I have a adopted 2 year old. She has been sleeping in a toddler bed since she arrived home. I was just wondering at what age should we start transisting to a bigger bed. We are thinking about a full bed.
If she is happy and fits the toddler bed, keep her there. Put the full in her room, and let her climb on it and get used to it. She will decide when.
Take your time and let her be little for a while. :) My 4 1/2 year old is still in a toddler bed. You won't have to worry about her falling out, too. Enjoy her being little, it only lasts a short time.
We have 3 sons. Only the oldest actually slept in a toddler bed. We moved him into a bunk bed with full on the bottom and twin on the top when he was around 3-3.5. The younger ones only wanted to sleep in the big bed with his brother(s). If she stays in the bed then the regular bed would be okay. We had a rail that you could just slide under the mattress that we used until he asked us to leave it out. The other side was against the wall. Congratulations and Good luck.
Hello K.,
My daugter went from her crib bed to twin bed at three years old. She made the transition very well. My husband and I were concern at first. But she did try to get in bed with us for awhile. We would always carry her back to her room too. It can be a easy transiton but sometimes parents can make it hard too.
We transitioned our kids from the crib to twin size beds by 15 months. We used the mesh bed railing you can buy at Toys R Us and put the bed against the wall. They are still sleeping in the twin beds 12 years later!
My 4-y/o and almost-3-y/o are still sleeping on toddler bed-sized mattresses on the floor. For them, it's normal, and I don't see a reason to change yet. We'll probably wait to move them out of that bed until the older one gets a bit bigger and is outgrowing the mattress. For me, it's more a matter of frugality than other things, although I do think he'd fall out of the bed because he still moves a lot in his sleep, and I'll frequently find him sleeping on the floor, or only part-way on his bed. If we find a good deal on a pair of twin beds or on a bunk bed (with a big mattress on the bottom), we'll probably take advantage of it and move them then.
We transitioned our kids when they were ready (i.e. they were climbing out of their cribs and it was no longer safe for them to be in their crib.
To transition, the first time for our son we sent him to a toddler bed. It was a big mistake. For our daughter, we just made her go to a regular bed. She did just fine. We pushed one side up to the bed so she was safe on one side, and on the other side we put a bunch of pillows that she could not roll over.
if shes happy in the toddler bed just leave her. if she flops all over(like mine did) then move her to a bigger bed. i have seen 5 year olds still in toddler beds it just depends on the kiddo. and congrats by the way!
If she is getting close to the foot of the bed, about a foot or so left. I would take her shopping at a kids furniture store and see if she would be interested in a "big bed".
Two is a good age to sleep in a regular bed. I would purchase a rail that fits between the mattresses so she doesn't roll off. My 2 year old grandbaby sleeps with a pillow on each side of her in a regular bed.
If she is comfortable in the toddler bed I would not move her for a while. Changing beds for some kids is a big deal. Sometimes they miss the comfort of the smaller bed. If your excited about doing her big girl bed, as I was, go ahead and put it in her room. She may love it and want to sleep in it. Then you don't have to wonder if she is ready. Just know that my daughter wanted me to sleep in the big girl bed while she slept in the toddler. They are pretty good at letting you know what works best for them. They're still so honest at that age. Enjoy and congrats!!
There's no rush. My 3 and 6 year old boys share a room, and they usually both end up in one of the beds, one being a toddler bed. They fit fine (it's actually adorable to see them snuggled there together).
I switched both of my kids at about 2.5 yrs, but they were in cribs, not toddler beds. Talk to her about it and see how she feels. My kids were thrilled to have a "big girl/boy" bed, but did have a hard time for a few nights. My daughter even crawled out of her bed and slept on the floor a couple times. It can be a big deal and maybe you should wait. Too much change can be scary for a two yr old. Good Luck!
How wonderful of you to share your love with an adopted child. Whether you become a parent through physical means or through God given means you are equally blessed. Maybe a little more so when adopted since you were hand picked. ;)
Don't rush the big bed. If you recall the old saying, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." It stands true time and time again. I was pregnant with our 2nd child and our oldest was almost 2 years old. I wanted to use the same crib for all my children but our first was still in the crib. I also didn't want our oldest to think we took her bed away and gave it to the new baby. So the December before my due date in May we bought a new bed and made everything really cool for her. She loved it...during the day, during play time. When it came to the night she was hysterical for her old crib. We had completely taken it down and moved it out in hopes of disconnecting her from it. However, we went from a child sleeping through the night to a weeks worth of crying herself to sleep and up several times during the night. Problem was, we were ready for her to move into a big bed...she wasn't. So we decided to put the crib back up and if I had to have 2 cribs, then so be it.
I'll just summerize by saying don't rush it. If your 2 year old is trying to climb out then maybe it's time to try a "big girl/boy bed". I have a friend who's 3 year old still sleeps in the crib. She could probably climb out but has never tried it. I think when she starts to figure out she can they will then take the crib down and transition her into a big girl bed.
Good luck. Keep your munchkin safe and the rest will work out on its own. It always does.
I didn't even use a toddler bed with my second child. He went straight from the crib to his twin bed when he was 20 mths old (& tried to climb out of the crib!). My oldest was only in her toddler bed for about 5 mths. It just started to seem really "small" for her. She was much happier in her twin bed with all her pretty bedding that she picked out. My advice is to go for it! You'll have to do it eventually anyway, so it won't be a wasted purchase. If she doesn't like it right away, maybe it will have to be stored away for a little while, but I bet she'd love it. Especially if she gets to help pick it out and all that good stuff. =0)
