Toddler Bed - Telford,PA

You're going to want to keep her in her crib for as long as possible for her safefy. If she's crying for you now in a contain crib, how do you think she'll be when she has the freedom to roam and go straight to where you're at? For most, the older they are the easier the trainsition will be. You'll just be opening up a can of worms if you let her out now. You can put a gate up at the door but she'll just be crying at the gate for you. I would take care of the problem now where it's small rather than having the same problem on a larger scale down the road.

K. B
mom to 5 inlcuding triplets

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The advice of our pediatrician has consistently been to wait until they are trying to escape the crib. It's the safest environment for them to be in. 20 months is still pretty young. Our daughter is 22 months and loves being in her crib, so we're keeping her there until it becomes an issue. The only reason we moved our son a little after 2.5 was because we needed to put our daughter in there - what a nightmare - he hasn't stayed all night in his "big boy" bed once in over a year.

I'd recommend asking your pediatrician to see what they advise.
The problem with a toddler bed is that they can get out much easier.

it sounds like she's going through an adjustment to her sleeping schedule which will likely be no better with a toddler bed where she can get out as desired.

Hope that helps.

I agree with Dana. Until she's trying to get out, leave her there! It's such a hassle to move them and deal with them not staying in bed. I had to move my little one into a toddler bed at 22 months b/c of the climbing (and then falling) out of the crib. It wans't easy! I still have to sit in her room at naptime to get her to stay there and she's 27 months old now!

My kids all went into their toddler bed by 18 months. When they got to be about 3 they went into their regular beds, their rooms are baby proof, they are in a safe environment, they had gates up in the doors or hallways so they couldn't get into the kitchen, when they started potty training I didn't let them have night time access to the bathroom until they were all the way trained for daytime and staying dry at night.

The main reason I start the kids in the toddler beds that early is my child care experience. If a child attends a child care center they start putting babies about 10 months old on to cots at naptime because they have to be ready to move to tthe toddler room at 12 months. Each baby room teacher only has 4 children to put to sleep but each toddler teacher has 6. So it just seems to me that around a year to 18 months is a good time to do a lot of those transitions.

I have four kids and kept them in their cribs for as long as I could (ha! ha!). We only switched to a toddler bed after either they starting climbing out of the crib, or they were physically too big for it.

Good luck!