My young toddler (20 months old) will soon be moving to his new room and out of his crib. We are going to get him a twin bed and I am in the process of thinking about bedding for his new digs!
Does anyone have any general advice as far as selecting bedding for such a young guy? For example - I was wondering quilt vs. comforter? Or types of materials maybe? It gets quite cold here, but our house is never freezing. Wondering if he will even sleep under a blanket of any sort as he is all over his crib at night....
Any general advice is helpful!
Thanks!
Neither of my girls liked top sheets, but they both loved cotton thermal blankets next to them. Add a lightweight comforter for colder weather.
I would buy plain color bottom sheets and a fun print for comforter that can be changed as his interest changes. I liked to let them pick out their own comforters, giving them a choice of 2 or 3 different ones.
For the twin bed, get a bunkie board as a base instead of a box spring. get a standard, low profile mattress. not a big fancy, 14" pillow top. that way he won't be that much higher than he is in his crib.
http://www.morebunkbeds.com/WolfCorp-Bunkie-Board-for-Bun...
As for bedding, my kids don't use the top sheet. Just the fitted sheet and a blanket or comforter. At 20 or so months, I would do blankets if that is what you are currently doing, or a light weight quilt. Most of the time my kids wiggled their way to the other end of the bed, so I would always have them sleep in footie pajamas/blanket sleepers when it was cold outside.
As for a theme, for the bed, I would go for a get a few single fitted sheets. Solid colors or general prints last more years. For 'theme' let the pillows, wall decor, lamp, etc set your theme.
I think we all have visions of our kids sleeping snugly in their smart new bedding....but usually NOT the reality! haha
I remember buying (what I thought was) a really nice comforter when my son was about 4. Poor kid! He couldn't even move under it, it was so heavy and stiff! LOL Had to replace with much lighter weight cover.
Also, my son (now 8) tends to immediately scrunch his top sheet down to the bottom of his bed and mostly cover with his quilt...
.....which s-l-i-d-e-s....off the bed.....ugh.
So--I would say lightweight, but warm and don't be surprised if you have to tuck the sides in to keep it in place!
When my oldest was about that age he moved into a regular bed. He helped us assemble it and then I was shocked that he crawled right in to take his nap- something he never did without a struggle before! I also took him to the store and let him choose his blanket and sheet. So, I guess my only advice is to involve him in the process.
He won't keep a blanket on. You'll need to figure out how to get the heat higher during the night. We turn the heat down during the day and turn it up at night. I mean, who really really wants to be cold at night.
If you cover the vents with a phone book or magazine it will help a lot. That way the vents that are open will get the most heat. At 20 months he is really young to have any sort of a space heater in the room at all, even up high on a shelf. If he is in heavy sleepers he may get uncomfortable and be too hot and that will make him have a harder time too.
I would say just keep the house a normal temperature during the night and figure out where to close vents so that the most heat will go in his and your bedrooms. Then open them all up during the day. I have always followed the idea that if it is comfortable for you then it is comfortable for a baby. They don't need 20 layers on when you are in a short sleeved tee and slacks. My daughter always over dressed the kids and they were always sweating and hot.
I don't mess with flat sheets. I just get a quit or comforter (depending on quality/price/style), and a light blanket for the summer months. So much easier. The boys helped pick out their bedding, but at that age, I would do something you like!
i let my daughter pic her bedding out then based her room around that. she has a comforter and a regular bed blanket on her bed in the winter and just the comforter the rest of the time.
show him big boy bedding - cars trains etc then let him choose :)
Just like the other posts my almost 6 year old is still kicking off the blankets so keep the blanket sleepers. But he also loves his comforter and furry throw blanket (I also gave up on the top sheet). Plain sheets last longer but my son loves his CARS theme bedding (and has for 3+ years so far). In my area K-mart had a good selection of kid theme bedding that isn't too expensive. The only other thing that helps in kids bedding is that is washes easily and well.
we have our 2.5yo in her big girl bed but we did not do a theme. we bought for her sheets at Sam's club she picked out blue ones that are 400 thread count they are super soft, she does not have a comforter or blanket just the sheets. She runs hot and does not sleep well if she is too warm. We did get a waterproof mattress cover for her bed and thank goddness she has had 2 accidents so far. I figured why do a theme at such a young age to have to redo it when she gets older. We will do a theme when she gets old enough to understand what she wants to have in her room.
My best advice is to get a waterproof cover that completely encases the mattress you buy for him. Not only will it completely protect the mattress from accidents, it prevents dust mites, etc, as well. I have plastic zip covers around all our mattresses, then covered by a nice cushy mattress cover...can't even tell they're there, but they've saved our mattress.
In fact...had a vacuum salesman trying to "scare" me, I guess, into buying his vacuum...he asked if he could vacuum my mattress. I guess his point was going to be to show me all the dust mites, etc...pad came off CLEAN. Yay!!!
My oldest has sheets on her bed and a comforter, and uses neither. My youngest (20 months old) uses sheets AND a blanket. Everyone's different...you'll have to experiment. :)
