twin bed or toddler bed?

[123LuckyMom]

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?

[abesmer]

My son started jumping out of his crib at 18 months and I was expecting my 2nd child. Our decision was to buy a "big boy" twin sized bed to avoid "wasting money" on a toddler bed. We have his twin on top of a box spring which is directly on the floor. So it's not very high. He needed a step stool to get up there for a few months. It's pushed up against the wall on one side and has a rail on the other. He has yet to fall out of bed and he is now almost 3 years old. My bigger challenge was getting him to stay in the bed. There were a few nights were he fell asleep on the floor and we moved him back into bed. Good luck!

[logan's mom]

I would skip the toddler bed and go straight to the big boy bed. We moved DS1 at around 20 months to prepare for DS2 who will be here in September. My son is also a climber. We have his bed set on the higher of two setting to try and keep him in it! It is against the wall with a bedrail. He has gotten/fallen out the bed twice but I think it is because he is a sleepwalker.

Once we knew we were moving him, we tried to really solidify his bedtime routine. When we transitioned him, we made a big deal about him getting a new bed and that cribs were for babies. Then went through his usual routine. He played for a few minutes in his bed (as he did in his crib), then laid down and went to sleep. Naptime the next day was a little more challenging and after putting him back in his bed three times, I put him in the "baby crib" and told him that if he couldn't stay in his bed like a big boy, then he would have to sleep in the crib like a baby. We haven't had trouble since. He sleeps and naps better now that he is in the bed and goes to bed without a fight.

I would try to avoid multiple transitions. I have friends who started with a mattress on the floor and then tried to transition to the bed and are having lots of trouble. Their daughter is also 3 and I think there is an window between 20-24 months when kids are more receptive to change-especially when it involves something new and "big kid"

If you are worried about the thickness of the mattress, is it possible to buy a new mattress? Sam's has some for $100. I would also be careful with the trundle portion of the bed-I had never heard about it before but there were some posts on this board about kids getting hurt on them (although I think it was older kids whose friends/siblings shut them in the trundles when playing.)

Good luck!!!

[lowrioh]

I would just go for the big boy bed you have it and put rails up. My sister moved from the crib to a trundle bed with rails around that age with no incidents. My brother put his 2.5 year old in a big girl bed that was really high and with the rails she has never fallen out. If it makes you feel better you could always pull the trundle part way out to "break the fall" He could also use that as a step to get up into the bed for the first couple of months.
(this option would obviously depend on the type of trundle you have. If it one with a wooden side it might not be safe.)

[BabbyO]

Since you already have a big boy bed, I'd skip the toddler bed. IF your crib turns into a toddler bed, it may be worth using it for a while before you transition to the taller bed. Usually it is pretty simple to convert crib/toddler beds (ours required removing 4 screws and adding a single board.)

If you don't have a crib/toddler bed, it may be worth using the lower portion of the trundle...or just put the mattress on the floor while your little guy gets used to the new bed situation. Then move him up to the taller bed. It seems you'll have some time for him to transition before the baby comes...

ETA: FWIW, we expected DS to stay in his crib (because he NEVER tried getting out) until after DS2 was born (Sept), but Father's day weekend, DS climbed out several times. His bed turns into a toddler bed and since we already had a second crib just used that. He's being transitioned into a "different" bed AND a different room right now...about 10 weeks before my due date. Its only been a few weeks (3 for the bed and 2 for the room) and he's already doing great. I think our pediatrician told us that as long as the older DC has 6-8 weeks to transition before a new baby, it is probably enough time. DS turned 2 last weekend...

[vonfirmath]

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?

My son started climbing out of his bed at 25-26 months and we moved him directly into his big boy bed -- an antique "taller than normal" not-quite full size bed. Because of being antique, etc. we could not really use rails either.

I got a pool noodle and spent some time tucking it under the bottom mattress, and making sure it was there every night. And yeah, he falls out some nights (Including last night! He's almost 4! I was standing right there and have not figured out how he managed it!)

But mostly he doesn't and he's been fine

With this second baby, we may move her to a toddler bed after the crib if we are still in our current house just due to space issues.

[BayGirl2]

I've been living this for the past month. My DS is 2 and we'll need his crib in 6 months when the new baby leaves the cosleeper. DS hadn't tried to climb out yet, but he's tall enough to, so it was just a matter of time IMO.

We first converted his crib to a toddler bed by removing the side (sounds like you can't do that?). That was the hardest part, he must have felt exposed and unsafe. It took about 2 weeks to get him to go to sleep on his own (previously a great sleeper) but he did come around. We couldn't get the Toddler rail for our crib, so I looked into getting these: http://www.gobedbug.com/ but eventually made my own just buy cutting a piece of foam in half. The crib was pretty low, and he never fell out but was able to climb in/out on his own.

This weekend we went to Ikea and got him the Hemnes twin bed - it converts to a queen in a trundle-like way and has drawers underneath, so its fairly high. But I wanted this to be his long term bed, and didn't want to waste $ on a smaller/lower bed that won't last as long. I put a pool noodle under the sheet w/an opening at the foot of the bed and a step stool for him to climb in. The first night I let him choose and he chose the crib. My plan was to let him choose, but always encourage the new bed if he doesn't have a preference.

Last night I sat with him in the big bed as he dumped all his stuffed animals onto it. After a little while of playing he got tired. I asked him which bed he wanted and before he could climb down I showed him how he could lay down on the pillow in the big bed. He stayed up there and slept through the night in the big bed. One night down, but he seems to need a couple weeks to adjust to new things, so I'm expecting more drama in the near future.

For us, it was better to just go right to the twin bed. I also wanted to do this before the baby comes rather than wait until after, so the move is less associated with the baby. As for falling out, there are a lot of bed rails available that will fit on a twin and some available for a crib-sized toddler bed, but they are not the same size. The pool noodle/foam solution seems to work well enough for us. maybe he's not a roller. And of course, nothing hard next to the bed in case he does fall.

[Dr C]

I would disassemble the twin bed and put the mattress on the floor. That's what we did with DS's bed. It didn't take him long to be ready for the real bed. He sleeps on a rather tall bed now. I guess I would probably put something soft on the floor just in case.

[123LuckyMom]

Thanks for all these responses! I think I'm leaning towards transitioning him right to the big twin bed with rails. Does anyone have a suggestion for rails that will rise above our huge mattress? I guess I could try the pool noodle thing, but that seems like it wouldn't be enough of a barrier. Is it?

[eh613c]

You can also try just putting the mattress on the floor.

DS1 has a rail from Pottery Barn. We only put it in one side since he has a full size bed.