Is She Ready for Her Toddler Bed?

I suggest waiting. My daughter moved to her "big girl bed" which is a full size (using the crib as the headboard/footboard) and we skipped the toddler bed when she was about 34 months. Just shy of 3 years old. In fact, we tried the toddler bed and she wanted it back to her crib (it's not really any different and doesn't feel like a big change.) She LOVES her full size bed (and so do we because we can all lay on it and read.) We are still working on her staying in the bed and not playing so much but we use a tension gate at her doorway to keep her inside. She has adjusted well but mostly because I think we were able to reason with her easier than we would have at 2 years old. Don't rush it...wait another 6 months or so unless you are afraid of her safety by climbing out. My daughter never attempted to climb out.

It's different with each kid. My first was in a toddler bed at 16 months. We had to boot him out of the crib because his little brother was 2 months old and out growing the bassinett. But he didn't do the toddler bed for long as it just wasn't comfortable, so we got him a real bed.

My 2nd boy was in a toddler bed at 18 or 19 months and like his brother didn't like it either, so he too was switched to a twin bed (although his brother got a full size bed).

My 3rd child was stillborn like yours at 30 weeks.

My 4th child never stayed in a crib. She was our girl and she threw me for a loop on every single thing. But she did get her twin bed at age 2yo.

My 5th child just turned 1yo and is still in his crib.

For starters what I did was sit down beside their bed with my back propped up to the wall or whatever and shut my eyes and wait until they were sleepy or sleeping and eventually phased that out. But what I did with the getting out of bed during the night (my 2nd was my worst) was just calmly walk them back to bed or carry them without talking, tucked them back in and went back to bed. If it was a nightmare, then of course that was handled differently. We talk about it. Shoot, my 11yo just woke me up the other night and I went into the living room to talk about it so he could go back to sleep. This was his first bad dream this year that I had to talk about with him.

Eventually, they will get in a habit and stay in their own bed, but don't get mad. This is a wonderful and new freedom for them. Good luck!

D.
Mother of 4

My guess is, she is ready. I have a son who will be three in December and he did the same thing. I had the same fears you have. Out of fear that he may hurt his neck climbing out of the bed, we converted it. But then we got him a rail to put in place of the crib "wall". It was the best thing. He slept in the bed a little while without it, fell a few times. But he's fine. The bed rail works great. I paid $1 for it at a yard sale. He can get in and out of it by himself. It makes him feel accomplished like he is growing up. Kids are so funny that way. They are ready to move on a lot sooner than we are. He's gets out of the bed when he is not supposed to, but we just walk him right back into his bed with no conversation each time. Sometimes it is a battle of the back in forths. But he eventually gets the picture. That is a tactic I learned from watching Super Nanny. It works! Just like the article about potty training in 3 days. That works too! Before he was 2 1/2 he was potty trained and sleeping in his own bed.

Hey:). We just recently changed our litte girl (she's our 2nd little girl) from her crib to a toddler bed. She was a good bit younger than my oldest when we put her in a toddler bed. We moved her at 14 months and she did absolutely wonderfu, actually better than Rebekah. The reason we did it that early was because she is a CLIMBER. She actually fell out of her crib once and came way to close numerous other times. I just decided that it was time. She was very excited and amazingly, she was completely transferred in just a few nights. Its not quite as bad as you're probably thinking its going to be:). Good Luck!;)

We moved our son into a bunk bed and our daughter into a white provencial twin bed when they were both 3 years old.
P. S

WOW. I dont' want to be rude but this might be edgy?..dunno. I'm 25 and have my child, and my fiance has 2 children. They all live with us. First of all, the biggest thing is PUT HER IN A TODDLER BED!!! JUST because YOU are not ready, does not mean she should have to suffer. She is WAY to old for a crib. She might be little but kids are smart and learn from the environment. If you keep her in a 'baby bed' then she will continue to act like a baby. Should change over about 1. And YES, you should let her change and get out of bed by herself, don't try to coddle her and keep her young, it will ONLY stunt her emotional, psychological, and psysical growth. So, pls put her in the new one.
2nd-I think it seems (of course I dont' know you and don't know you're family...so NO judgements here...just observing). It seems you're family is a bit young maybe? And, what hapd with your first baby? still born? is that right? I didn't understand completely.
But, anyhoo...I think maybe if you truly love each other and want to give the BEST advantage to your kid(s) then you need to sale the bikes, and try to give your kids a strong, united family...GET MARRIED!!!!
good luck! if you need any help, pls let me know. again, if i offended you in ANY way, i apologize, i just always have a lot to say!! lol :)

My advice is keep your daughter in her crib as long as possible. My daughter stayed in her crib until she was 2-1/2. That's when she learned to climb out. We converted her crib to a toddler bed, but it was such a battle keeping her in it since she could just get up and walk out of the room. It was like getting her to sleep through the night all over again.

Our son will be two in October and as much as I'd like to get him out of the crib and into the twin bed that's already set up in his room, I'm putting it off until he can get out of the crib on his own.

Once you decide to move your daughter to a toddler bed I'd suggest putting a baby gate in her bedroom doorway. Cross your fingers that she gets used to sleeping in the toddler bed before she figures out how to climb over the baby gate, too.

Good luck!!

I am left with a bad taste in my mouth with the previous rant... Just watch for the signs and determine when you think she is ready. All kids are different. All too often I've heard of friends who moved their 2 year olds into a toddler bed to free the crib for a new baby and it was a disaster. I have heard that 3 is a good age, but once she is potty trained, I guess she needs access to the potty? I don't have experience on the subject, but I can tell you that moving my 17 month old out of his crib is so far from my mind. I say there's no big rush. Trust your instincts.

I wouldn't mess with the toddler bed until your daughter tries to get out. Some kids transition well, but my children didn't. Unless you are willing to spend hours putting her back in her bed if she gets out and tries to climb over her baby gate, I wouldn't do it until you have to!

Hi M.,
I have a 2-year-old daughter who like your little girl never tried to climb out of her crib. But at 18 months me and my husband decided to convert her crib and see how she did with it. At first we just did it at nap time and then eventually we kept it at night too. It was a little bit of a hassle to keep putting the front of the crib back on at night, but we weren't quite ready for her to have complete freedom at night until we knew that she wouldn't fall out of the bed or get up and go play. She did great, and actually only fell out of the bed once, but we had some blankets by the side of the bed so it didn't scare her and she didn't get hurt. She also only got out of the bed a few times to play, but when she did this we simply went in the room and told her it was time to go to sleep and put her back in the bed. (We have a camera monitor so it made it easier to keep and eye on what she was doing) When she turned two we moved her into our extra bedroom with a new twin size bed because we found out we were having our little boy....so she got the new room and bed so we could decorate the nursery for him. She loved the new room and the new bed. We took her to go pick out some sheets and she slept in it perfectly the first day we put her in it....and has never fallen out...and knows when it's time to go to bed that she is not to get out of bed and play since she was used to sleeping in her convertible crib. It takes time and a little bit of patience but if you think she's ready she probably is. Good luck! :)

Don't "fix" what isn't broken. My daughter LOVED her crib and never tried to climb out. All of her friends were in big beds but she had no desire to change so we left it. Just before she turned three we found out we would be moving so ended up with a big bed for her birthday. It worked well for us and her. If your ready to tackel it go for it...if not wait she's fine in her crib.