Thinking of Putting My 1.5 Year Old in a Toddler bed..is This Crazy/too Young?

My daughter went through that phase. There were periods of time when she refused to nap but we kept putting her in her crib at naptime and eventually she started napping again. If I were you, I would not give up on naps. I also would not switch to a toddler bed until he looks like he's really capable of climbing out of the crib. My daughter was 2 1/2 at that point - some kids are younger and some are older. She also HATED being in the car any longer than 15 minutes and I frequently had to pull over because she would manage to get her arms out of the car seat harness and try to climb out.

My son was 19 months old when we put him in a bed. He never tried getting out of his bed at nap time or bed time and it just worked for him. I also have a friend who put both of her kids in a bed at 15 months and it worked for her as well. If you think it will help then go for it!

No!
I had a friend move her son at 18mos, and he didn't fight it at all. No attachment to the crib yet, and young enough to that he knows the "rules" about staying in bed are to be followed.

I'm thinking of doing the same with my daughter who is also 18mos.

I'm STILL dealing with problems keeping my son in his room, and we moved him at 26mos. Hoping to avoid that happening all over again!

No, I don't think it's too young to move to a toddler bed but please caution that if he has gotten into bad sleeping habits then a toddler bed may not be a good solution. I personally would wait until you have control over bad habits before making the change. We are getting ready to move my son to a twin bed (20 months old) this weekend, but I wouldn't dream of doing it if he was having an issues with naps or night time sleep. At least with the crib, you can ignore and extinguish behaviors to establish good habits before introducing something new to complicate things further. Just a thought - you could certainly try but don't be afraid to revert back to the crib and go back to basics if its not working or getting worse

I put all three of my children in a toddler bed at 18 months. I did put a gate in the bedroom door to keep them from wandering around the house in the early morning or to keep them in the room for a nap. I generally let them play until the fell asleep and didn't bother with trying to keep them in the bed. It usually did not take long. My youngest 2 would crawl into the bed before going to sleep, but my oldest usually fell asleep in the floor and had to be moved to the bed. My boys were both above the 98th percentile in height and the move to the toddler bed was more for their safety that anything. I was afraid that because they were so big that they would attempt to climb out and end up with a serious injury. They were also too heavy for me to lift without back pain, so it was a great relief to not have to lift them so much.

Our daughter has been in her toddler bed (converted crib) since she was about 17mo. old. She's only gotten out of her bed on her own twice (both during naptime) and I've only found her sleeping on the floor the following morning twice (too cute).

She loves it. She loves the independence of being able to climb in when it's bed time.

I wanted to start transitioning her because we have another on the way and she'll need to be in a twin bed by 2.5 or so, too. I also wanted to move her before she became too aware of her sleeping arrangements to make transitioning at all difficult.

We switched our daughter at 15/16 months because she was showing signs of escaping from her crib and I wasnt willing to wait to see if she would actually fall out and break her neck. We went through a week or so of hell with trying to get her to stay in her bed and after that it was totally fine. She rolled out of bed twice even with the two side rails but after that we just started to put a chair pad on the floor beside her bed and I rolled up a blanket and tucked it along the rails so that it made a complete side rail so she couldnt roll out. She is just 2 now and - knock on wood she is a phenominal sleeper in her big girl bed
Good Luck

I put my daughter in a toddler bed when she was that age and she loved it. It was great.

I did it with both my kids at 16 months. I hate cribs!!! I'm short, and I really stink at putting kids into them without waking them up.

My kids both did great! If they had trouble going to sleep I would rock them to sleep and then put them in bed or sit by their bed and sing to them. I thought bedtime got so much easier when we switched.

I never used a toddler bed, but our crib was just a crib. We put a twin mattress on the floor and didn't use side rails. Once our kids were safely sleeping there we put up the regular bed.

Go for it!

My twins were in toddler beds when they were about 15 months old, it did take a little bit for them to get used to it but it ended up working for them. They were helping each other out of their cribs (there was no way to reorganize their room so they were not next to each other, and if they were not near each other they would cry and scream).

My older son was able to climb in and out of his crib even before he was able to walk, so he transitioned to a toddler bed very easily and rather early. I was due with my younger son when my older son was 19 m/o, so I wanted him transitioned well before the baby came, and not have the new baby "steal" the crib from him, so I got a toddler bed when he was about 15 m/o, so, depending on the child, no, it's not too young.

All my grandkids were in toddler beds by 15-18 months. Toddler beds are for toddlers which are ages 12 months to 24 months. If you wait much longer she will just skip the toddler bed and go straight to her big girl bed.

In child care it is a natural transition since all kids go to cots at about 11 months, to prepare them for the toddler room where they sleep on cots. It was way easier for me than some of my friends, it was just a place to sleep, it had no "freedom" to it. They just laid down and went to sleep. It was bed.

My kids were about 18 months. They were fine. We put a baby gate up and baby proofed their room. I think your son will love it :)

It doesn't sound too early to me. I put my son in a toddler bed at about 18 months because his sister was ready to be out of the bassinette & into the crib. I wasn't buying a 2nd crib to accomodate that so into the toddler bed he went. He wasn't happy about it for about 2 nights & then he got over it & we never had another problem with it!

Not too young at all, my first daughter was in a toddler bed by 9 months, my second was in a toddler bed by 10 months... only by some miracle (or someone's making up for the fact that he's a holy terror) my son is the only one, at 2 years old, who's lasted in a crib this long!!

It's up to you...I kept my kids "confined" to a crib for as LONG as possible...cause then I knew where they were at all times...and not roaming the house.

I don't see the rush, but it's up to you...you've got some great feedback.

Every kid is different. My first stayed in his crib until he was three. The second at that time he also wanted to not sleep in a crib and started climbing out between 18-20 months so I changed his bed too. He was fine... At least I think he's fine...
Hey your the mom, if you feel in your gut it's ok to change the bed, do it. I feel that if I listen to my gut, I'm almost never wrong. We (moms) just know. Good luck.

My older baby did similar things and we had a similar train of thought. When SHE started taking US to her bed when she felt tired, we were sure she was ready. That was at 16 months old. A few weeks after her little sister was born, and months of heartache battling her every night/day about sleep, I put her back in the crib. She suddenly started napping like a pro, nearly every day. This is a kid that we fought on napping every day for the first 20 months of her life. Suddenly down like a charm. I don't know what happened. Anyway, she's 2.5 now and just got back into a toddler bed after she started climbing out of her crib. She sleeps great, though she's not really napping all the time. She does take a quiet time in the afternoons, and this week I even got two naps out of her! I really can't tell you what changed, maybe it was a phase. If you're asking, I'm guessing he might need a little longer in the crib. You'll KNOW when he's ready to move out of his crib. At least, that's how it went for us. We talked ourselves into a transition and it just didn't work. Good luck!

I'd say that if you're having another baby and can't afford a second crib, then 1.5 is fine to make the switch.

Confinement is a part of life. I'm confined to an office all day. I'd like to scream and cry about it but alas, I don't. :)

Anyway, you need to be the rule maker and the make the rules. Crying in the car sucks, but what are you going to do? You know your little man best. Will the big boy bed really help him to sleep or will be be running like a lunitic until you are ready to tie him down? I think that now is a good time to explain to him that he is not big enough for a big boy bed but he will be soon.

I guess it just depends on the kid but unless you really need the crib for another baby on the way, or he's climbing out himself and could fall and get hurt, I would just let him stay in it. It's better than him getting out easily and be able to wander at will during the night. My daughter actually stayed in her crib until she was 3.5 because she really liked it and actually felt more secure in there - and then when we switched her to a big-girl bed, she did fine. I read somewhere that until they reach age 3, it's hard sometimes for kids to stay in a bed because there are no physical barriers and they mentally have not reached the point where they can stay behind "imaginary" barriers (like the edge of the bed). He may not enjoy being confined, but that's life - hopefully he will figure out soon that screaming about it doesn't get him his way.

Haven't read the other responses but if it makes you feel any better I put my son in the toddler bed when he was 18mths and never had issues and i'm prego's w/my second and as of now plan on doing the same.

We did all of our kids at that age with little problems. It seems like my friends who waited later had more issues with the transition than we did. I'd only do it though if you are willing to babyproof the room and put a gate on the door. Our kids would get out and play for a while normally then fall asleep on the floor. We'd just scoop them into bed. You could just let him play in his room until he falls asleep on the floor at naps and then you wouldn't have to battle him.

Also, I'd just skip the toddler bed. There never seemed to be a good reason to buy or store one more thing. We went straight to the twin. Also, if it makes you feel better, my third was in a big bed before he was even walking! He was a late walker, I was SUPER pregnant, and my back hurt from lifting him all day. The bed cut out quite a fefw lifts and it freed it up for the new baby. I told my husband he was the only kid in America crawling into his big boy bed. We put the box spring and mattress on the floor to make it a little lower then put the crib mattress next to it in case they fell out.

Both of my boys were 18 months old when we put them in their "big boy" toddler bed. They did just fine.

I put our son in a twin bed at 13 months. He hated being in a crib. He needed more room. He never had a problem with his bed, and has always slept great!!

I would go ahead and put him in the toddler bed. My daughter also disliked being confined in her crib or pack and play.

we put our oldest into a toddler bed when he was about 16 or 17 months old. we did it because we were expecting his twin brothers and knew they would need the crib and didn't want to deal with issues of him wanting his crib etc. he was perfectly fine from minute one. naps were easy and so was bedtime. we just put a baby gate up in front of his door to keep him from wandering the house if he woke up before us. if you think he will be okay then do it.