New place to sleep at Grandma's house?

[MoJo]

DD & I were at Grandma's over the weekend, and I noticed that my 17-mo old DD is only a few inches from being as long as the PNP that she sleeps in when we are there.

I previously assumed she could sleep in it 'til June, when it will go to the new baby . . . but now, I'm not so sure. We typically spend one weekend (two nights)/month there, and will be spending almost a week at Christmas.

When I asked my mom (aka Grandma) what she thought, she was talking about getting a toddler bed. I actually think the better option is a real or portable crib (don't know how big those are) or just putting rails on the twin bed she already owns.

I like the containment of the crib, esp since Grandma's house is far from baby-proof. But it seems like that would be pretty expensive, especially for so late in the game. The rails shouldn't cost much, and I can't see any advantage to spending the money on a toddler bed.

Kinda wish that we would have just gotten a crib for Grandma's earlier, except that we were really just trying to afford what we really needed then, and that wasn't part of it. (DD sleeps great in her crib at home, and goes to sleep on her own. The PNP was perfect when she was younger--we used it for almost six months before we set up the crib at home--but now she won't fall asleep in it at all, no matter how long I leave her, and she has a very hard time falling back asleep in it. So around 3 a.m. both nights at Grandma's, I ended up pulling her into bed with me.)

I'm pretty sure the answer at MILs is going to be mattress on the floor with me, but that's only once/year.

So, what do you do/what are your thoughts?

[MoJo]

OK, I just looked at the bed rails at the store. They said they were for 2-5 years, and that the child needed to be able to get into and out of the adult bed without assistance. They also said that they should not be used until the crib is outgrown, whatever that actually means.

So, DD is only 17 months. When awake, she CAN climb into and out of my bed without assistance, and could do so even more easily using the bed at Grandma's house which sits lower to the floor. But she certainly hasn't outgrown her crib at home. . . I just don't want to buy a crib for Grandma's if I don't have to. It's $30 for rails vs. a minimum of $119 for a crib, $40 for a mattress, & $5 or $10 for a couple of sheets. But if it's necessary to keep DD safe while visiting Grandma, I'll spend the money.

WWYD?

[AshleyAnn]

Would you consider a used crib on craigslist? My area has one or two a day that sell for about $75 and come with the mattress.

Could you childproof the room with the twin bed in it and use a gate to keep her in? Thats what my SIL did for DN when he learned to climb out of his crib at that age and it worked well.

[zag95]

how about doing a sleeping bag for on the floor- maybe a toddler themed one- and then put a gate across the door to the room? Sleeping bag can be rolled up and put away when child isnt at grandmas- and then once she gets a little bigger- you can move her to the bed? You could even do like a little tent in a corner- like maybe one from IKEA- that makes it a little darker- so it is like a bed, but on the floor.

[diegosmom]

I bought a used crib at a yard sale from a neighbor/friend for my mom's house and it worked out great. I think I paid 25 dollars for it and then bought a new and affordable mattress for it. BB doesn't recommend this but I did make sure that the crib had today's standards for saftey measurements (ie. width between rungs, etc.)

[MoJo]

Thanks for the replies!

I did buy a new crib mattress this week (we're going to need another when DC#2 needs the crib anyway, even if we move DD to the toddler bed at that point.) I figure in the worst case, she can sleep on it on the floor, and it's probably more comfortable than her PNP "mattress." At least it's portable, storable, and she won't get hurt if she rolls off.

My mom lives in another state (hard to watch for sales and harder to transport the crib), but maybe I can have her ask her grandma friends for leads.