How do you know that your toddler is ready for a big boy bed?

[pixelprincess]

Or when did you decide to make the transition? We have one child only so there is really no big rush to move him out. He is also not trying to climb out yet but does try to climb in occasionally. He climbs every other piece of furniture in the house, so it may just be a matter of time. The weird thing is that lately he will only sleep with an adult size pillow. We take it out when he falls off to sleep. Is that a sign?

thanks much.

[jubilee]

My son still sleeps in his crib and he is 26.5 months. We have a twin bed for him, but we aren't in a hurry to have him wandering out of his room at night! So, until he tries climbing out, he'll be in the crib... or towards the end of this year (whichever comes first). And I just last week gave Logan a pillow to sleep with and he LOVES it!

[jk3]

What kind of pillow did you give Logan?

Jenn
DS 6/3/03

http://lilypie.com/baby2/030603/2/5/1/-5/.png

[slknight]

I had planned on keeping DS in his crib as long as possible, since I wasn't looking forward to him being "free-range" at night. He had never tried to climb out, so I thought we'd be able to keep the crib for awhile. No such luck. For us, it was very apparent when the crib was over. He started insisting on sleeping on his little Pooh fold-out couch and screamed when we took him near the crib.He had napped a lot on that couch when he had a stomach bug a few days earlier and I think that's when he decided he didn't like the crib. He's scream "no crib" and "couch" or "big bed." We didn't have much choice. We went out and bought a twin mattress and took down the crib (we don't have room for both). It took about a week or two of adjustment, but he is now sleeping better than he ever did in the crib.

[JBaxter]

We will probably go to a "big" bed about 2. That is when I moved the other 2 boys. The only difference so far is my other 2 climed out at 17ish months so far at 19 months Nathan has stayed put.
Nathan has been using a pillow (full size) since about 17months . He had a nasty cold/teething thing and I wanted him elevated. He liked it and has slept on it ever since. <has Thomas on the pillow cover>.

[deenass]

We just moved DS a few weeks ago (he is 27 months) because my husband was having surgery and won't be able to lift my son for months. He has done surprisingly well (he has napped on our bed for months and knew how to get on and off it).

He has a full mattress (box spring and mattress are both on the floor pushed against the wall in the corner of the room).

We close his door (always closed it when he was in the crib also) and told him that when he wakes up he should play with his toys or read his books (he's a VERY early riser). When I wake up I turn on the video monitor and see him rolling around or reading. He must have an internal alarm b/c at 7 am he is turning the handle on his door (but can't open it yet) so we get him when we hear the rattle!

I moved his crib into another bedroom (in case the move didn't go well) but we haven't looked back!

He has a pillow (a travel size pillow I found at Bed Bath & Beyond) and a small blanket (which he's slept with for about a year).

[amp]

Well, if I didn't have a baby coming this winter, I might have put it off a bit longer, but he seems ready for the transition. He kept wanting into his own bed all the time, and when we finally took the crib rail off (convertible crib), he adjusted right away (after falling out 3 times) and seems perfectly comfortable with the arrangement. Since it's going well, we've just ordered the big boy furniture, but it won't be in for about a month, and we may not even have it delivered for a bit longer, but eventually we'll be making the move over the next few months. We are not buying a crib for a new baby, when DS is in a "toddler bed" and doing great with it!

[Momof3Labs]

Colin is still in his crib. He sleeps so well in there that I hate to mess with it! He learned to climb out last September, so now has a crib tent. He can unzip the crib tent while inside but hasn't gone all the way to climbing out... yet.

I figure that we'll transition him after we move to the new house. We have an extra queen mattress with nowhere to go in the new place, so will put that on his floor and see if he is interested.

Oh, and he's slept with a thin adult-sized pillow for about a year now.

[jbowman]

Susan,

"Free-range" toddler, LOL! I'll have to use that!

[jubilee]

It is just an unused pillow that I already had. I want to get him a new one, and when I do it will be a fairly flat firm pillow (if I can find one!)

[pixelprincess]

Thanks all for your feedback. I also got this from a friend if anyone else is interested in more info from Babycenter- http://www.babycenter.com/expert/toddler/toddlersleep/4598.html?scid=momstodd:20050620:2194:14434:5510

[ast96]

My three year old (of a week) is also still in his crib. He likes it there and he still fits, so I don't see any reason to move him. I had the second baby when he was 21 months old and too young to move to a big boy bed, so we have two cribs.

I'm not sure when I will move him to a big boy bed -- probably when he asks me to. But most of his friends have already done it.

[R2sweetboys]

I definitely recommend not rushing it!! Our first son moved to a big boy bed at 2.4 because we were expecting Matthew in a couple of months. Otherwise we would have waited a bit longer since he was perfectly happy in his crib and never climbed out.(amazing since he's a very busy boy!) We skipped the toddler bed and went right to a twin size b/c we needed the crib mattress(required for toddler beds) for the baby. He transitioned very well and, at least for the first few months, didn't get out of bed without us coming to get him. When he was in his crib he'd yell "Moooommmy!Daaadddy!" until we got him. Once in his bed he did the same thing as if he didn't know he could get out himself! Let me tell you, it was great to not have a wandering toddler!! :)

With Matthew, we definitely rushed into things. I don't know why, we just got excited about it and went and got him a fire truck bed.(no baby until next year) Now we hear "Mooommmy!Daaadddy!" except it's RIGHT IN OUR EARS at 6:00AM!! :o It's a struggle still sometimes to get him to stay in his bed at night. Once he's asleep he's fine, but there are nights where we put him back to bed up to ten times. NO fun when you're tired and desperate for some down time. So now that I've rambled like crazy, I'll get back to my point... let him stay in as long as he's happy.
~Leslieb

SAHM to...
Ryan 8/14/00
Matthew 2/14/03