How long in the crib? Toddler bed?

[echoesofspring]

I never expected we'd have to buy two cribs, but DD& DS are closer together in age than I had anticipated we'd have if we had two. DS seems completely happy in his crib and our ped discouraged us from trying to move him before DD arrives. It's one that you can buy a side rail adapter for to make into a toddler bed, but the length doesn't change, i.e. it's not convertible to a twin bed. We haven't bought the adapter yet, and I'm wondering how long kids typically stay in their cribs and then how long they use a toddler bed? Anecdotes? I know similar age children who are in a toddler bed b/c they were trying successfully enough to crawl out of the crib, I haven't seen DS try to do that since I removed the hard sided turtle nightlight he had in there months ago. Though he tries to climb on everything else in our house and last night he tried to crawl into it!

[PZMommy]

We moved our first out of his crib and into a toddler bed when he was about 20 months old. We wanted time for him to adjust to his new bed before the baby arrived a few months later. I figured he would be climbing out of his crib by the time he was 2, so it didn't really make sense to buy a second crib. It went okay, although we had some sleepless nights and naps for the first week or so. We bought a Cars toddler bed for him, and played up the fact he was getting to be a big boy, so it was a happy transition for him.

If you think your first will still need a crib for awhile, I'd just buy a second crib. However, if you think he will be done soon, then I'd move him to a toddler bed. Also you could get an Arms Reach co-sleeper (we used ours with all four sides up like a bassinette), and the new baby could sleep in that for awhile to buy you some more time before moving your older one.

Good luck!

Dawn

[crl]

I caught ds in the middle of climbing out of his crib at about 20 months so we converted it to a toddler bed. He stayed in the toddler bed until he was nearly 4.

Dd is 31 months and still in her crib. I plan to keep her there as long as she isn't trying to climb out.

Catherine

[DietCokeLover]

DD was in her crib til she was 3+ years old. She started climbing out at 15 mos, so we had a crib tent from then on. DS was in the crib til almost 3 years old (also with a crib tent). We only used toddler beds for about a year after that.

[acmom]

We bought 2 cribs - DD was 21 months and very happy in her crib when DS was born. She stayed in her crib until a few months before she turned 3 and then we took the front rail off to convert it to a toddler bed, which she used for another 6 months or so. (She could have used it longer like that, but we were moving so we sold it and bought her a twin for the new house). DS was a noisy sleeper and only slept in our room for a few weeks before we moved him to his crib in his own room - and we all slept better that way. I was really glad we bought the 2nd crib bc it helped give everyone a better night's sleep. It was one less change for DD and one less worry for us as we adjusted to having a baby in the house. If your DC is young and happy in the crib, I think a 2nd crib is totally worth it!

[Dr C]

Mine were both in cribs until almost 3... I moved them out around potty training so they could go to the bathroom at night if they needed to. Neither ever used a toddler bed, went straight to a regular mattress on the floor.
can you beg/borrow/steal another crib for a year or two?

[twowhat?]

DDs finally figured out how to climb out at 3.5, so we converted the cribs to toddler beds.

[rin]

We moved DD1 at 27 months, when she started climbing in/out. I was shocked at how easy the transition was. We had actually been planning to buy a second crib for DD2 (who was 1 month old at the time and still in a bassinet) and convert the crib to a toddler bed for DD1, but we ended up just buying a regular twin for DD1 and using the crib for DD2.

[BabyBearsMom]

DD1 was in her crib until she was almost 2.5yo. She wasn't crawling out of it but she asked to get a big girl bed so we moved her. I bought two cribs for my kids because I didn't want to move DD1 until she was ready and I didn't want her to feel ousted by the new baby. I have no regrets.

[♥ms.pacman♥]

DD1 was in her crib until she was almost 2.5yo. She wasn't crawling out of it but she asked to get a big girl bed so we moved her. I bought two cribs for my kids because I didn't want to move DD1 until she was ready and I didn't want her to feel ousted by the new baby. I have no regrets.

Similar thing for me. At 2.5 DS had yet to climb out, but we ended up finding a Thomas bed on CL, he saw it and wanted to sleep in it instead. We assembled it, put in his room, he slept in it all night the first night, no problems at all. No probs since. Naps are a tad bit trickier (maybe 1 out of 3 times he gets out of the crib and stays up for 1/2 hr to reads books, plays in his room) but we have had no problems with him getting out of his room (as far as i'm concerned, as long as he stays in his room for 2 hours and plays quietly, that's fine with me!). Nighttime sleep was not affected at all. IMO things went really smoothly because he was old enough and ready to sleep in a bed. All the stories I've heard of moving a toddler younger than 2yo (or a toddler that wasn't ready) out of their crib are horror stories (wakings/leaving room, kid gives up nap,etc). I personally would not try to transition a kid out of a crib around the time of a new sibling, too many things going on and as PP said I did not want him to feel ousted by the new baby. Also as others mentioned, the LAST thing you want to worry about when you are sleep deprived with a newborn is a toddler roaming around the house at night!