When Do You Transfer Your Child from Crib to Bed?

No, it's not too early. My daughter was in a twin captains bed at 18 months. She hated her crib. She slept better once she had a bed. Don't bother with toddler beds. They grow so fast at this stage that you won't use it for long.

Hi Kim,

We put our daughter in her own bed when she was 14 months old because she simply never liked her crib. What we did was get a day bed that had 3 sides and then got a breathable mesh bed guard for the fourth side that left just a little room at the bottom to get in and out of bed. The day bed had a trundle underneath (we got it from Pottery Barn) so we pull that out a little bit so our daughter can use that like a step to get in and out of bed. She absolutely loves it and we have had no problems with her. We also have a baby monitor with a video screen so I can see her through the course of the night to make sure she's doing okay. She doesn't get out of bed a lot and wake us. Usually if she wakes in the middle of the night, she cries for one of us and we go pat her back and she goes right back to sleep. What's nice about the day bed is you can always lay with her to have her fall asleep if you want to as well, which I do.

I am with you on the toddler bed - it doesn't seem worth the money.

Good luck!!!

We skipped the whole toddler bed thing. We moved our son from a crib to a twin size bed at around 2.5 years. It has a headboard and a low footboard, and we put it against the wall. On the other side we put a mesh "railing" that attaches to the bed but that he could easily beathe through. For the first few weeks I had several pillows on the floor near that side of the bed, just in case, but he never fell out eventhough he did move around a decent amount. My son has still to this day (he is almost 6 yo) never climbed out of his bed and woken us up. I think that's unusual, though. He will start calling for us eventually if it's already light out in the morning.

Hi!!

My son was transition into a full size adult bed at 8 months old. I put just the mattress (no boxspring) on the floor with it up against the wall. Put up a bed rail on his left side of the bed. Then along the wall I have his bumper guard from his crib. It is attached (part of it) to his bed rail. He also has a big body pillow in an angle leaning up against the one wall. This allows him to not hit his head on the wall.

The only two issues I have come across are him crawling out of his bed when he would wake up in the middle of the night (usually around 11p) and come find me. I just put him back in bed. Now at the first sign of crying I go into his room just to check on him. The other issue at 3am would be him crying, crawling over to the bed rail and standing up on his bed holding his bedrail. Since we co-sleep (i sleep in a bed next to him) I hear him cry in the middle of the night and if I need to attend to him, I do. Otherwise I allow him to safely work things out on his own.

Originally I had slept in a separate room with this situation but aftertime (the first few months) I felt more comfortable being in the same room with him. Also thought he would sleep better being in his own room. But I have found that isn't the case. His sleeping pattern has not gotten better since it changed in December of 08.

As far as other concerns for his safety in crawling out of bed without me knowing it...our bedroom door is closed so he can not wonder out into the living room, bathroom or kitchen. As well as the closet door is closed. All choking hazards, outlets, cords and other infant dangers are out of reach. Plus my son does know I am in the same room with him, so 90% of the time he calls to me and crawls over to my bed.

I chose a full size bed as I felt a twin wasn't much bigger then a crib size bed. Glad I made this choice as he has TONS of room to roll around in.

All in all I am happy my son has his own "bed". I love the fact he crawls onto his own bed, grabs his blanket and lays down on his own (he usually doesnt fall asleep but this is my signal its nap/bedtime). He also LOVES to play on it. This bed has taught him how to climb at an early age. Oh last thing, at the end of his bed is a long body pillow so when he does crawl off he skoots himself onto the pillow and lands softly onto the floor.

The other thing in between our beds is another body pillow if he ever leans to far over from standing up in his bed and holding his bed rail, he will land on a thick soft pillow and not a hard floor. This pillow also makes it become almost level with my bed (my bed is on the floor too).

If you have any questions, u can email me. GOod luck!