"Big Girl Bed"

Like others who posted here, IMHO toddler beds are a waste of money. You can move her straight to a mattress of any size (including the crib mattress) straight on the floor to start, then put a boxspring under it if you have one, then in a real bed frame as she becomes able to stay on the mattress. Both my kids went to twin beds this way starting at a year, because they were too tall from cribs and could climb out anyway.

But the REAL issue, no matter what route to go, once they are out of the crib (or can climb out), the focus is what to do to keep her safe when she wanders at night - which she will at that age. If she can open her door, or if you leave it open, she may roam the house unsupervised. With my oldest, it wasn't an issue, but with #2, boy is she a handful. We finally had to put a doorknob cover on the door, trained her to knock when she wanted out, and still have a baby monitor in her room so she can call us if she needs us (or we can hear any shenanigans). Just keep this in mind when you switch.

Put the bed against flush against the wall, so that eliminates the problem on one side. For the open side, get a bed railing, which can be found at The Right Start and I wouldn't doubt Target or Wal-Mart. The railings always worked great for my kids. My oldest moved into a twin-size bed at age 2, and moved all over the place. The railing was perfect . . . we never had a problem.

I have put both of my kids in toddler beds. The bed does have a cost (around $40 as others have said) but I was also able to use the sheets and mattress from the crib. My son is 5 and he spent 3 years in his toddler bed and I used sheets from his crib the whole time. I liked that it was his size. He was responsible for "making" his bed every morning and the bed was a mangeable size. I guess if money had been tight I may not have made that choice, but I love that my kids have beds their own size. I think it teaches them independence. I don't want my kids thinking I will sleep with them...not a habit I want to start. Now that my son has a twin, he has never asked me to sleep with him. He knows that he sleeps by himself. Good luck.

We put our 2-year-old in a double bed when his sister was coming, but we didn't use a bed frame. We just put the mattresses directly on the floor, so he wouldn't have far to fall if he fell out. Also, you could put the mattresses in a corner and use a cheap rail on the exposed side. Wal-Mart sells them for less than $20 (more like $10?)

Skip the toddler bed, they aren't any bigger than the crib. we had a twin against the wall with mesh railing on the side. You can also put one at the botton of a double if your really concerned. She'll get used to the biggness soon.

M.,

I have 2 kiddos and they all moved to a twin bed between 18mo and 2.5 years with minimal fussing. My crib did not turn into a toddler bed and I didn't want to mess with a twin later so we just went to a twin first. I also needed the crib for the next baby. My kiddos moved a lot too but somehow that all changed when they got in the bigger bed.

Some people just put the mattress on the floor for a while if the height scares them. We did not but we used a netted rail on one long side, the wall on the other long side, another wall as a foot board or head board, and then a dresser as the other missing end. I also put a pillow on the floor by the only opening. So, I didn't worry about them falling out after that. It also made the kids think they couldn't just get out of bed whenever to play or come downstairs. We wanted to train them to not get out of bed until we said to get up aside from needing the bathroom when they were older or something.

If you think she'll go crazy with getting out of bed, gate her room or the top of the stairs 'til you feel comfortable with her compliance.

A few months ago we needed new mattresses for two of the kiddos and a headboard and what we ended up doing was for around $120 getting a twin frame, slats, headboard and foam mattress from Ikea. It was cheaper than buying a mattress/box spring set. THe bed sits low to the ground and is easy to make. In fact, the 2y/o and 5 y/o have both fallen out of bed and hardly even noticed a couple of times. I went in once to find my youngest asleep next to the bed. I didn't even hear a bump in the night. : )

PM me if I can help you more.

My advice is not to move her to a big girl bed until you have to. Meaning she is crawling out of her crib or refuses to sleep in it anymore.

We moved my son to a big boy bed after he crawled out of his crib the first time and it opened up the biggest can on worms and ruined his sleeping thru the night for almost 7 months. He too is an active sleeper and never felt "secure" in the little toddler bed we got him. He went from being a wondeful sleeper to being every parent's nightmare. He wouldn't fall asleep till after 10p and then wake up almost every 2 hours. All that led to behavior problems during the day. Then of course everything I read said don't move your kids to big bed until almost 3. I wish I had read that first.

Then, at least for us, we did get him his own full sized bed and it's pushed up against the wall. He sleeps in it diagonally and still continues to move around in it all night long. But, this is all 7 months later and we were all so sleep deprived!!

Good luck! :-)

We had the same concerns when we were ready to move our daughter to a bigger bed. We made the decision to put her in a toddler bed, as it is fairly low to the ground. So, if she did fall out, it wouldn't be far (just make sure nothing is nearby to bump a head on). We also pushed it against the wall on one long and short side. She adjusted very quickly and enjoyed it.

We had the same issue and just moved her to the double bed with rails all around. The bed was situated against a wall so we placed her on that side of the bed with pillows next to the rails. It worked just fine, she's never fallen out of bed and can now sleep in the bed with no guarding at all.

hi M. !

when we put our kids in their beds we at first put the boxsprings / mattress straight on the floor . we also put the matress up against a wall so that their was only 3 sides opened . we did uses the rails that slide under the mattress my husband bent part one of the rails to put at the end of the bed and go somewhat around the corner . the idea of putting her in a dbl bed shouldn't matter let her get use to it now and then you'll save yourself some time and $$ when you want to change het out later . (i grew up in a dbl bed). i put both of my boys in their beds a little after theis 1st b-days . i hope this helps ! = K.

I would say the full bed b/c she will be able to use for many years to come and since she likes to move a lot it would give her more room to do so. You could also purchase a platform base, can be found really cheap at IKEA, and so if she ever gets close to the edge she will not have far to the ground. And rails can also be attached to a platform bed. Good luck!

our son is off the charts tall and had to be removed from his crib at 16 months. I had the same concerns so we bought what is called a "captains bed." actually, we just bought the mattress. it lays on the floor but has built in box springs so it sleeps well. he loved it and i never had to worry about if he were to start jumping on it when i didn't see him or rolling out while sleeping. and i didnt need and rails. when he turned 3, we put the mattress on normal bed rails and it was the perfect height for my more mature child, but still not too high up. he thought of it as a big boy bed.

We just moved my daughter from her crib to a QUEEN size bed. We already had it as it was our guest room bed. She did great with it and since the bed is so big she doesn't need the railings to keep her from falling. I would go ahead and move her to the double instead of spending the money for a toddler bed that she will outgrow very quickly. Good luck!

With both of my boys, we skipped the toddler bed altogether. We bought a single bed and put it up against a wall with a railing on one side. I had a step stool at the foot of it for them to be able to get on and off. A toddler bed didn't seem like a logical expense to me. At about 3 years old we were able to take the railings off, and have had no problems. If I were you, I'd go ahead and use the double bed and save my money.

Don't buy a toddler bed! They're a waste of money! My older one wouldn't go in it, and we just had to garage-sale it for really cheap. She'll stay in the double bed for years and you will never have to worry about re-doing anything but bedding. Just buy some rails to put on it.

Here is what I did for my kids. When they first transitioned to the big bed (double bed) I put the mattress on the floor without the box springs. My sons each loved it when I did this. They had big boy beds, but they were not so far away from the floor that they would get hurt if they rolled out. I LOVE the idea that the mom had about using the noodles. I would take the box spring off of the double bed and put the mattress on her floor and use the noodle as a rail. Don't even bother with a toddler bed. They outgrow those so fast.

Definitely let her go into the big bed. There's no reason to spend money on a toddler bed when you already have a bed for her. Our son went into a queen when he was just out of the crib because he's on his way to being about 6'4" or so. Also, more room to roll around and NOT fall off the bed! Good luck! (We had his mattress on the floor for a little while so he could get used to it. Then we put it on the box springs with the safety rails.)

my doctor suggested for my daughter to put a mattress on the floor and let her sleep that way till she gets used to it. or you can go to Ikea and get a toddler bed for check and it has a rail built in. My daughter out grow her toddler bed is now sleeping in a twin bed but I still put pillows around just in case of a fall. She has never fallen.

Hello!
I suggest that you just go ahead and use your double size bed with some sort of protective barrier that you can buy at any childrens section. I experienced this with my daughter as well and I bought the toddler bed really for nothing... she probably spent only a few days there. She also turns a lot and she kept hitting the rails and the bed was too narrow. I got her a full size bed and she is much happier and sleeps better.

We moved to queen size beds with all our kids when they turned 2. My first son did not need rails and never fell out. My 2nd son did fall out so we bought rails! We figured that they can use this bed for several years to come. Plus they like sleeping together so they both fit great in the queen!

I would not move her. I moved my first (now 10) out when she was 2 1/2. Although she was overall fine with it, I would worry about your child falling out since she moves around so much. I left my other two children in until they were about 4 and 3 1/2 (now 9 and 5). They are fine - no long term effects. It is exciting to move them and make a big girl room, but don't rush! If you do decide, go to the double bed - I think a toddler bed is a waste as it will only last around 3-4 years.

My son is 25 months and we just moved him to his big boy bed last month. I was also worried about him falling out. This has worked wonders for us, and was not expensive or bulky. We went to Walmart and got the pool noodles. They are small enough to slide under the fitted sheet, but big enough to stop him if he starts rolling close to the edge. When he got a little better with his bed, we sliced the noodles down the middle so they were half the width. It only took about a month for him to be able to sleep without them at all. They are not as expensive as the rails, and he can still get out of bed without having to climb over a rail. Good luck to you.

I say just get a safety rail and let her have the double bed. My oldest (now almsot 3) never slept in his crib.

We lived in a two bedroom house and had a queen size bed in Christian's room. That way I could lay down with him until he fell asleep and then went back to my own bed. The bed was not on a frame, just the box springs and mattress on the floor. That way he could easily climb out of it at 2 in the am when he woke up, and he just came into our room instead of crying and me having to go get him. We also had our bed on the floor because he did wind up in bed with us so much (he still winds up with us every night).

Anyway, I'd say don't worry about spending extra money on a bed that he is going to outgrow. Safety rails are fairly inexpensive.

Good luck and God bless,
M.

Use the bigger bed if you already have one, but invest in a railing! My 4 year old - who has never had a problem rolling out of bed - just a month or so ago rolled out of bed and landed on a toy wooden truck. He was lucky not to have broken his nose, but he did have two black eyes and was swollen for a while. Now, of course, the truck is always put away and he covers the floor and the edge of his bed with pillows and stuffed animals.
And, if the bigger bed doesn't work out you can always by a toddler bed later. And places like once upon a child has them fairly cheap too.

Ok, I can say it, I'm too cheap to waste my money on a toddler bed. Take good money and buy a bed that they will sleep in for one, maybe one and a half years. Then go out and buy another bed? Seems like a waste of time too. Both my kids went straight from the crib to the big bed without any problems. Yes, the bed was big, but like clothes they grew into it just fine. I purchased a bed rail since I only had room for a twin sized mattress and they never rolled out of bed. Plus the big kid bed made them feel very grown up. Good luck!

Target also sells the bed rails. I got two of them and they have worked great on the full size bed that my 20 month old is sleeping in. We skipped the whole toddler bed and went straight to nice furniture that will last a LONG time!
A big bed also allows you to be with your child if they are sick or needy - you can just lay down with them and console them! It also helps when transitioning - you have someplace to lay your own weary head!
D.

I have a 21 months son and he also moves around a lot in his sleep. We tried a toddler bed, but it didn't really work very well. He would become uncomfortable when he tried to move around and would get up and wander into our bedroom two-three times in the middle of the night. (He even managed to roll out one night, despite the bars. We had an extra full size bed and out of desperation put him in it. It works wonderfully. He looks funny in the big bed, but it allows him plenty of room to move around and he wakes up only once a night or less!

Hi! First, I have to recommend that you don't move your daughter out of her crib until she's crawling out.
I moved my son at 2 1/2 because we had a baby on the way - big mistake. My once champion napper/sleeper now gets out of bed the second I turn my back. He's often crabby because he's so tired - and because he's 3 :)

That said, we went straight to a double bed. Like you, I worried that it would be too big, but he loves it! We did buy rails w/ the bed from PB kids, but I think you can get universal rails from One Step Ahead or catalogs like it. I like it because I know we won't have to buy another bed when he gets older.

They do make great bed rails that are expandable up to 54" which will definitely work on the double bed. We used the railings for our oldest. But the little one who was always everywhere on the bed - we bought the toddler bed. I never worried about him falling out and probably slept better because of it.

Hello my baby girl Lily just turned two and when she was about 22 months old I got her a disney princess set at walmart. It came with a pink disney princess canopy toddler bed, a pink disney princess rocking chair, and a pink disney princess toy organizer all for $100.00...alot of people do skip the toddler bed but personally I think it is a wonderful thing to get them. It is small for there size yet still not a crib and they feel like big girls. When my mother and my husband finished putting her toddler bed together she was sp excited about it. She climed into it and said night night. It has made her feel important because she isnt trapped in a crib and it is perfect size for their little bodies...my daughter was so proud of her little bed and I have never seen a child that small so proud of a bed before. She sleeps in her bed everynight with no problem and it has little rails on the sides so she wont fall out but if she did happen to fall out its not far from the ground. She has her own little tv and cable in her room so she will climb in her bed and I will turn barney on for her and she loves it. At night I also put up a gate at her doorway and I leave her door open. The gate works great becuase of she wakes up in the middle of the night or in the early morning then she can play instead of getting into stuff and getting hurt wihtout my knowledge. when she wakes up she comes to the gate and lets me know she is awake and I remove the gate until bedtime again. Anway I hope this helps out some...

Hi M.,

I have a toddler bed that I am giving away if you would like it. It is made of wood and lavender in color.
You can use your crib mattress with it too! It is very low to the ground, so no issues of falling out. Please feel free to call or email me if you would like to come and pick it up. I live in Lewisville. ###-###-#### (work) / ###-###-#### ____@____.com is my email

Just like some of the other responses--buying a toddler bed is a waste of money. we put our daughter,22months at the time, straight into a twin bed.
Instead of using a guard rail-which makes the bed seem like an oversized crib, we used the large/magna water noodle. The noodle was inserted inside under the fitted sheet. Our daughter moves around like crazy to, but have the noodle there would remind her in the middle of the night , during moving, that there is an edge--and also makes her feel like a big girl not a baby in an oversized crib.
Goodluck...

BB

you can by removable railing, sleep guards, think a single bed with guards would be better really so she will get use to that is she ever stays over with relatives etc
S.

I have done it both ways - a toddler bed for my oldest and then straight to a twin bed for the younger 2 (which coincidentally now share a queen bed). We did the mattresses on the floor, in the place where the baby bed had been, with rails initially, then we removed them. Later on, we put the bed back on a frame w/ a nice headboard and rails for the first week or so. It worked great. What I found was that with the toddler bed, I still had to do the mattress on the floor thing so w/ my 2nd and 3rd, I just skipped the toddler bed!

We bought a trundle bed when our older daughter was ready for a "big girl" bed. We just pulled the trundle out part-way at night and naps until she got used to sleeping without sides -- that way, if she rolled off, she didn't have far to go and landed on a mattress.
When our younger daughter was ready, we put the mattress from the trundle on the floor. She slept on it for a while until we moved them into the same room with twin beds.

My son just turned 2 in January. We moved him into his new room with his new bed at that time. (I'm expecting in April, so I needed the crib and baby furniture). We opted to get a full size bed. The twin size beds seem so small. Since we weren't going to a toddler bed, I wanted to get a bed that he could use for longer than 2 years. He sleeps sideways most of the time, and he hasn't fallen out yet.I just put one pillow on the open side, and it doesn't seem to bother him. We also bought a platform bed, that is lower to the ground, that way if he does fall it won't be very far. One Step Ahead has the longer rails for the kids beds if you do decide to get one.
Good luck with the transition...it's not easy.

We moved our 15 month old toddler into a toddler bed, we bought @ Burlington coat factory for about 40.00. It was a white metal frame, not super pretty, but solid, and lowe to the ground and it had the railings for the sides...only for one side where she would sleep. for comfort Iput pillows down if my little rolled out of bed..pillows are a big saver even when she climbed out of her crib..now she in a full bed we just purchased from Rooms to go..and it sits low to the ground, and she will have it for years. It is pink with patched work near head board and food board, and very simple to make..we did not get a box spring, just a mattress and "monkey board"..she loves it and feels like a big girl in her full bed...She will be 2 next month.

definitely recommend the double bed.
Two reasons- she will grow into it and there is no sense it spending money on a toddler bed just to buy a bigger bed or use the double bed later. I still used a bed rail, but she didn't even get close to the side. My daughter was about 2 1/2 when we bought her bunk beds -twin on top full on bottom. She is fixing to turn 8 and still loves her bottom bed. Believe me she will love all the extra room from the bed.

go straight to the big bed, she will sleep so much better. my 2 yr old went to a double bed, she fell out once. she has not fallen out since. if worried, put a chair beside it. they are so much more compfortable they don't wiggle as much. in the crib,they were trying to find the soft spot.this is my granddaughter i'm raising. her mama is 22

We didn't move our boys (twins) out of cribs until they were four. We were able to take the front off the crib so it worked like a toddler bed, and we did that when they started climbing out of the crib. Unless she is just too big for the crib, that might be an option. You don't have to rush the big bed.

In our experience, they didn't fall out of bed too many times before they learned to stay in! I bought rails but we didn't need them. You can always put pillows on the floor to soften the fall...we have carpet and then the pillows helped me not to worry. Often if one fell out of bed, he didn't even notice and slept right through.

A double bed will seem huge only until she fills it up with stuffed animals and blankets that she has to sleep with! :)

I agree with the other posters that say you should skip the toddler bed. We moved my daughter over a little after turning 2 into our extra full size bed and never had a problem (and neither of my kids ever tried to climb out of the crib so I don't think you need to use that as a criteria). We shoved the bed into a corner and added one bed rail. The bonus was that I could lay down in bed with her to read books, which is much more comfortable than the rocking chair once the kids get big.

Hi, M.. In our case, it was completely worth it to buy the toddler bed. We moved our DD 2 weeks after her 2nd birthday and after using a sticker chart for a week to help her learn to stay in bed after we put her down, she has done great. She is almost 3.5 now and she *still* moves around a lot at night. I just wouldn't feel like she was safe in a big bed.

As a bonus, my DD really enjoyed the independence the toddler bed gave her. She could get in and out of bed herself. She thought she was so grown up so we really played that up so she would stay there all night.

HTH!
A.

when my first daughter was little and ready to move out of her crib i got a toddler bed and she used it but only for a short time. now we have another daughter and i got two matching day beds and i set up one for my 4y old and one for my 1 1/2y old on our day beds you can ajust the hight and it is not much higher than a toddler bed. she has been in it about a week and has only fallen out of it one time. :)
good luck.

I bought a natural wood toddler bed at Wal Mart a little over a year ago for about $40. Since it's a toddler bed it uses the crib mattress and sheets. The bed comes with side bars on both sides at the top. I bought a rug (nice and fluffy - one meant for the bathroom) and put it on the floor next to the bed, toward the bottom where there were no bars. My daughter only fell out a couple of times and it's so low to the floor I think it just scared her. In the beginning she'd wake up in positions all over the bed - like in the crib, but after a while she learned to keep her head up at the top.

Caelyn is 3 1/2 and we're still using the bed. I'll probably keep it until we are ready to buy her a whole new -big girl- bedroom set. Well worth the investment in my opinion.

Hi M., the first time our son jumped from his crib at the age of 13 months, we got ride of the cribe and bought him a toddler bed. The cool thing is we got a used bed from Craigs list. The bed is a fire engine, so he crawls up inside the bed, so he can not fall out of it. We did have to work with him on getting out of bed at nap time, but we were just consistent and now when it's bed time, he knows to stay in bed. I would look at all the different kinds of beds you can purchase. Look at Little Tykes Firetruck bed or Im sure they offer other options as well. This bed brand new would have been a couple hundred dollars, but since we got it on craigs list, we bought it for 45$ And he will be able to use this bed for several years to come.

Ok, hope this helps.

I moved our DD straight from her crib to a queen bed at 21mo. We put the bed in the corner and I bought the long rails from One Step Ahead for each side of the bed. We put pillows at the end of the bed for a few weeks until we were comfortable that she wouldn't fall out. She did somehow manage to fall off the end one time, but was fine since the pillows were there. We took the rails off after about 9mos and she fell out once to the side, but again, pillows were there, so she was fine. I would spend the money on the rails instead of a toddler bed.

Hi there.. our son will also be 2 in March. He too moves around a lot in his sleep. We have purchased a step 2 fire truck bed for him prior to moving into an acutal big boy bed. It accepts his crib mattress and has high enough sides that he won't be able to roll out of if onto the floor. We found ours used on Craig's list for right around $60.00. They have very pretty castle type princess beds and even a little volkswagon bug type looking bed. I have seen both listed on CL from time to time. If you are interested I would look under baby/kids items and under furniture. You can do a search for toddler bed or step 2. One of the ones I mentioned might even be a little tikes item... not really sure.

I also wanted to ask if she is climbing out of her crib yet. Our pediatrician said that until he is climbing out of his crib that he would not suggest moving him yet. He would not be ready for it. I have had other mom's tell me this too.

Good Luck.. I am actually quite nervouse about the transition. It scares me to think of him being able to wonder the house at night. We are trying to think of something that will alert us when the day comes he is ready for his toddler bed.

T.
Mansfield

My nephew sleeps in a double bed on the floor. The double bed allows enough space for mommy or daddy to crawl in with him if needed. The bed on the floor means it's not much of a fall. I've had other people recommend a bed on the floor rather than spending the money on a toddler bed. Good luck!

i WOULD JUST START W/ THE TODDLER BED, THAT WAY ITS NOT TO SCARY FOR THE BABY, AND ALSO YOUR CRIB MATTRESS WILL FIT INTO THE TODDLER BED SO IT MAY SEEM SIMULAR TO THE CHILD ALSO.

If she isn't trying to climb out of her crib, you might consider leaving her in it for 6 more months or so. If you have your heart set on moving her, make sure she can't leave her room. If she's a big time wiggler, bed rails are your best bet, I think.