Toddler bed or twin bed

[juliajaj]

DH & I recently found out we're expecting baby #2 around 7/2/04. DD will be 23 months when the baby is born. She's currently in a crib & doesn't have any problems sleeping. We'd like to transition DD out of the crib before the baby is born, but are trying to decide if we should buy a toddler bed or if we could buy a twin bed & put up rails on each side. Our 1st preference is to go the twin bed route, but I'm not sure if the toddler bed is a better option. If you recommend a toddler bed, what brand do you recommend? Also, what brand of rails do you recommend?Also, what age do you recommend transitioning from crib to bed? I'm sure some of these questions are answered in Toddler Bargains, so I'm going to the library to pick up the book. Thought I'd check here in the meantime. Thank you.

[emmiem]

It depends on your child of course. My is 2.75 years old, 34 inches tall and 23 pounds. She is kind of small. I will be putting her in a toddler bed in the next month or so. I have done tons of research. We actually bought a twin bed and mattress and returned it. The mattresses for sale now are very high off the ground. I don't like the mattress on the bed look. Can't make the bed, and too much of a frat room look! I am going to purchase the Da Vinci Lauren toddler bed in natural. It is online everywhere for different prices. However, my baby store in Nashville, has it for considerably less. No delivery, but I will just pick it up. This way, I can still use my crib linens which I still love! After about a year or two, I am sure it will be time for the twin bed. So sorry, baby bargains authors, I disagree with you on this one!
Emmie

[karin4]

Argh, I just wrote a reply that seems to have disappeared! Oh well.

Anyway-- we opted for a toddler bed this time just because a twin bed would have taken up more room in the small-ish bedroom he and our baby share. We did transition our oldest child directly into a twin with no problem. I really think there's no "best" answer here-- lots of factors can come into play, so whatever works for you is right.

That said, if you do decide to go with a toddler bed, take a look at the Childesigns website. They hava a "garage sale" section where you can order (by phone only, not online) slightly cosmetically imperfect pieces at very low prices. Another poster to these boards tipped me off, and I got our toddler bed this way. It's wonderful-- solid wood, very attractive, sturdy. And it cost all of $35, *including* shipping. I still can't believe it.

Here's the link if you're interested:
http://search.childesigns.com/garage/

[luvbeinmama]

Personally, if I hadn't been given a toddler bed by a friend, I would have gone straight to a twin. DS used the toddler bed for about a year and really had outgrown it before we moved him out of it. With DD we are definitely going straight to the twin bed. There is a bed pillow out there you can use instead of a rail that looks really cool (DS doesn't fall out, so it's a moot point for us right now). I think I found it through one of the other threads here...

Oh, duh, it's right below this thread... here is the link... www.snugtuckpillow.com. I don't know if this has been tested beyond the testimonials on the site, but it could be worth a try.

[hipmaman]

We put our first-born straight to a queen-size when she was 18 months and we were expecting our 2nd. Yeah, queen-size mattress set that was a spare. Her bed is against 2 walls and we had 2 rails up by one long side and at the foot of the bed. She did great in it. The big bed is also great for when we want to cuddle or need to be in bed to comfort her (when she is sick for example). She is now 4 yrs old and loves that big bed.

Our ds is now 2.5 yrs old and has been in his double-size bed since he was 16 months. He scaled the crib and climbed out! But we still have his mattress set on the floor with one bed rail on the long side. I have not decided what style of bed to get for him yet. But we knew we wanted at least the double and bought it for him then.

We don't regret going big, instead of toddler beds or twin size.

[ddmarsh]

I think it depends alot on your evening routine. I love reading to my children in bed together so I always put them straight into a bed. We don't co-sleep but one of us has always put them to bed by reading and then staying with them until they fall asleep - this would not work so well in a toddler bed :O.

[khakismom]

We put Kathleen in a double bed when she was about 21 months old to make room for Ellen. I didn't want her thinking that the new baby had stolen her bed! :) Our decision was pretty easy because the mattress was given to us by my parents who didn't need it any more (it was their guest bed and had been slept in maybe 8x). But if we hadn't gotten it, I would have gone to a twin bed. Mainly because I didn't want to have to buy 2 mattresses--a crib mattress for the toddler bed (baby #2 would have the original mattress) and then another mattress for an adult bed when they outgrow the toddler bed. I figured, skip the toddler bed and go right to the big bed. Kathleen had no problem with the big girl bed, and loves it still. When Ellen is big enough I will move her to a twin bed, or another double! :) Good luck!

[loewymartin]

Did you put your daughter's bed on the floor (i.e. the mattress and boxspring, just the mattress etc)? We have a double that Alia will end up going into, but we weren't sure if we should put it on the frame (it's fairly high that way) or on the floor and then transition to the frame (and if we started with just the mattress on the floor, then the mattress on the boxspring, then the whole shebang on the frame over a few weeks/months?!)

I didn't realize that this was going to be such a hard thing to figure out! We've kind of been at this status quo for a few months now with no new learning going on :-)

Michelle - Mom to Alia born 5/16/02