Berkeley Parents Network: Moving from Crib to Bed

Berkeley Parents Network

Moving from Crib to Bed

Berkeley Parents Network > Advice > Sleep > Moving from Crib to Bed

Transition to Big Kid Bed (28 mo-old)

July 2004

We have put our 28 month old in a toddler bed. He had the crib and bed for awhile, and then as an incentive to go into the bed, we used a reward chart for sleeping in the bed - his reward was a play vacuum cleaner. We put away the crib with his o.k., and now he refuses to stay in his bed to fall asleep for nap or bedtime. The second I try to leave the room, he is crying and will not stay in the bed/room. We have been putting him down awake in his crib for a long time, and although he protested off and on, he was usually fine with it. Any advice for teaching him to stay in his bed to fall asleep without me having to be in there for an hour? I am willing to stay with him for awhile to help, but I feel he is fighting to say awake because I am in the room. His bedtime is creeping later toward post 9:00 p.m., which is not enough sleep for him. One alternative I have considered is to gate the bedroom door and let him cry and figure out he should just go to bed, but I would like to avoid having to ''force'' the issue. Thanks. Jennifer Jennifer

We kept the toddler bed in our room for a few months to allow our son to get used to the idea of the new bed. We then re- arranged his room together and then brought in his toddler bed to his room. He helped make the bed, etc. This seemed to help with the transition- kind of a ceremony of sorts. I put those door knob childproofing things on the door leading to the kitchen from his room but leave open a door so he can get to our room. Good luck. Juliette

Why push the big bed? If the crib is still comfortable for your son maybe he should just stay there. We found a great deal on a really cute toddler bed so we bought it and set it up for our son who had just started sleeping better (after a hellish couple of years of frequent night-waking). The first week of the ''big boy bed'' he began waking up a lot again and he wouldn't stay in his bed during naptime or night time. So we decided to go back to the crib. He's happy there and we're happy that he's sleeping through the night again. Amanda

Bed OK for 18-month-old? Baby coming!

March 2003

I am expecting #2 when my current baby will be 18 mos. Do I really need to have 2 cribs, or can I put the 18 mos old in a bed? alia

I think it depends on your child. Two things I would think about: one is, can your child get out of bed when he wakes up alone, without confusion (rather than get upset/fall out/ whatever). Our son occasionally sleeps with us, and when he was around 18 months old, he started being able to wake up and climb down from our bed and come find us if we woke up before him and left him in bed alone. Before that he rolled around enough when waking up that I was afraid he would fall out, and never left him alone. Even with a rail, I would have been uneasy leaving him alone in bed. The other is, is he likely to stay in bed when you put him there at night? Does he fall asleep without protest when you put him in his crib, or does he tend to cry and fuss a bit? If the latter, I'd definitely get two cribs -- or you're likely to have real battles on your hands. Karen

Leaving aside the question of whether a bed is safe for an 18-month-old, many people advised me that switching my older daughter to a bed so that our new baby could have her crib would be interpreted by the older girl as ''I got kicked out for the baby!'' Could you borrow a second crib, as we did? After the new baby had been in the borrowed crib for three months, we went looking for a ''big kid'' bed for the two-year-old. The day it arrived at our home, she jumped in it, jumped on it, and hasn't looked back since. We asked her that very night if it would be OK to take her crib out of her room. She said, ''Yes, give it to my baby sister!'' So we did! darcy

Why not keep your 18 month old in the crib and put the new baby in a bassinet or pack-n-play for the first 4-6 months of life? Then, your 2 year old will be more ready for a bed, and your little one for the crib? Just a suggestion.

We moved our older son out of his crib (which he didn't actually spend the whole night in anyway) when he was around 15 mos. He scaled the rungs one day and that was the end. We had planned originally on putting him straight into a twin bed but, since he was so young and couldn't climb into it on his own we bought a toddler bed. It worked well. He would go to sleep in it, then when he woke in the night he would just toddle down the hall to our bed for the rest of the night. Getting him out of our bed a year and a half later when his brother was due to arrive wasn't nearly as easy! And, if you are planning on co-sleeping with the baby you won't need to move the older kid at all. Rose

We moved to California when my son was 18 months old (now he is 2 years old). I didn\222t want to buy a crib, but was afraid to put him in regular bed. Eventually, I bought a crib mattress and put it on the carpet. He likes his new \223bed\224, and I feel that it is completely safe. He can go in and out of bed by himself. Let me present the advantages and the disadvantages: Advantages: if he feels uncomfortable during the night (rarely happened), he doesn\222t cry, he just go out of his bed and come to our bed. In the mornings he wakes up before us, and usually plays by himself quietly. Disadvantages: you can\222t make him go to sleep by putting him to bed. If he doesn\222t want to sleep he goes out of bed by himself. A

My first daughter was 18 months and sleeping in the crib when my second was born. We actually put the new baby to sleep in the bassinet level of the pack'n'play, and kept her in our room for the first 6 months. Then when our older daughter turned 2 she was excited to get a big-girl bed and thrilled that she could ''give'' her crib to her little sister. Most play-yards come equipped with a sturdy bassinet insert so that little ones can be a little bit higher up. Feel free to email if you have questions. Ruth

When is it Time to Move from Crib to Bed?

2001

Hi all. Well my 2.5 year old is climbing out of her crib for yuks these days, as well as waking up in the wee hours to toss and turn like she's not comfortable. All this leads me to suspect it's time to get her a real bed. Here's my question for other parents out there - should I look at a toddler bed or an actual twin bed? I'd rather not pay a specialty children's store markup for a "toddler" bed, but I don't know if regular mattress companies make them that size. We're currently in a one-bedroom in SF (although we're hoping to hear from Cal student family housing one day before my husband starts classes), which is why size is an issue. Can anybody recommend a place to look at affordable kid's bedding? Also, am I jumping the gun on this? Should I wait until she's three? Is there any rule of thumb here that I haven't heard about? Any advice on this from parents in the know would be much appreciated. Thanks!

What is the current wisdom on moving infants into their own toddler bed? At what age does this normally happen? How do you know when your child is ready? Are toddler beds necessary or can they go into a twin size bed. What are the pros and cons. Any advice and experiences would be greatly appreciated. Thanks a bunch.

i don't know about current wisdom, but here's our experience regarding toddler beds. when our child was around 7-9 months (i think) he was still sleeping with us, but had outgrown his basket which we put him in to sleep alone, before we came to bed. we weren't comfortable with him in our bed alone because we thought it was too high and were afraid he would fall off. we got him a nice cotton toddler size futon (murasaki on college near claremont) and put it on a platform we made which was just about an inch or two off the floor. he did fall off several times, but usually continued to sleep on the floor. in general, falling wasn't a problem. as it turns out we replaced the toddler bed with a double bed because we had guests coming and they slept in our son's room. we moved his toddler futon into our room during this time. that's where it's stayed. we found the double bed (no frame, just box spring and mattress on the floor) was great. it's not high enough to worry about falling. it's big enough that we put blankets and/or pillows on his sides to minimized chances of falling and so he'll feel cozy. we love it because we can lay down with him at night, nurse, cuddle, read books, etc. and have plenty of room. it was pretty squishy on the toddler bed! so i'd consider just going straight to a regular bed, on the floor. now our son is old enough (just over 2) that in the middle of the night he wanders down to our room on his own to join us in our bed, which is fine with us.

When our son turned two, we visited a friend who's 2 year old was sleeping in his own bed. Our son really wanted a bed then and wasn't happy about his crib, tho before that he was fine. I was worried about him falling out, so we put a futon on the floor and we had him sleeping there til he was about three and a half, when we put him into a regular bed with a side rail.

When my daughter graduated to a big girl bed, we got a regular twin bed, and went to the foam factory (or any foam shop) on adeline and got a palatte and foam mattress. It was then low to the ground (so she wouldn't fall out) and she could get in and out easily. We also bought a rail for the side but it never seemed necessary. She liked a lot and eventually we got her a regular mattress/box spring for the same bed.

If a young toddler is able to climb out of a crib, it's time to move down nearer to the floor. Our son moved to a toddler bed at ~20 months for this reason. The bed is crib-sized so it was a great space saver. Other than that, he could probably have been moved straight to a twin bed if it were low and had side rails. Our older child went straight to a twin bed at around age 3.

We moved our now 17 month old son to a toddler bed about 2 or 3 months ago. At that point I noticed him scaling the safety gates at the bottom of the stairs, and figured that he would be trying that on the crib shortly. I felt it was better to be safe, and get him out of the crib, than risk him falling from such a height. He has been co-sleeping with us (for part of the night) for months, and had never fallen out of our bed. And based on that, I almost just put him in the twin bed (since we already have one) but I realized that while he had been able to climb down from our bed for months, he still wasn't able to climb up into it. I wasn't sure if he would ever "put himself back to bed" but I figured the chances were better in a toddler bed that was lower, than in our bed that he couldn't reach. Now that he is older he is able to climb in and out of our bed (even in the dark in the middle of the night) by climbing over the rungs of the foot board, but he still can't climb into the twin bed, so I think that the toddler bed was worth the investment, even though he doesn't put himself back to bed in that bed.

Toddler Transition From Crib to Futon

Oct 1999

We are wondering if anyone has tried and succeeded with transitioning their toddler from sleeping in a crib to a futon or mattress on the floor? For the past two weeks, our two-year-old has been sleeping in our bed due to his having high fevers and a cold. Before then, (and what we've been working on going back to in the past few days--ay, ay), he'd read with us, have his hugs and kisses, rock with his Papa and then go his crib in his own room where he would, usually with minimal protest, eventually go to sleep. Oftentimes, he would chatter to himself for awhile. He has not yet seemed to have thought of/tried to climb out of the crib. We're reasonably sure that we'll get back to the pre-cold bedtime routine soon. We're expecting another baby in March, when our firstborn will be 2 years, 4 months old. We imagine the newborn will be sleeping with us and the toddler will be in his own room down the hall. We'd like advice about:

-whether to transition the toddler to a non-crib bed before the newborn arrives;
-the idea of our toddler sleeping on a futon or mattress on the floor;
-why not go straight to a twin bed with a frame and mattress?; and
-anything we've not thought about yet in this regard.

Thanks for your time and thought to our questions.

Our toddler did very well going from his crib to his crib mattress on the floor, and then to a toddler bed (which uses the crib mattress). I think the advantage of going to the mattress on the floor first is that they get used to being in a situation where they can roll off -- without too far to fall, at least at first (and we did find him wrapped up in blankets next to the mattress on numerous occasions). If you go straight to an elevated bed, you can deal with this by attaching one of those guard rail apparati. After a few weeks on the floor, we moved him into a toddler bed. We opted for this rather than a full sized bed because our son's room is on the small side, and because it cost less (since we're using the crib mattress). It's a lovely little pine bed with a star cut out, which we got at Lullaby Lane in San Bruno (at the recommendation of someone on this list, I believe!). Good luck! If your child likes to climb into bed with you, be warned ... he/she will now be able to do so without your help! We moved our son out of his crib long before he was able to climb out in the hope that it would increase his interest in sleeping in his own room ... I'm afraid the novelty wore off quickly. He still spends quite a bit of time with us, climbing in between us without our ever waking up!

Tips for moving 2-year-old from crib

It's time for our two year old to make the switch from crib to bed. (She's now too long for the crib!) I have read the related info on the Parent's Website, but would welcome any further tips. (How to keep a toddler happily in a bed, where best to shop for a bed, are rails useful?, etc.)

Regarding transitioning from crib to bed, I never knew there was an issue with this when my three daughters went from crib to bed at the ages of 2 and 3, depending on when we needed the crib for a new baby! Ignorance is bliss sometimes, I guess! Anyway, just to keep them from rolling out, I positioned their beds into a corner. For the other long side, I bought a guard rail with a painted metal frame and tightly woven mesh stretched over the frame. Perhaps this measure of enclosing 3 sides of the bed created a feeling of security. My daughters adjusted to their new bed and guardrail without any problem. I removed the guard rail after about 2 years. Kim

3-year-old wants to keep sleeping in crib

Our daughter will be 3 in a month. She has never tried to climb out of her crib and has always liked her crib. We took her shopping for a big girl bed (a twin bed - we skipped the toddler bed entirely) three weeks ago, explaining that we weren't taking it home that day. She was very excited and helped pick a bed. We just got a call that the bed is ready to be delivered. When I mentioned it to my daughter, she got very upset and cried that she likes her crib and she didn't want them to bring the big girl bed here. I assured her she could stay in her crib. I told her she could have both the crib and her bed in her room (though that is going to be extremely tough as she has a very tiny bedroom), but she still cried that she liked her crib and didn't want the bed. We do not have anyplace at all to put the bed other than her room - no place to store it - so that is simply not an option. It really does have to go straight into her room. I have a book called "My New Bed" which I'd been saving and read it to her several times and she was into it, but I'm concerned about helping her make a comfortable transition. I would appreciate any advice as in all likelihood the bed will have to be delivered to us in a few weeks. Thanks. Lori

Our almost 3 year old boy had never climbed out of his crib either, but 3-4 months ago we took him to choose a bed as well. We had built up to it by talking about it a lot beforehand. He had some ambivalence, but excitement as well. When it came, he helped my husband assemble it with his own tool set, and put it together, making it etc., with us. Involving them in the set-up process helps quite a bit. Maybe choosing new sheets together as well would be fun for her. We put his crib in my study, and let him know it was there if he wanted, but he never did. Also - there is a wonderful book I found at the library called "My Own Big Bed", by Anna Gossnickle Hines about a little girl going thru this transition and asking herself all the questions which make toddlers have ambivalence about this change. It's really well done. Good luck! Pam Z.

Can you cancel the purchase of the bed? My stepdaughters stayed in their cribs until age 5 (OK, a little weird, and they are small kids) but unless you have a great reason for wanting to get her out of the crib, if she sleeps well there, why not leave her in. My stepdaughters are 16 and 18 now, and neither one has any problems - at least none that I can attribute to the crib... Fran

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