around 3-3.5. The younger ones only wanted to sleep in the big bed with his brother(s). If she stays in the bed then the regular bed would be okay. We had a rail that you could just slide under the mattress that we used until he asked us to leave it out. The other side was against the wall. Congratulations and Good luck.

If she is comfortable in the toddler bed I would not move her for a while. Changing beds for some kids is a big deal. Sometimes they miss the comfort of the smaller bed. If your excited about doing her big girl bed, as I was, go ahead and put it in her room. She may love it and want to sleep in it. Then you don't have to wonder if she is ready. Just know that my daughter wanted me to sleep in the big girl bed while she slept in the toddler. They are pretty good at letting you know what works best for them. They're still so honest at that age. Enjoy and congrats!!

Two is a good age to sleep in a regular bed. I would purchase a rail that fits between the mattresses so she doesn't roll off. My 2 year old grandbaby sleeps with a pillow on each side of her in a regular bed.

If she is getting close to the foot of the bed, about a foot or so left. I would take her shopping at a kids furniture store and see if she would be interested in a "big bed".

There's no rush. My 3 and 6 year old boys share a room, and they usually both end up in one of the beds, one being a toddler bed. They fit fine (it's actually adorable to see them snuggled there together).

if shes happy in the toddler bed just leave her. if she flops all over(like mine did) then move her to a bigger bed. i have seen 5 year olds still in toddler beds it just depends on the kiddo. and congrats by the way!

We transitioned our kids when they were ready (i.e. they were climbing out of their cribs and it was no longer safe for them to be in their crib.

To transition, the first time for our son we sent him to a toddler bed. It was a big mistake. For our daughter, we just made her go to a regular bed. She did just fine. We pushed one side up to the bed so she was safe on one side, and on the other side we put a bunch of pillows that she could not roll over.

My 4-y/o and almost-3-y/o are still sleeping on toddler bed-sized mattresses on the floor. For them, it's normal, and I don't see a reason to change yet. We'll probably wait to move them out of that bed until the older one gets a bit bigger and is outgrowing the mattress. For me, it's more a matter of frugality than other things, although I do think he'd fall out of the bed because he still moves a lot in his sleep, and I'll frequently find him sleeping on the floor, or only part-way on his bed. If we find a good deal on a pair of twin beds or on a bunk bed (with a big mattress on the bottom), we'll probably take advantage of it and move them then.

We transitioned our kids from the crib to twin size beds by 15 months. We used the mesh bed railing you can buy at Toys R Us and put the bed against the wall. They are still sleeping in the twin beds 12 years later!

I switched both of my kids at about 2.5 yrs, but they were in cribs, not toddler beds. Talk to her about it and see how she feels. My kids were thrilled to have a "big girl/boy" bed, but did have a hard time for a few nights. My daughter even crawled out of her bed and slept on the floor a couple times. It can be a big deal and maybe you should wait. Too much change can be scary for a two yr old. Good Luck!

If she is happy and fits the toddler bed, keep her there. Put the full in her room, and let her climb on it and get used to it. She will decide when.