Fire Engine Toddler Bed Too Much Fun?

[Liz]

Our 19-month ds discovered he could climb out of his crib this past Saturday, and there is no going back! I ended up setting up the pack-n-play and putting him in it after he had fallen asleep from me rocking him--figured this would be less of a fall than from the crib. On Sunday we went toddler bed shopping, and against my original stance, we went with the Step 2 Fire Engine toddler bed. We thought that he would play in it until he got tired and would then fall to sleep. Boy was this wrong! He got so wound up from playing with it and was crawling all over it--he has no fear. After an hour of this I finally coaxed him to sleep by holding him. I laid him in the bed, and he started crying. I rocked him back to sleep and them put him in the pack-n-play and he was fine. I will continue to use the pack-n-play until I can transition him. My question is...should I return the fire engine and get a less fun bed? I read in a previous post that someone chose a mini real bed to stress the grown up part. My 19-month really doesn't understand this concept. Or will the newness of the bed wear off? This bed is also pretty high off the ground which I didn't notice on the floor model how they had it--I'm thinking that the molded sides will keep him in. If anyone has this bed I would like to hear your experience. Any advice/opinion is welcome.

[Liz]

Just as a follow up--we've taken the fire engine bed out of our ds' room and are returning it...he's just too young to think of it as anything but a toy.

[momathome]

For now, you may want to just put the crib mattress on the floor so that you don't have to worry about falls and also putting a gate in his door way so that he can't escape. Transitions are not fun but before you know it, he'll be sleeping like a baby again! Good luck!
-Lauren

[Melanie]

Oh wow...this is the bed that Dh wants to get for Ds. I like it b/c unlike the race car or other toddler beds it has rails on almost all sides. My son is a wild sleeper and would surely end up on the floor. He currently sleeps with us so he's bordered on all sides but is often smacking himself against the wall anyhow.

Mommy to Jonah

[mom2kandj]

We've got friends who bought it for their son when #2 came along! It lasted all of 3 weeks because the kid fell out of bed all the time! :) They ended up selling it and bought a twin bed with a head and footboard. They pushed the bed up against the wall and added a removeable bedrail. They put pillows on the floor for the first week and now he's doing fine.

HTH

Rose