Making the Switch from Crib to Toddler Bed - Advice Please???

He is really too big to go to a toddler bed, the reason I say this is he is going to outgrow that mattress very quickly. I would put the baby bed mattress on the floor and set up a regular bed. He is going to be transitioning to a toddler bed and by summer or fall he will be transitioning again because he won't be sleeping on his bed anymore and no one will know. He will have become too heavy, large, for it and the inner springs will be uncomfortable, his feet and arms will be falling off and waking him up, he will not be able to find a comfortable position on it.

Toddlers are 12-24 months old. Once the hit that 24 month age they are classified developmentally as pre-schoolers. The same is for the toddler bed. He may be too big for it very quickly.

We went from crib to a twin mattress on the floor for all three of our kids, all at around 18 months. No safety issues, if they woke up for some reason we were right next door to hear it, it worked great for us :)

You're right, he could get hurt climbing in and out of his crib. That's when i always make the change.

What I found seems to help little ones is to have them take a nap in the toddler bed before putting him in it at night. Something about seeing it and sleeping in it during the day first seems to help them with the "invisible" boundaries. (You can use just the mattress until he is comfortable with it before putting it on the bed frame.) Don't get frustrated if he gets out of it and winds up sleeping on the floor, as long as he stays in his room, lol! (I used a tall gate with my little guy so he couldn't get out, but in reality he doesn't try, just calls me sometimes to see if I respond and I say "I love you, good night.") And, something I read in a few places says toddlers typically have a harder time with the "invisible boundaries" and staying in the bed within them until they're 3 years, so just be prepared ; )

I helped my sister get her son comfortable with a big boy bed. My sister went out and bought him a new bed and a tent to go over it, she rearranged his entire room and everything. But he was terrified of sleeping in that bed. She would sleep on the floor in his room jus so he could go to sleep. So one night while babysitting him, I put his room back to normal, everything went back into place. I put the new bed in the exact place where the crib was, facing the same direction and everything. That night he went to bed, with out a problem. After he was used to the new bed, she was able to rearrange his room any way she pleased. Hopefully that helps!

Hello, My oldest son climbed out at 18 months!!! We had to go to a twin bed. I put rails on each side,(the removeable kind). I also took the crib down and out. He loved Sesame street so I got all Sesame street bedding and put his favorite stuffed animals tucked them in too. The transition went pretty smoothly. Sometimes he would climb out an play with toys and I did find him snoozing occasionally on the floor. I would just pick him up and tuck him in again. Good luck, hope this helped.

We went from crib to daybed with bed rails. That way, we weren't wasting money on a toddler bed, and she was still secure on all sides like in the crib. It worked very well for us and the best part was we picked up the daybed on Craigslist for pretty cheap.

We put most of our kids in a twin bed with a frame, board cut at Lowe's to fit a bunk bed or twin bed instead of a box spring and just put the mattress on that . I fit well, you could store pans with toys under it, the comforter for a twin or bunk bed fit it nicely, you could vacuum under it well, it was close to the floor in case they fell out, and they could sit on the bed and I could sit there to read at night time to them. Sorry for the extra long sentence. It worked well for our kids. When ready then just get a box spring to make it a regular twin.

We switched to a toddler bed as soon as my 2 yo made it out of the crib. In hindsight I wish I had tried a crib tent first. He refused to sleep in the toddler bed. Wouldn't sleep in a regular bed either. He slept on the floor by the door for over 2 years before he went into a regular bed. And the way we got him into the regular bed was to put a bed tent over it for a while.

With my daughter we put her in a full size bed without rails at 18 months. We put her crib mattress under her bed and pulled it out so if she rolled out of her bed she landed on the mattress. She did great. My 2 year old son still hasn't tried to climb out of his crib- I am sure it will happen soon!

My son stayed in his crib till he was 3.5
He could climb in and out without any trouble.
We switched him to a twin bed (we put rails on both sides) and he LOVED that I could snuggle with him in bed for story time.

We were worried about our son getting up in the middle of the night and wandering so we put up a baby gate. I've heard that a lot of kids don't like the baby gate, but our son doesn't mind it. I think it's because we started with it.
Also, my son did great for about 2 weeks, then the stalling started. He never did it when he was in the crib but now he always wants more cuddles, more books, more anything to try to stay up. We weren't prepared and let it go on for a while. I suggest nipping it in the bud right away.