Is It Wwwaaayyy Too Early to Get My 16 Mo Old into a "Big-boy" Bed???

Out of necessity we transitioned my son at 13 months from the crib to a big boy bed. He was extremely excited to have his own bed. We helped him select special sheets for the bed and have had no trouble with him getting up. A friend of mine said she started with nap time in the big boy bed and worked toward the whole night in the big boy bed.

HI L.,

I don't think it is too early. I have two boys 17 months apart in age, now ages 4 & 6. At the time that I was pregnant with the second, I asked my pediatrician whether or not I should buy a second crib since my older child still occupied the only crib we had. She said to go ahead and make him move to a "big boy" bed and use the crib for the new baby.

So later when my baby boy was done with the bassinet, at 3 months, we bought a set of loft/bunk beds. On the same night we "promoted" the younger from the bassinet to the crib and the older from the crib to the bottom bunk (at age 20 months). It worked out great!

The type of bunk beds we got are called "loft" bed. They are not quite like traditional bunk beds, in that the beds are set up shaped like a "T" and sit perpendicular to eachother instead of stacked like traditional bunk beds. I think the traditional bunk beds will work as well, though.

I think success of this highly depends on your son, though. My 20 month old, at the time, did great. He never got out of bed once we put him down at night. I have a daughter that is turning three next month and she is still in that same crib. I KNOW she won't stay in a "big girl" bed, so we're keeping her in the crib as long as we can get away with it :-)

Good luck!!

L. Strobel

Hi L.,

Hmmm, is it too early to put the 16 month old in a big boy bed? I don't think so if you feel he is ready, when my daughter was 14 months we put her in a toddler bed, mostly because she was a climber and kept getting out of the crib! The toddler bed worked great, however we discovered another problem...she was a sleepwalker! (still is at times and she is 17 yrs old now!) Anyhow, back to your question, yes I would make the transition, however to start out, I would definitely use guard railing, or simply put the mattress on the floor for a week or so to get him 'use' to the idea of a big bed. Good luck!

My daughter was attending a Montessori school at that stage and they transitioned her from a crib to a floor mat for naps around that time. We converted her crib to a toddler bed at home to see if she'd like it. (There was a twin bed in her room also that had been mine when I was a little girl). She had no problems with the toddler bed at all. We talked about the twin, especially after I found out I was pregnant with our second, and I told her whenever she was ready she could let me know, so that it was her choice and hoping that she would not need to be evicted with the arrival a new baby. She moved to the twin shortly before she turned two. It's one that is pretty high off the ground so we got her a foot stool and it was fine. While the toddler bed/crib stayed in her room, she had no interest in going back to it. I have heard others have had different experiences, boys and girls, but we found that it worked fine. It gave her additional independence but she did not feel overwhelmed or overly emboldened by it. Good luck!

My younger 2 boys are 18 months apart, so I had to move my middle one out of the crib around 17 months. He did fine and was excited to be in the room with his big brother. The bed was a race car bed and had the higher sides so he couldn't roll out. I don't think 16 months is too young. You could always try naps in the bed first. Good luck!
J.

Hi Lisa,

I'm a mother of 35 years. Your dilemma is not a new one! I remember my grandmother saying she had to put the 'new' baby in a dresser drawer because the didn't have another baby bed!

Years ago manufacturers used to make portable bed rails that would slide under a mattress. I would check out the net, catalogs and specialty baby stores to see if they sill make these. If so, put the bunkbeds in a corner so that the front and side are against the walls. Put the rail under the mattress and purhaps a couple of pillows on the floor at the foot of the bed in case your toddler should try climing out over the end of the bed. Teach him how to get in and out of the bed safely. In just a short time, he'll have it mastered! (When my children were babies, we didn't have baby gates and I taught them from the time they learned to crawl how to get up and down the stairs safely. I always tried to keep a close eye on them, but children do like stairs and better safe than sorry.) So, although ideally you would like to keep your toddler in a baby bed for another 4 or 5 months, this should be a good solution for you. Besides, if he hasn't already learned how to climb out of his baby bed, he soon will. So, better to have him closer to the floor! Good luck! L. S.

My oldest son was put in a big boy bed at 16 months old and did great. We didn't change his night routine at all - we still just put him in the bed, said good-night, and left the room. He didn't know he could get out of the bed the first couple of weeks... then he figured out he could, but he couldn't open the door. Eventually he learned to open the door. It's a process, but in the long-run it works out.

My second son also moved to a big boy bed around 18 months. He did even better than his brother, though he did fall out of bed a couple of times (didn't disturb his sleep, but we kept some soft blankets on the ground by the bed just in case).

Yes, the boys sometimes run around in the evenings when they should be sleeping. But we keep the room dark, and they always settle eventually. They're both great sleepers.

I say just do it! It will probably be easier than you think.
Good luck,
S.

Hello L.,

I am the mother of 5 and I have done that for years. I know the feeling with limited space. As my children were growing up they have always had to share a room and I found that the bunk beds sets that can be set up as 2 twin beds work well on space and training a young child your son's age to feel like he is a big boy. Before you set them up stackable, put them one along each wall of the room and make a big deal out of it for him. You can use the safety rails to help him feel more secure at first. That way he still has the security of a crib but yet feels a bit more independant. Just make sure you and your older son make a huge deal out of it. You can also add a 4 to 5 drawer chest in the room and let him help you put their things in it and show him that it comes with the big boy bed. Though I have 1 boy out of 4 girls, this has been a huge success when it came to teaching them to sleep on their in a regular bed. After he is okay with this, begin to introduce the idea of the beds stacking and new furniture getting added to their room,(like a little table and chair for him) so you can gradually get there room the way you want it to allow for more space. I wish you the best, and you and your family be blessed.

Lisa M.

My personal opinion is to keep the baby in the crib as long as possible. I've seen other moms who have moved the babies out for one reason or another and regretted it. Sleep problems could result. I have a 20 month old boy and I can't imagine him being anywhere mature enough to handle the big boy bed yet. My 6 year old stayed in the crib until he was nearly 4 and he is a perfect sleeper. He also continued to take naps until almost 5. Babies in regular beds mapy stop taking naps earlier than babies in cribs. I know the space thing is a real pain, but I would be afraid of creating bigger issues of sleeping problems.

By the way, thought it was funny that we both have 2 boys the same ages. :)