Big Kids Bed

i put #2 in a toddler bed when #3 was born. She was only 16 mos. it has worked great! the first couple of nights she enjoyed her "freedom" so much that she would actually fall asleep in the floor with her toys. i would just pick her up and put her back in the bed. she is now 22 mos and stays put until morning. she still loves her freedom.

Hi D., I think she is just not feeling well and that is making her feel more secure while she's sick. I put my daughter in a big bed right after she turned two. I think it is totally your decision though, if you want to get a big bed just make sure it has the rails so she will not fall out. Good luck!

My oldest was 14 months when we moved him to a lower bunk bed with a side rail. The next one was around 16 months when we moved her to a double size mattress on the floor (what we had so we just removed the frame and sat the m on the floor). She rolled out a few times but landed on a pillow by her bed that I had put there for that reason. ;-) The youngest one was a tad older but he moved to a bunk bed with railing also.

Before 2 is not really too young. It just depends on your child and lifestyle. Our children are close in age and we could not really see buying another crib for only a few months before they moved up to the next size bed.

You can buy railings for the beds that work very well. Since my dh made our bunk beds and they were on full size mattresses he just made the railing for them and it was a complete sturdy board that was the length of the bed and about 6 inches high--have to climb to get over that! LOL

Good luck,

My son is almost 16 mths old and we got him a big boy bed about 3 weeks ago. He loves it. It has rails all the way around and he hasn't tried to get out once, I let him take naps in it first then a few days later I started to let him sleep in it at night. I'm glad I did it early, I feel like it was an easier adjustment for him. I did make sure and use the same blankets he used in his crib though.
Good luck! :)

I don't think her sleeping in the bunk bed has anything to do with her being ready to sleep in a big bed I think it has to do with the fact that she wants to sleep with you.

You can pick up a side rail pretty inexpensively at Walmart or Sears. If she is asking, then let her sleep there. I find that the more you fight with your kids about where they sleep, it makes bedtime more difficult. My son prefers to sleep on the floor (of course he has sensory issues) but after 3 years of getting up 3 or 4 times anight to put him back in bed, I gave up fighting and now he goes to bed on his own. I just make sure he has a clean sleeping bag. The only rule is he must be in his room. He can sleep anywhere he wants as long as it is not a place where something might fall over on him like the lamp or air filter. It is nice to not have to get up and fight with him anymore. Sometimes he will actually sleep for part of his night on his bed but mostly he sleeps on the floor. I even bought an expensive pad for his bed but he takes it off and throws that on the floor and once again he is on the floor. You learn as time goes on that you must pick the battles that are non-negotiable and learn which ones you must give up.
Good luck,
C.

D.,

We put each of our kids in a "big kid" bed around 18 months. It was a toddler bed with rails. For our son, we had a race car bed. He never wanted to get out of it! We moved right about the time our daughter was that age. She had a harder time staying in her bed because our bed room was down stairs. We got a replace her nice bedroom door with a plain one, and cut it in half. If she stayed in her bed, it stayed open. If not, it was closed, and we'd check on her and let her know we were still around. With it being cut in half, she didnt' feel so freaked out as if the door was shut, plus we could check on her. Often, we'd open it before we went to bed because she was a sound sleeper. One of those kids, once they're out, they're OUT! Soo, good luck with that.

On the she bounces on everything thing, we bought a big mini tramoline (like 3/4 feet) and keep it in the living room. This is our designated place to jump. My son used to jump on the couch and fell off when he was little. (He still has the scar on his cheek from the coffee table) Now, when he gets "ant-sy" doing homework, I'll tell him, go jump for a minute and come back and lets finish this. (you're a few years away from that, though!) We've just loved having it and I bet your darling would love it too! I got ours at Academy for under $40.

S.

My daughter started using a toddlers bed at that age i would say try letting her sleep in it one night but first go and buy some side rails that go on the side of the bed i think you can find them at walmart in the baby section. good luck

Hi there. My son decided he wanted to sleep in his bunk bed the same way. I had it ready at 18 mo, just in case, and he put his pillow and blankie in there one night and didn't want to leave.. he is there to this day, and never once asked to go back to the crib. I also didn't use a side rail, but he doesn't move much anyway. Hope that helps. I think it is always better if it is "their" idea!

Good Luck

It is not to young. Start out by letting her take naps there. Some kids come out of the crib at one. My oldest kept climbing out of her crib at one and I would find her in the twin bed in her room. I just purchased one of those bed rails and let her sleep there. Now that I am a grandmother, my grandson is too big for the playpens they make now, so I put him on the bed with one side against the wall and a body pillow on the outside. He is a squirmer and falls off the bed without the pillow but this seems to stop him.

My oldest was two, but my youngest was just a little over a year old when she made the switch to a "big girl bed". I bought one of those side rails and never looked back. If your daughter still wants to sleep in the big bed after she is feeling better, I wouldn't fight her on it. It will make bedtime easier for you and you won't have to struggle with switching later. The rails are very inexpensive or line the floor next to the bed with blankets to cushion if she does fall.

I put my kids in toddler beds at age two and moved them to twin beds at age three.

I think they all fell off the toddler bed only once and that was it.

Deborah

I think it may be just that she is sick and she wants that bed because she knows you will sleep there with her. When my son was sick, all he wanted was for me to stay with him constantly. Soon as he was better, he was back to his normal, rambunctious self. I'd say wait until she's better and see if she still wants to sleep there.

Hi D.. My son is in a twin bed, he is 21 months but he's been there for a few months. I think it's perfectly fine, you should probably get a rail though. Mine is sleeping in a daybed that had a rail for both sides, after he's alseep I just put up the other rail. He never liked sleeping in the crib much so when we set up his big boy room (we had the big boy room & the nursery, so he really had 2 rooms)he just started to want to sleep in there and it's been great to get him out of our bed. I think it's pefectly fine for her to be in a big bed, but one of those rails would be a good idea to make sure she doesn't fall out. I think where ever they will sleep good is fine as long as it's safe. Good luck.

-T.

She's probably ready for a bigger bed. My daughter is 16 months old and started climbing out of her crib before she was a year old, so we've had her in a toddler bed since then and haven't had any problems at all. If her crib is convertible, give it a try and you can always change it back if she's not ready.
Good luck!!
Oh, and we never used the side rails with her either. I put pillows on the open edge so she can feel boundaries, but that's it and she's never rolled out of it.
Take care!