OK mama’s, question for you…do you have a toddler bed that was converted from a crib? How hard was it? I have asked my husband lots of times to do but of course my dd son (3 years old) is STILL in his crib…and yes he climbs out regularly. I am not worried about him getting hurt, he is pretty good at it!
But I want him in the toddler bed for now. He is a very difficult child to get to sleep and if he is in his toddler bed I might be able to get him to go to be bed easier if I show him a picture of a Cars bed that we will buy him. Yes I know that is bribery. He needs to be sleep trained, but that is a totally different subject.
SO, have you converted your crib to toddler bed, yourself?
Well after seeing me do it, my husband finally took over and did it. My son did ok the first night. Thanks!!
It took my hubby 5 minutes to convert it to a day bed. He just took off the front of the crib. I think it will depend on the type of crib you have.
I did not do it by myself but hubby did it and it took maybe 15 minutes. All it entailed in ours (it has the changing table/drawers attached) was removing the front section from the crib and voila! Instant toddler bed. We did not put the side rails on because we couldn't figure out how they went..LOL but he's only fallen out of his bed 2x in almost a few months.
I did it and it was easy. But...my son wouldn't sleep in it. He slept on the floor for two years. Even went into his preschool class and told them in circle time that they were all wrong and the floor was the appropriate place to sleep, not the bed. Good luck, I was ready to buy him the cars bed too, but in my gut I knew he wouldn't sleep in it either.
Seeing that I put the thing together myself it was only fitting that I convert it as well. It was simple for MY son's bed - just remove the drop side, drop the bed itself down to the last level and add the rail.
When my DD started climbing out and hurt herself was when we converted it. It was not much harder than lowering it. DH just had to take off the front panel and replace it with the toddler rail. Her bed is against the wall, so it's kind of like a daybed. I think you could do it. When she gets too long for that size mattress, we will convert it again to a twin bed.
yes, converting a crib to a toddler bed is simple. you should have no problem. i converted my son's crib to a full size bed when i was 6 months pg, so converting from a crib to a toddler bed was cake! you will definitely be able to do it.
I did it by myself in about 15 minutes, and that's with a toddler right there helping! I just removed the from rail, and lowered the mattress as far down as it would go. My son was never a climber, but he was definately excited about being able to put himself to bed, and waiting for me to tuck him in!
ours is just a matter of removing the 4 screws from the front and removing it. the tricky part was finding those 4 screws when we went to put the crib back together a few years later! keep them in a safe place or attach them to the crib front til you take the rest of the crib apart or are ready to use it again!
ps. 3 yrs. is still fine for a toddler bed unless your son is freakishly tall and he doesn't fit! i don't know why someone would tell you he can't use one! why not use what you've got as long as you can? my daughter (4.5) still looks so tiny in her twin bed....i slept in a twin til i was married. I always wonder why people get their kids such big beds, we prefer having more space in the room!
i have but i'm pretty good at putting things together. do you still have the directions? mine was a bit tricky and had to undo a few things and needed a few extra hands to do it. my friend says hers was a sinch and it just popped off so to speak. i'd say to look at the directions and if you can understand them then go for it. if you can't then tell hubby you will be doing the crib this weekend and that he will be helping you. this way it's not just him or you doing it.
Toddler beds are for toddlers, 12-24 months old. The child at 3 years old is a pre-schooler now. The time for a toddler bed has passed. This child needs to have a twin or larger bed now. My niece moved each of her kids into a new queen bed instead. They will have the same frame until they move out to their own first home.
Put a bed up in the bedroom and then just leave the baby bed in case he gets a case of missing it. Take the crib out when he is not even noticing it anymore.
I put the crib together myself and converted to the toddler bed myself. My almost 4 year old is in the toddler bed. She still fits so she sleeps in it still. Plus we don't have room for a twin bed for her. Converting to the toddler bed was just a matter of removing the front rail and putting in the toddler bed piece. I think it took 10 minutes total.
if you bought a crib that can do it, the conversion should be in the directions. If not, or you lost them. Look online at the brand you own. They always have the directions in a PDF file. Be sure you have all the correct parts and the correct numbers of screws. If not, dont do it. A wobbly, poorly done toddler bed is no safer than a crib he can crawl out if. I was told many times to not even use that bed, just taking out the mattress and putting it on the floor on some blankets is just as good, and I did that for my 15 old who was jumping so high in his crib. I did the floor thing for about a month. He got used to it, and then I transitioned him to his toddler bed. He sleeps just fine in there now. He is 17 months.
Yes. It was extremely easy. The directions were in a pocket attached to the bottom of the mattress. I had to use an allen wrench and it took about 15 minutes. It was really no big deal. (But I imagine each crib model is different.)
