First Time in a Toddler Bed

You might not love my suggestion, but here it is. Keep her in her crib as long as you can. My son started climbing out at about 2 years 7 months, so that's when we switched to a toddler bed. Once they can get out of bed, they will, so you will need to have a plan for how you want to deal with that. If she is not escaping from the crib, I wouldn't worry about the toddler bed now, just let her sleep in the crib.

she is so young... is there is a reason you 'have to' put her in a toddler bed already????

My son, was in his crib and slept great there and loved his crib, until he was already 3 years old.
My daughter, was in her crib, until 2 almost 3 years old.

My son turned 2 in May and we just changed his bed to a toddler bed a couple of weeks ago. The only reason we did it now is because I am having surgery in a few weeks and won't be able to pick him up. I would keep her in the crib as long as possible if she isn't trying to climb out of it. My son actually prefers the crib and every time I put him in his "new bed", which is his crib that converts to a toddler bed by removing the drop side, he says "Daddy fix it!". He wants his crib back, but we don't have a choice right now so we're keeping him in it. Good luck in whatever you decide.

If you do decide to transition her, you need to make sure that the room is ULTRA baby proofed. Make sure bookshelves are tethered to the wall so that she can't pull them over on herself and that ALL cords, including blinds are as out of reach as possible.

I don't think you can "teach" her. Either she is ready or not. We got to the point where our son was just to heavy to put in the crib and he absolutely loved his "big boy" bed. We had no issues with him getting out of bed but could be because he is a hard sleeper. I would maybe talk it up a few days before and get her excited for it. I think we did somewhere between 18 and 24 months.

Go to the library and get some books about children in a new bed. Elmo's big boy bed, Jed's new bed etc. Mine had a tough transition and sleot on the floor for months. so maybe put it in her room and wait for her to beg to be allowed to sleep in it, leave the crib up and let her choose where she will sleep.

Here's my experience with this. We switched ours to a toddler bed at 12 months. She was walking steadily at that point. There's a back story of her hating her crib, so she had to sleep with us. Co-sleeping is not for everyone. She would kick my in my ribs all night long, and her daddy on the other side of me wasn't much better lol. So it was time.
We set it up and made a HUGE deal out of it. We let her play on it, and I showed her how to rest her head on her pillow. I put her favorite stuffed animals on it. I would clap and dance everytime she would climb on it and off of it properly. I would ask her all that day "where's YOUR big girl bed?" And she would tak eme to it. I made sure she had a night light. I sat in there untill she was drowsey every night (reading her a story), and at first had a baby gate in her doorway.
We stopped using the baby gate because at first she would get up at around 4am, and it would scare her that she heard us in our room (directly across) but couldn't get to us. We only did this because everything else in our house is either shut up or has a baby gate (and we don't have stairs).
She's been in her bed for 7 months, and doing great. The only time she gets up, is to come to our room (on the rare occassion she wakes up in the middle of the night) or in the morning she finds me. Not all babies will wander around. My boyfriend and I stand by our decision of moving her this early, and have had no probs. Good Luck! =)

My son, is a climber and a mover. He started climbing out of his crib, at 11 months. We got a toddler bed and started putting him in there for naps. We did that for a month and then transitioned him to nighttime. He has slept in the bed for 5 months now and is doing great!!

With my daughter, she was about 17 months old, and I would put a gate in front of her door. She would play for a little bit and then get in her bed and sleep... I introduced her to the bed earlier in the day. Everything was babyproof in her room as well. My daughter was transitioned to a toddler bed pretty early because her crib was recalled so I bought a toddler bed instead of buying another crib.

We switched our twins out of their cribs just a couple of months ago (they're almost two). We emptied their room of everything but the mattresses. That's it. They knew where to sleep. We still peek in their room at night to make sure they're on their beds. Once they can handle having a dresser and toys in their room, we'll add that stuff back. But, for now it's just the beds.