buying a bed for a two year old

[danak2002]

it is early since my son just turned one, but in another year we want to transition him in a twin bed. Has anyone done this transition and can anyone give me a basic price range. also has anyone used a toddler bed and what is anyones thoughts on a toddler bed. we are hopefully going to start to try to expand our family at some pont in the furturee so I need furniture that is durable for a while thanks for your help

[khakismom]

We just did the transition of moving DD to her "big girl" bed. However, hers is a double bed. She is 22 months old and we have #2 on the way, so we wanted to give her enough time in the bed so she wouldn't think that the baby kicked her out of her crib. She loved her crib--she loves to sleep--and were worried about the transition. We worried needlessly because she made the move effortlessly. We pushed the double bed against 2 walls and added a bed rail to keep her from rolling off. She was so excited about her new room and was excited about her new bed. That is until she realized on the first nite that we were going to leave her there to sleep. Then she started to cry--I think she was scared. We let her cry it out a bit and her cries lasted about 3 minutes. Then she was out. Ever since that night--about 3 weeks ago--we haven't heard a peep from her at nighttime (which is how she was with her crib--like I said, she's a great sleeper).

I think the best way is to get them excited about their new room and a big bed for the big girl/boy. As for furniture, we just went to Target and got some white put-it-together-yourself stuff. All in all, the dresser, nightstand, and bookcase cost us $230. We added a kid-sized table and chair set from TRU for $70. And we painted the room too. What broke the bank was what we spent on bedding from Pottery Barn Kids :)! Eeeesh!

You'll probably know when he's ready to transition--and I'm sure he'll love his new bed. Good luck! :) HTH

...Maureen

Kathleen 3/22/01
#2 EDD 6/12/03--it's a girl

[kathsmom]

Hi, danak2002!

I have a 6 year old DD, so it was quite a while ago that we transitioned her. She was 18 months old when we moved from our rental house to the house we own now. She threw herself out of the crib twice the first night here, because she didn't know where she was. After that, we took off one side of her crib to make a daybed and we put a twin mattress and a TON of blankets on the floor next to the crib, in case she fell out of the daybed. She didn't really like that arrangement, so we let her sleep on the twin bed - she kept sleeping horizontally on the bed and would end up with her legs hanging off one side and her head and arms off the other side. Our next step was to put the mattress on the floor and she did fine with that.

Right after her 2nd birthday, we got a king size bed and we gave her our queen mattress and box spring. We also got her a cream colored iron headboard and footboard. She loved it! We never had any problems with her rolling off the bed and we never used a bedrail with her - I am not suggesting that people should not use one, but we just didn't need it. We decided to go with a queen bed, because it can last her for a long time. It is hard to find children's bedding for queen beds, but Pottery Barn kids has quilts and duvets that come in full/queen size. We got DD's quilt through the catalog, since the stores only carry twin size. It was a clearance quilt. I just can't buy their sheets or dust ruffles, because the largest size the come in is full.

I know this is probably more than you wanted to know, but I hope this helps you! BTW, when DS is old enough, we will probably get him a queen size bed too.

Good luck!

Toni - mom to Katherine (5/19/96) and Andrew (9/23/02)

[danak2002]

thank you both so much for replying to my post. I appreciate all the suggestions and the input. thanks again!

[sweetbasil]

Hi~
DS just started sleeping in his big boy bed a few weeks ago, and it's working out really well. Baby #2 is on the way, so we were thrilled when he wanted to sleep in the big bed. For the first week, we put a twin-sized mattress on the floor (with sheets, etc.) and he slept there. Then we got a frame, box spring, and new mattress. We kept him on the older mattress (as he'll hopefully be potty training soon), but raised it up with the frame and box spring. We pushed the bed up against a wall, so one long side is protected, have a pillow at the top that he's using, and the sheets are tucked in at the bottom. So we put a big pillow on the floor next to the unprotected side of the mattress, to cushion a possible fall. The second night, he fell out and landed on the pillow, and when I heard it (we moved the monitor with him) I ran up and put him back in bed. Since then, we've started tucking that side of the sheet under the mattress, and he hasn't fallen again. He usually talks about thing like that the next morning, but doesn't even seem to remember that it even happened.

Our new frame, mattress, and box spring were $199. I've seen mattresses at Sam's Club for less, but wanted the frame too. Our sales guy said we could get a frame alone for around $30. Best of luck to you!