My daughter is almost 21 months old & I'm not sure when to transfer her to a toddler bed. She likes to play in her crib sometimes so I put her in there & just watch what she did. She is able to pull herself up to below her belly button. As soon as she realizes that she can throw her leg over the railing she will be getting out (or falling out!!!) of the crib. I take it this is a good time to transfer her. I was just going to take the railing off the crib & put the little railing on. A friend f mine suggested turning the crib around so that the shorter part of the bed is facing the wall & this will keep her in her crib for longer.
Somehow I don't feel like this is the right thing to do with my daughter. She is asserting her independence & I'd like to respect that part of her & feel like I might have to have a few nights of teaching her to stay in bed. I've read in a few books to totally baby-proof the bedroom & put a baby gate up at their door when you go to bed at night because it's VERY unsafe to have a toddler wandering around the house at night while you sleep...makes sense, right?
Does anyone have some advice or some insight that I might have overlooked? Is it too early to do this with her? Should I wait until she actually climbs out?
Thanks as always fellow mamas!!
Me personaly think she needs to be into a toddler bed or a twin with a side rail.And have you ever thought about getting a half door like you see in nursery.I had one and it was great I could see them and then hear also what was going on.
Mine started crawling out of her bed when she was about 17 months old. She fell a couple of times.
I knew that she wasn't ready for a toddler bed yet though. She's WAY active and hyper, and I knew she wouldn't stay, so I waited until she was 22 months old.
She still has a hard time going down for nap, but is fine at bedtime.
She's now 24 months old and I wouldn't change a thing. I know that she's safer in her toddler bed and we close her door at night. I wouldn't bother with the the baby gate. Unless you usually keep the door open.
You know your child better than anyone, so it's up to you. If she's not crawling out yet, I might wait until she's actually getting out. The longer they stay in, the better. :)
We transferred my son to his toddler bed at 21 months. He did great with the transition and surprisingly, he didn't realize he could crawl out of it until like 4 months later. That's when we had to start putting him back into his bed because he'd crawl out and come into our room. We also have a 2 story house, so we had to install a baby gate at the top of the stairs because he would tend to wander down them and go wake up my sleeping husband on the couch! So, no, I think that this is the perfect time to transition her to a Big Girl bed!
We got our daughters bed when she started to climb out. Your better off getting it or chance her getting hurt climbing over it. They have some really cute ones now a days if you can afford it.
It sounds like time to switch the bed to me. If the crib is posing a danger which getting up like that is, it would be safer to change it. If she falls she could land on her head or neck and be severly injured. The toddler bed will probley take a few days to get use to but she will most likely enjoy the freedom to get in and out of bed durring the day and learn to stay in there to sleep.
