Big Boy Bed?

I moved both of my boys at 18mo to their beds- started with the mattress on the floor for a couple weeks prior to get used to it (they played on them, napped on them, etc) then added the box springs and bought a mesh side rail(at BRU for about $20 if I remember right)-- my youngest will be 2 on Mon and I keep the rail on his bed as he is really active and occasionally falls off-- they have both done great in their beds!

Hi, S.. I would say wait until he shows interest in moving to a big boy bed or until he tries to escape from his crib. I think when kids are close to 2, it is a good time. Remember, when they are out of the crib, they are free to roam, so keep that in mind, too. Good Luck.

I would keep him in his crib as long as you can. Unless he's climbing out a lot, there really is no reason to change it. I would wait until they were either climbing out a lot or until they were 2 to 2½. And when you do transition him, I would put the bed exactly where the crib was so when they are laying down and looking up, they can see the room exactly how it was in the crib. Good Luck!

Does he seem ready for a big boy bed? O do not believe there is a majic age, my daughter was 2 and stayed in bed always, my oldest was around the same age, he is now 8 and still comes in our room at night. :)
K.
www.workathomeunited.com/kirstenw

Why hurry!I never looked forward to my kids being able to get out of bed!Anyway I have always left mine in as long as possible.If he's not trying to climb out it's best to leave him in a crib.So I say as long as they will stay in one.

S. my son is now 23 months old we just switched him to the day bed about two months ago. the advice i was given is that they are ready when they basically stay in the same position most of the night. We made a big deal about Jacob getting into a "big boy" bed and he loves it. Good luck hope this helps.

Hi S.,
I honestly never really had my son in a crib, but he is definitely old enough I do feel for a big boy bed at the age of 1. Hope this helps!

-J. M.
http://J..freedomunitedteam.com
HELPING People Live Better Lives!

Normally you should wait until he can safely crawl out of his crib w/o getting hurt, however my son HATED his crib and we switched him to a regular bed at 15 months. It all depends on the kid. If he can get on and off of your bed safely then he should be ok with one of his own. We got bunkbeds for our kiddos and left them seperate, they are lower to the ground than a normal bed and easier to get up and down from. Good luck to you! E.

I would say if he is not trying to climb out of the crib let him be for now. We took my daughter out of the crib at 18 months becuase I was pregnant with my son and wanted to make the transition before he was born. My son was about 14 months, but he was trying to climb out and we didn't want him to get hurt. We decided to not use a toddler bed for either of them. Instead we used a twin frame with a piece of particle board (rather than a box spring) and mattress. The bed is lower to the ground than a toddler bed. When added the box spring over a year later when they were use to the bed and felt they weren't going to fall out.

It's really up to you, but I recommend keeping him in his crib for as long as he's happy in it and not in danger of falling from climbing over the rail. My son stayed in his until age 3, and my daughter was almost 4. Now, that's pretty long and probably out of the "normal" range, but I knew they were safe When they were old enough to safely climb over the rail, I left it down so they could get in and out, but it still kept them safe while sleeping and not in danger of rolling out of bed. Just don't feel pressured or rushed to move him before you are comfortable. He's safe there, and if he's happy there, there's no reason to move him at any pre-set age.

My older daughter transitioned to a toddler bed at about 20 months because we needed the crib for the new baby. My younger daughter turned 2 in April. She is still in the crib.
I don't plan on transitioning her until I have to. Once she is ready, she and her sister will share a double bed. (They already share a room.)

As long as he is not attempting to climb out, there is no reason to move him.

I moved my daughter into the toddler bed when it got to the point where she was trying to climb out of the crib. I wanted to get her switched before she ended up falling. She'll be 19 tomorrow so I don't quite remember but I think she was about 18 months.

i left my daughter in her crib until she was about 3. that way i knew she would safe all night long.then when i put her in a toddler she went to sleep where her crib was in my room. she ended up learning to sleep in her bed or the couch sometimes

there's really no hardfast answer...i'd say if he's showing signs of climbing out then it is time...but my son is almost 21 months and never showed interest in climbing out. we decided to go for it after finding an adorable firetruck bed on craigslist for cheap. he loves it! and has only gotten out once, but after wandering around his room a couple times, got right back in and went to sleep. it just depends on your situation, our crib was borrowed and we decided to just go for it, so we could give the crib back. it worked out great! but don't be in a rush...if he is a hardcore wanderer it could mean lots of bad sleep for you if he's not ready. good luck!

Hi S.,

My son was 15 months when he figured out how to climb up his crib... and he would get stuck on the top of the rail and cry for help cause he couldn't climb down! very dangerous. So we moved him then. It was safer for him to fall out of a toddler bed at night than his crib. He only fell out of his toddler bed a couple times and never did it again. He didn't even cry.

Now my daughter, we had to put her in a bed sooner because by the time she could climb out and in of his bed, he was able to climb in and out of her crib!! We couldn't have him climbing in there to sleep in her crib with her at night. So since she was able to climb in and out of his bed, we bought her a matching one. Well they both loved their beds and knew that it was their bed. At night they would get in their individual beds and go to sleep and leave each other alone.

I would say once they are able to get in and out of a toddler bed, you can move them out of the crib. This is different age for every toddler. She did this early because she would watch him do this... don't remember exactly what age.

Well like him, she fell out a couple times and never did it again. They were just used to rolling around in their cribs and learned you can't do that in a bed. No bumps or bruises though :-P

S.,
i know you have gotten a lot of responses. i agree about waiting until it is absolutely necessary. we had a crib that converted to a toddler bed, but my daughter didn't like the toddler bed, so we transitioned her to a full size bed. we put the mattress and boxspring on the floor so we didn't have to use bedrails (which can be a safety hazard) and she slept pretty well in it. if you don't already have a toddler bed i personally wouldn't bother with one. buy or use the bed that you would transition him to from the toddler bed.

We transitoned our oldest when he was 2 y/o b/c we were expecting our 2nd baby (she did not come home). We put him in a toddler bed with rails & put a baby gate in his door so he could not get out at night. Our 3rd baby transitioned when he was about 18 months, b/c he was getting too heavy for me to lift out of his crib. We started with a mattress on the floor at naps, then we put up the toddler bed & baby gate.
God Bless!

HI! I don't know if this will help at all but my son was around 16 months when we started trying a toddler bed. We knew we would need the crib soon for our baby, we set it up in his room and let him get used to seeing and laying on it. He really liked to just sit on it and sometimes we would just read his books before bed on it. Eventually we started letting him nap on it and it took a while but soon he started just laying there and going to sleep. Within two months he was sleeping in it through the night. We just took it really slow and didn't rush him and if he seemed like he didn't want to do it we didn't push it. He is now 21 months old and goes to bed with no problem. He loves his big boy bed! I hope this helps!
S.

With both of my boys, I waited until they showed an interest in climbing out of their cribs to move them to a bed. Both of them were just over 2. With my oldest, we just moved his crib mattress to the floor for a little while, then he slept on a pulled out futon because it was close to the floor. He was a crazy sleeper, all over the bed and I was really nervous about him falling out. With our youngest, we had a very long and tall bed rail, so we put him straight into the bed. I got the bed rail at Babies R' Us. Both boys transitioned very well out of their cribs.

Most people flip when I tell them this, but I left both my girls in their cribs till they were 3 1/2 almost 4 years old. And then they got a new bedroom set with a full size bed. I had asked my doctor when I should move my oldest and he asked me if she selpt good (yep she did) and if she was climbing out of the crib (nope she wasn't) so he told me not to mess whith her and leave her for as long as I could. His guide line was when they are climbing out and at risk for hurting themselves. With my oldset she was almost 2 when baby #2 was coming so we really didn't want to make to many changes at once. So I would say if he's sleeping good and not trying to climb out and hurting himself let sleeping babies lie. Good luck!

My husband and I took the crib mattress and put it on the floor for a couple of weeks when our daughter turned two, or was it just before? Anyway, she didn't have the fear of falling out of the bed with it on the floor. Then we moved her to a toddler bed that was a hand me down from a friend. When she turned three for her birthday we gave her a twin bed. She was very excited to be three and have a big girl bed. It is gonna be your decision on when to transition. It will be when your child is ready. Every child is different. Good Luck and God Bless.

Good Morning S., You know your little man better then anyone. Do you think he is ready for a toddler bed? Is he climbing out of his crib?

Personally since he is only 16 mo. I think I would wait a little longer. When he is 2 start talking about a big boy bed and how big he has gotten. Work him and yourself up to the change.

All in all the switch is entirely up to you and what is best for your little man.

God Bless you
K.

I think you will find this is a very personal decision based on what is right for your family. Some people think you should move them at a certain age. My family believes you should do this only when you have to. My criteria will be when she shows signs of climbing out of her crib. Obviously I don't want her to hurt herself falling out of the crib. However, I don't want to invite problems like not staying in bed to sleep or climbing into bed with us. Good luck.

Keep them in a crib as long you can!! If he is not giving you any signs of lifting his leg to crawl over, I would not worry about transitioning him out. I kept my oldest child in her crib until she was 3 and it worked out beautifully. I have a 23 month old who is still in her crib and is as happy as a clam. Also, I have 2 friends who moved their kids out of the crib at about the age your boy is and they had constant battles. Do you yourself a favor and let him be little just for a little longer. Good luck!

I would keep him in the crib as long as you can. I tried to transition about 16 m. and it was a mess. He was up and out of bed, playing, be time was awful!. I finally put the crib back up. I think he was alomst 3 before we had real success with it. I intend to keep my 2nd in the bed as long as I can.

my oldest was around 16 months. At first we had both beds set up because he wasn't ready to totally transition as he still liked his crib. He would sleep in his crib for naps and liked his toddler bed for night time but after 2 weeks he was ready to transition to his toddler bed for naps as well. I don't remember how old my daughter was when we switched her to a toddler bed. I think she was 14 months because we moved to another state then and I think we just set up her toddler bed then instead of using the crib because we left a lot of stuff in storage. Our 3rd child would climb out of his crib and the room was crowded so his crib was next to our son's bunk beds so he would use the crib to get onto the top bunk. thankfully he never fell off of it and he had this happy laugh he would do whenever he climbed up there so we knew he was on the top bunk and would go get him down when we heard that laugh. After he did that a few times we took the crib down and set up his toddler bed, he wasn't in the toddler bed very long because he would climb into the bottom bunk and wanted to sleep there and don't think he ever fell out so he transitioned to a big bed pretty quick and did fine.
He does have a hard time sleeping in his room by himself because he has always shared a room with his older brother so when our oldest is spending the night at a friends house he has a hard time sleeping in his room but he will sleep in the living room by himself and is fine.

I say, based on talking to other parents, as late as possible. My daughter turned 3 yesterday and over the last 3 months, has gradually transitioned into a twin bed with side rails. It was our idea to get the bed, and we waited for her to really ask to sleep in it. She was content in her crib for a long time, and knew not to climb out (I taught her that "cribs are not for climbing", since she could fall and get hurt). She slept in her crib until then, with us using her big bed for reading books at nap time and bedtime. About a month ago she started sleeping in her crib at naptime, and about a week and a half ago, started sleeping in her big bed at night, after deciding she really wanted to.
Do what works for you, but if your child is happy in the crib, I think you should enjoy it as long as it lasts.

With both my kids I waited until they started to climb out which was a month before they turned 2 for both of them. Life definately changes once they go into a real bed, lots of knocking on the door wanting to come out good luck!

My daughter fell/ climbed out of her crib at 18 months and I moved her then. My son who has been a climber since he could crawl, climbed out of his bed at 15 months. I can honestly say that if I had one of the nets that go over the bed to keep him in I would use it because he never has been a good sleeper and he has gotten worse.

I made the transition once my son was able to climb out of the crib, about 14 months.

need to know same thing

Hi S.,
We were always told that when the child tries to get out of the crib on their own then it's time. You don't want them to climb and fall out! God Bless! S.

The american academy of pediatriacs says not until they are at least potty trained, turns three or climbs out. Whichever comes first. I waited until about a month before my daughter turned three. She did fine. It's been about 3 months now, and if I put her in her bed, she won't get out. I think waiting so long engrained something in her head about staying put at night and during nap.

I know people who did this at around a year old and they are comfortable with the change. You just need to do whatever is right for your family.

Good Luck

I would say that you can safely leave him in his crib until he attempts to climb out, thereby increasing his risk of a fall. With our first child, we felt the need to rush her when our next one came along. We removed the railing on her transitional bed, and she fell out several times throughout the first couple of nights. We put it right back on, and she was happy in her crib for another 6 mos. We only moved her into a toddler bed because she was fully potty trained, and needed to be able to get to the bathroom at night (at 2 1/2 years).

I would definitely stick to the crib as long as he is happy. You'll only have more to worry about if he can get up and wander around! Unless, of course, he is trying to climb out, and then he'll be safer in a toddler bed, or even just a mattress on the floor. Lots of our friends have done it that way as they transitioned into a big boy bed :)

We transitioned to the toddler bed when my daughter was about 20 months old. She actually slept better in the toddler bed! Once she knew she could get out when she wanted to, she didn't wake up to come in with Mom and Dad nearly as much. We put her in the toddler bed because we needed the crib for the next one but now that the next one is 16 months, I have been thinking about getting another toddler bed. I don't think she is ready quite yet but she loves climbing into her sisters bed so I'm sure she would be ok with it.

I found a toddler bed on sale when my son was 14 months old. My husband decided that, if we have it, let's use it! I was gone for work for a few days, and when I came back, he was sleeping exclusively in the toddler bed.

I don't think there is a "right" time. Just go with what you think your son is ready for.

Hi S.,
My advice is to wait as long as you can. It changes everything. I personally think they need to be a bit older to understand their new freedom of being in a big kid bed. My daughter was 2 1/2 before we moved her and was a great sleeper in her crib, now she's up and down a few times every night before she falls asleep. I miss the days where she couldn't get out of her crib by herself. So, unless he's climbiming out and is in danger of hurting himself, I would wait. Good luck!