What age did you switch from a crib to a bed?

[sweetpeamom25]

How old was your little one when you transitioned them from a crib to a bed? Our DD is 2 yrs. old and still in her crib. She seems perfectly content in there, sleeps fine, never tries to get out. However, our second little one will be here in August--yay!!

We're debating whether we should put DD in a twin size bed, and give her crib to the new baby, or.....her crib actually converts to a toddler bed, and then parts can be used with a full size mattress down the road. So we could just convert her crib and buy another one for the new baby. Big girl beds and dressers are expensive. And I don't know how she'll like being in a regular bed, plus we'd have to toddler proof her room.

Any suggestions for this transition?? Experiences and thoughts always appreciated! I feel like she's still too small for a twin bed, but maybe I just don't want her to grow up....

[bunsy]

Ds1 was 2.5 when he went into a twin bed (with sides because it was a racecar bed). His sibling(s) were on their way as well. We didn't know we were having 2 when DH built the bed to get him out of the crib before baby.

The twins were over 3. Their cribs weren't needed for anyone else, they liked them and we just left the side down and they crawled in and out at will.

Definitely depends on the personality of the child. We didn't have any problems with 2.5 year olds being free in their rooms at night. Guess we were lucky. I didn't make any room changes to go along with the removal of the crib.

[dara1012]

First, congrats on the baby on the way!

We transitioned DS to a twin bed at a bit over 2 1/2. Like your DD he didn't try to climb out, he slept well, etc. We had no problems with transition, still slept well, didn't get out of bed (once he was a bit older we had to make a "you can't get out of bed til 7am rule" - Bunsy gave great advice to cover up the minutes on his digital clock to help with that). He went from looking giant in a crib to looking tiny in a twin bed, but it will be his bed for a long time.

[slufoot]

We switched DS to a twin mattress on the floor when he was 2 because he started climbing out of his crib. We weren't sure how he'd do with it, but surprisingly when he would wake up, he would stay in his bed and wait for us to get him. I figured he would be into everything, but you can never tell what they'll do.

[megan1201]

DS had a convertible crib like your DD, and we switched it from a crib into the toddler bed right before his 2nd birthday. He was climbing out of the crib and I was worried he would get hurt. When DD was born DS was almost 3 and we switched his bed back into a crib for her, and gave DS our old full size bed and bought a queen for ourselves.

[jrose]

15 months for both. DD1 switched to a twin mattress when she was 2 when her sister was born. We just laid the mattress on the floor and she did just fine.

[angel22]

On or before 15 months for all 3 of my girls. DD1 went right to a twin, the other two had the crib rail off for a toddler bed.

[kristin8888]

I wanna say DD was 18-24 months when we switched. She started waking up in the middle of the night and not wanting to go back to sleep so we decide to try a toddler bed and she went back to sleeping all night again!! She just turned 3 in December and we switched her to a twin bed and she does great in that too!!

[betherin]

My older DS also loved his crib and slept great in it without ever trying to get out, so we left him in it until his 3rd birthday. By then he was just getting too big, so we bought him a new twin size bed. We briefly debated putting in a bed sooner when my younger son was on the way, but decided it was better to keep our good sleeper in a place he was comfortable especially with a new baby, so we splurged and got the new baby his own crib.

[sarahisis]

2 1/2.. we bought the toddler bed...set it up in his room with the crib and let him get used to having it in there...but he wouldn't sleep in it. One month later we spent two weeks with my mom in ny, and she had bought the same bed for him for her house. He slept in it every night while there and never used his crib again. We let him help pick out sheets a blanket and a couple new books that can only be read in the big boy bed etc. He loved that. Easy transition. Potty training ...... not so much.

Oooh and make sure you scower the room for things you don't want ripped or broken or things that could hurt if dropped on a foot lol... since she will have free reign of the room when not trapped in the crib. We have folding doors on ds closet and put sliding locks on them... and a thing over the inside door handle so he cant wander the house alone!! ya just never know

[apryllraye87]

I don't remember exactly how old DS was but I think it was around 2. We bought a new king size bed for our room, so we gave him our old queen size bed. He was pretty excited because the bed was sooo big. Eventually we downgraded to a twin size because he just didn't need that big of a bed and it was taking up too much room in his bedroom.

[momof3anddog]

Just after 3rd birthday with daughter who would probably have been happy in her crib until she was 5 as she doesn't like anything in her room to ever change; We had a crib at that time that was convertible to a day bed and we used it like that for a while then got her a a "big girl" white bed that she picked out herself.

Twin boys -- another story; Changed at 2 1/4 -- even though the littlest pipsqueaks ever -- One did this dangerous Houdini contortions while jumping to get up speed and himself high enough to bounce out which involved flying through the air and landing on the ground; Then he went into his brother's crib (in the same room) and taught him how to do it; So it was a safety issue that we put them in beds so early -- as afraid they'd bounce the wrong way on the crib mattress getting up enough speed to flip over the crib railing and maybe crash land into the wall or dresser.

So I think it goes on a lot of factors for a lot of different kids with different personalities and physical capabilities as well as another sibling that helps them out to get out.

[ReneeW]

There's definitely a broad range of ages, isn't there? Our DD 1 was almost 3 when we put the crib away and had her sleep on the floor for a while before moving into the "big girl" bed. DD 2 was coming soon. One thing we made sure to do was disassemble the crib and have it out of sight for a while before DD 2 used it -- that way there was a gap when DD 1 felt she had fully outgrown the bed. She knew that it wasn't like, 'Oh, here's the baby to steal your crib' but that it was time for her to get a big girl bed.