From crib to ? (Twin bed or toddler bed?)

[MarinaTwinMom]

For those of you who have transitioned your toddlers out of their cribs, what did you move them to? A toddler bed, or a twin bed?

How did it go? Was there anything you wish you'd done differently?

We have cribs that will convert to toddler beds, but I'm concerned because they are so high off the ground. (Most toddler beds I've seen are pretty low to the ground so that kids can climb in and out easily. The crib mattresses apparently stay at the regular height when these cribs are converted to toddler beds.) I'm wondering if it would be a better idea to either buy a couple of cheap toddler beds or just go directly to twin mattresses and box springs on the floor. We already have twin bedding that we recently purchased for the kids, but DH is reluctant to move our toddlers to twin beds right away.

I'd appreciate any advice on this. :)

[brubeck]

My daughter transitioned to a 'big girl bed' at 18 months.

We used just a regular mattress on the floor (no boxspring) at first. After my daughter was used to this we moved the mattress onto a LOW bedframe. The top of the mattress is 18 inches off the ground. We also put it in the corner and we place my daughter in this corner (as far away from the edge as possible) when we put her down to sleep.

[sweetbasil]

Hi~
We did the same thing as brubeck...when it was time to move DS out of the crib, we just put a twin mattress on the floor for a few weeks, and when he got adjusted, we moved it onto a frame with box springs. It's backed into a corner, so there aren't many directions he could fall off at night, and we also tuck the sheet into the unguarded side of the bed, which has prevented falls. The two times he has fallen, he hasn't remembered it the next morning (he usually gives us play-by-plays about that kind of thing), and he only fell because we'd forgotten to tuck in the sheet. HTH!

[atlbaby]

Ok, this may be a silly question but does your toddler STAY in his/her bed (toddler or twin) once you put them down? I am hoping to transition Arielle to a twin bed at about 22 months and right now (at 16.5 months I can't *imagine* her staying put anywhere, let alone a bed! At the moment when I put her down for naps/bedtime she screams for a bit (or longer...), so if she weren't confined to a crib wouldn't she just get up and play in her room? I'm also worried because she will be sharing a room with her brother/sister when she's about 28 months. At that point I plan to move the baby from the bassinet (in our room) to her old crib in her (their!) room.

I know some children roll over and go right to sleep when you plop them in their crib, but not my child! :) Should I look into getting a portacrib? I've never even seen one--anyone know how much they generally cost/where to buy them? I really wanted to avoid getting a second crib...

Thanks!

-Rachel
Mom to Arielle Jill, 10/30/01
#2:) EDD 10/24/03

[brubeck]

Of course the child does not stay in the bed! It is a totally new experience to be able to get up and roam at will after having spent your life behind bars at night. Your child WILL roam (at least at first).

The way we dealt with this was to install a safety gate in the hallway between her bedroom and ours. So she would wander out to the gate and then back to her room. Once she woke up in the middle of the night and really wailed for a minute before going quiet. In the morning I found her asleep on the hall floor. Okay, so it's not ideal, but whom did it hurt? She knows comfort and she volunatrily crawls into her bed for a nap rather than sleeping elsewhere in her room.

This way we also avoided the problem of having her crawl into bed with us at night.

[momathome]

We also used a gate in the doorway of our daughter's room at first - she was just past her 2nd birthday when we moved her into her toddler bed. Good luck!
-Lauren

[raynjen]

We had to unexpectedly convert our crib to a toddler bed at 16 months.

We recently moved overseas and apparently the transition was hard on the crib because after we reassembled it the side would no longer stay up. After finding the side down the third time we realized that our daughter (a real climber) was going to try to climb out any day so we converted to a toddler bed - what a disaster!

For three days we all suffered through temper tantrums and no sleep. I realized that my daughter needed the confining comfort (she used to go right to sleep when we put her down - no complaining.) So I cut a board that is 12" high and 6" longer than her crib. I wrapped the board in fabric and we slid it through the bed slats so that it created a fourth "side" to her crib. (It fits so tightly against the mattress that it required both my husband and I to get it in place.)

Tada, it worked! She went right to sleep the first time we tried it. The top of the board is about 18" off the ground (about 9" below where the old crib side was) so at first we put pillows on the floor next to the crib in case our daughter tried climbing it. We soon realized that she wouldn't try to climb out (in fact, she no longer stands up in her crib either unless her father or I is right there). In retrospect we probably would have been safe leaving the old crib side in place and just leaving it in the lowered position.

One advantage to this though - as she gets older I plan on trimming down the board 2" at a time until it is gone - basically weaning her from the need for a fourth side.

Jen in Okinawa
Mom to Noelle (10/25/01)

[atlbaby]

Thanks for the advice! Glad my to hear it won't be unusual when she (inevitably) roams around her room once she's "free"!! I hope (if all goes according to plan) that she will be past this roaming stage once the new baby begins to share her room. There should be about 6 months between when we plan to move her and when the baby will likely outgrow the bassinet in our room. Although I guess there might be a bit of regressing when the baby arrives?

Do you leave her door open and let her walk between her room and the hallway? We live in an apartment where her bedroom door and ours are a step away, so I guess I would leave her door closed? How long did it take your daughter before she began to stay in her bed at night? I'm so fearful of leaving Arielle in the bedroom with a baby, but I guess I have no choice since even if I hold off on the bed for a few months she will have to move to a bed before we move!

Thanks again for your help!

-Rachel
Mom to Arielle Jill, 10/30/01
#2:) EDD 10/24/03

[brubeck]

Sometimes my daughter will still roam a bit if she doesn't want to sleep but frankly as long as she stays in her room and is quiet I don't let it bother me. Generally though (95% of the time) she snuggles under the covers and goes to sleep within 5 minutes of being tucked in. Just as when your child was an infant, routine is everything. We have a going to bed routine and when we follow it she knows that it's time to sleep and she should lie down. Try to transition as much of your current bedtime routine as possible.

If you want to ease this part of the transition try putting her to bed when she's REALLY tired. And if she does end up staying up late a few nights, so what? Just let her take a longer nap (or put her to bed early) the next day.

However if your child and baby are sharing a room it's probably best to condition the baby to sleep through ANY noise. :-)

I do leave her door open both because she's used to it and because I like to keep an ear on her at night. You could always put the gate in the doorway to her room. If you use a pressure mounted one you could put it in and remove it at will.

[sweetbasil]

Hey, Rachel~
We've been really surprised, but Kellen has stayed in his twin bed through the transition (which started in Jan.) One time a bad dream woke him up, and he got out of his bed and wandered around the room, but we heard him and put him back to bed, and he was fine.

When he was still in the crib, he'd wake up in the morning/after naps and make his grumpy wake-up noises. I'd let him stay in bed until he sounded sweeter or started singing. Somehow, he kept with that routine, and lays in his big boy bed being grumpy, then conversational (with himself), then sings, then I go up to get him out of bed. I'm amazed it's lasted this long, but it has been a lot easier than I expected. Like I mentioned earlier, the outside of the sheet (not against the wall) is tucked under the mattress, so there's some resistence there, but nothing *major*.

We leave his door cracked open at night, so he has a little light, but we don't have to modify our activities for noise's sake. So far, so good. I really hope this transition is easy for you 3+ :)!

Talk to you soon,