Converting the Crib to a Toddler Bed

We converted when DS starting climbing out on his own.

We did this at 23mos, and it was tough. We lock him in his room to this day. He just won't stay in his bed.

I personally want to do this earlier with my daughter. I think if she's young enough that we can "teach" her to stay in her bed at bedtime - rather than waiting until escape is attempted - it'll be easier. That's just a guess. DD is 15 mos right now, I'm going to try this around 18mos.

I was told to keep them in a crib until they climb out or you need the crib for the next baby. In my case, we need the crib for our next babies. My daughter was 2 1/2 when we moved her and she would of been content staying in the crib. I didn't want to wait until the babies were here to move her because I didn't want her feeling she was kicked out for the new babies. She never made any attempt to climb out of her crib. Funny thing is, she can climb in and out of her bed, but she still waits for us in the morning to come and get her. She just won't climb out when she wakes up. We went straight to a queen size bed because it is what we had.

I converted my kiddos cribs when they started actively climbing out of the crib and were so accostomed to it, it was just how they got out and when they did it even during nap times, etc.
For a while there was a grace period where they could climb out, but only did when nap/bedtime was over vs. climbing out to spite rest times.
After that, I realized it was time to simply teach them to 'stay in bed' in a real bed.
hope that helps a bit:)

Personally, I wanted to keep my kids in their cribs for as long as I could. With my son he was almost three before we moved him (he would have stayed longer if I had my way, but we had a new baby on the way). My daughter was climbing out at 18 months. She even escaped from two different crib tents (still not sure how she managed that). So she had to move out earlier. My son was MUCH easier to teach how to sleep in a big boy bed. With my daughter there was a greater learning curve and I think that was because she was so much younger. I say if he is happy and not climbing, keep him there in the crib.

My son is almost 2 and hasn't figured out how to climb out of the crib, so he's still in it ;)

My daughters were 9 and 10 months when they went into a toddler bed, because they're crazy monkey ladies ;)

My son is going to stay in the crib until either A- he learns to climb out, or B- he starts the whole night time potty training thing.

I'm VERY lucky, based on my other 2 kids, that my son is still in the crib!

We switched my daughter as soon as she started to show signs of trying to escape. I didnt want to chance her falling out if we could prevent it so as soon as she started to put her leg up over the side we switched. She was 14-15 months at the time and it was a week of hell to start and now she sleeps amazing in there (knock on wood). She will be 2 this month and she hasnt had any issues wit the toddler bed
Good Luck