My 2.5 DS has climbed out of his crib for the past two mornings, so we have to get him out of there and into a bed! Currently his room is set up with a crib in one section of the room (a "baby" section) and a twin trundle bed on the other (a big-boy section). The trundle bed is high and has a pillow top mattress to boot, so I would be scared to put him in there straight from a crib. My plan had been to get him a toddler bed and put it where the crib is now then transition him to the big bed when he was old enough to sleep in a bed without falling out.
There's a wonderful wrinkle in my plan, though. We just found out we're expecting! This new baby will be needing that crib in that space in 18 months or so. Now I'm thinking a toddler bed might be a bad idea. Maybe it's better to put him in the big-boy bed on the other side of the room now, when he's not being displaced by a younger sibling, and leave the crib there for its future occupant.
Have any of you put your toddler into a high bed? Did you use rails? My DS is a monkey and can clamber on and off that behemoth of a bed with no problem, but I'm worried about his falling out in his sleep. If I do use the big bed with rails, what rails could work well on a big pillow-top mattress sitting on a platform? The ideal solution, of course, would be to have him sleep on the pulled-out trundle bed. The problem is that when the trundle is pulled out, it takes up most of the floor of the room and is tricky to walk around. It's fine for the occasional sleepover, but not great for daily use.
What would you do?