Toddler Toddler Beds - Queensbury, NY

I went right with the mattress on the floor. they get used to it quickly and never fall out of bed. After about 1 year, i put it in the frame.. a little while later I added the box spring. Toddler beds are expensive and you don't use them very long then it's just another thing to get the child out of using. Go with reg. bed.. much easier.. good luck. I took the side off the crib.. and started that way.. it looked like a day bed when they were about 19 months.. then about 2 went with mattress on floor.. and moved up from there.. good luck

Hi C.
Both of my boys went into regular beds (mattress on the floor, no frame or anything else) at approx. 21 months. Both times it was because I had to, but it worked out great for both of them. For the first few weeks, I'd find my older one asleep on the floor near his door, but that ended pretty quickly. I put his full bed together when he was close to 3. This way, never had to deal with a toddler bed that they outgrow so quickly. Good luck!

My daughter refuses to stay in a crib and I wasted money on a toddler bed. She is 17 mos old. I have a second baby coming this month so rather than worry about her climbing and falling out of something I have a full size mattress on the floor. It works perfectly! That's what I would recommend.

Hey I put my oldest son into a toddler bed when he was a little over one years old and he did great. I would just suggest that you put up a guard rail to prevent him from falling out at night or during nap time.

HI!
We moved our son to a toddler bed at 18 months so his sister would be able to have the crib when she was born and he wouldn't feel like he was getting kicked out when that time came! He always ended up wiggling down to the end where there was no rail on our toddler bed and would fall out and stay asleep because it was so low to the ground. We'd hear the thump and go in to check on him and he'd be in a deep sleep!
Good luck with your little climber!

Crib tent. It's a screen that attaches to the crib, and you unzip it to take the child out. A toddler bed, at this point, would probably mean he'd be escaping from that, too...we didn't move our older son out of the crib til he was 28 months old (and baby brother was on the way...) and our younger son we didn't move out until he was almost 3 1/2. (They don't have the concept of "staying in bed" at 20 months...)

HTH

I also feel toddler beds are a waste of money. If you want another tiny little bed for your child to sleep in but one that he can climb out of, just put the side down on the crib and leave it down. It's the same size as a toddler bed! Just be sure to put up gates on the bedroom door or at least on any stairs you may have in your house. Take everything out of the room you don't want him to get into during the night. And either bolt the dressers (book cases, dressing table, etc) to the wall or put some kind of locks on the drawers.

But you said you did not want him to climb out of his crib at all, so maybe you should invest in the tent thing to keep him in the crib a while longer.

C.,
Toddler beds are a waste of money. If you think your son is ready to be out of his crib just get a regular bed and put rails on it. My daughter was out of her crib at 18 months. We bought a full size and she has been in it ever since. She is a bit over 3 yrs. Good Luck

Hi there. My daughter starting sleeping in a full size bed at 16 months. She didn't try to climb out of it, she would scream when she was in it. I think being enclosed freaked her out. We put her in the bed with guard rails and she sleeps all night long..10-12 hrs a night. You never know with kids. One day he might climb out. I think 20 months is okay to put him in a toddler bed..but do it gradually.

We changed my daughter's crib into her toddler bed at 18 months b/c she was doing the same thing... several other mothers in the MOMS group I belong to have also begun to switch to toddler beds now and their children are all 2-2.5 years old. Just make it an exciting transition for him-- since it's new, he could be a little 'scared' at first.

Yes- get the toddler bed w/ a gate on the door if you need!

Any potential injury is so much less if at all in the toddler bed! My son took to it better than his crib.

I would think if he is beginning to obey in other area, it is time for the "big boy" bed. It is an exciting time when they move out of the crib. It does present a safety issue so I usually kept them in the crib as lon as possible. Once they are in the toddler bed they can roam the house and get into things. As long as you think he will obey to stay in bed and then understand to come to your room when he wakes up, I say go ahead with the change. I usually had an infant at the same time, so I wanted the toddles safely in the crib until the infant was older. ~D.

I have 2 girls, now 3 & 5 who both went from Pack-n-Play (we didn't have a crib) to regular twin size captains beds. As they got to the point of climbing out of the PNP, my wife & I moved them to the big beds. We have them up against the wall on one side, & while needed, had a bed rail on the outside. We kept a plastic storage bin (with seasonal clothing, so didn't need to open but twice a year) with the lid securely tied, near the foot end of the bed. The girls loved climbing in & out, & only got out of bed at night when they needed a diaper change. Now, without the bedrail & the storage bin, they happily climb the drawer fronts to get in, & usually jump off, or sometimes just back down . Never had either one fall off the bed, or get hurt climbing on or off of the bed.

i love the crib tent, its great peace of mind. i also love the toddler bed. my 2 oldest were in the crib with the crib tent until they were ousted by the next baby at about 2. each then went to the toddler bed for about 2 years, and i expect to do the same with this baby, he's still in the crib at 15 mos, with the tent, and being that he is my last :( he will stay in there as long as i can, at least until 2. if he sleeps well in the crib, i would get the tent and not mess with a good thing. by the way, when i put my oldest into the toddler bed, of course he climbed right out, so i gave him one warning, then when he got out again, i put him back in the crib. i think i did that twice before he got the picture. he slept great in the toddler bed from then on. my daughter never even got up when it was her turn, she took to it right away.

Hi C., The same thing happened to us with our twins at around the same time. They just turned 2 last week and we put them in toddler beds a few weeks before their birthday. I was so sad to see the cribs go but now we are not worried about them getting hurt if they succeeded in going over. They really love their beds and have been made the transition well. YOu will have to train him to stay in bed and maybe put a gate in his room b/c now it will be free reign! There are also crib tents sold at babies r us that fit over the crib. Good luck!!!I.

I highly recommend the crib tent that was already mentioned. I put it on my son's bed at 17 months because he was not mature enough to be out of his crib, but could climb out. It works great and he was never bothered by it. It is cheaper at babies r us than at one step ahead.

Good luck

Get a toddler bed! They are low to the floor and kids can get into it easily. Disadvantage: they can also get out easily. We just had to make sure we put a gate across the hall so he couldn't get into the bathroom or fall down the stairs. We kept the door open so we could hear him during the night since we don't use a monitor. We went to one for my son at 18 months. This was also when they moved him to the next room at daycare, which uses cots instead of cribs to take naps on. We did leave the crib up and in his room, just in case, but we didn't need it. We put his bed in the same spot as the crib, the instant he saw it, he was so excited and climbed right in. I couldn't get him out!!

I don't think there is a set age for toddler beds. The main concern is once in a toddler bed, he'll be able to roam arround his room. Are you ready for this next step? Will he stay in his room if you put up a gate or try to climb over it?

I read some of the other post and don't completely agree with toddler beds being a waste of money. I liked them being so low to the ground. I had a toddler bed where the headboard later converted to a bookshelf. My daughter is 11 and we still use the bookshelf.

Hi C.
He is not a monkey. He is pretty much typical. Most kids I knew were out by the time they were 2 and that is right around the corner. What would you think if you saw your 6 month old shimmy out and get in the twin bed with his brother. That is the situation we were in. We set up the other twin bed and he loved it. He never fell out. We secured the stairs and babyproofed but he loved it.
Putting the side down on the crib works til you get the 'big boy' bed.
Remember talk to your mom, she might have great stories to tell too.
God bless you and all you do
K. SAHM married 38 years with 4 adult kids: 37,32who made us grandparents this summer, and twins who are in college. Yikes I am getting old.

I personally think that toddler beds are a waste of money. They grow out of them quite quickly. My daughter (who is now 3 1/2) started crawling out of her crib about a month before she turned 2. We had a convertible crib so we took the side off and put up a bed guard. Then after a couple weeks like that we bought her bed. A regular twin bed that will stick with her for many years to come. I would personally go straight for the regular bed with the side guards and I wouldn't even waste your money with a toddler bed. My nephew had one and was out of it within six months. Kids grow fast, and if they are too big for a crib they will be too big for a toddler bed. It's the same size but in bed form. Good luck!

nahhh,, not too early, my son was a full fledged monkey at 13 months, and into a bed he went. Here's the gimick, I bought a Step2 firetruck bed, look at the design on line you'll see why, i just felt like it was safer because it was mostly enclosed by walls, and when you look at the picture -- I removed the wheels until he was older so the structure sat on the floor. My son fell in love with this bed, he loved spending time in it, etc he would play climb, etc get out all his monkey energy. The only thing I did for my ease and peace of mind was to buy a Super Yard with an extension,,, this fit around his bed with a foot or so all the way around. and there he was, he could get in and out of his bed to his delight, but he could not get into anything else, so I knew he was safe, and I could get my sleep. There will be some transition time where he plays more than he sleeps, but he will konk out at some point and every night a little sooner.... good luck

I never put my son in a toddler bed. I think their kind of a waste of money. Just get a regular twin with a side rail. But if you want to keep him in the crib longer try this.

http://www.onestepahead.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId...

It's a crib tent. You can zip him in and he can't get out.

C.,
I've said it before on this site, get the crib tent.. He can't get out and he can't get hurt (more to the point) He is (in my opinion) too young to be in a toddler or big boy bed.. you will regret giving him that much freedom so young. I kept my son in his crib (with the tent as he tried to escape once and ended up flat on his back.. I was convinced he broke his back) until he was old enough to ask for a bed without a roof... hee hee!! ok so I'm lazy, don't judge me!! Seriously though, go to babies R us and grab the tent.. tell him he "gets" to sleep in a tent now and for a while at least he will think its cool!
good luck!
M. from Pittsford

My sone was trying to climb out too early as well.
My husband bought a large (fat) pool noodle and fastened it over the top rail of the crib with zip ties and he couldnt get his leg over that. The climbing stopped.

No he is never too young if he is climbing out of the bed. However why waste your $ on a toddler bed, just use a regular matress and put it on the floor until he is ready for it to me lifted up with the frame of the bed. We did this for our kids and it works great and saves lots of $ on bedding, the bed, etc.

Good Luck!

I don't think he's too young; we moved our son to a toddler bed when he was ~ 15 months (even though he never tried to climb out of his crib). we keep the door to his room closed; we left it open in the beginning but that just meant he came to find us as soon as we left his room. he wasn't ready for that much independence.
we thought about moving him to a regular size twin bed with rails, but he's too small/short/young to climb up there with ease. a toddler bed he can get into and out of easily 'cause they're lower to the ground. not that he can't get onto an adult-size bed, just that it takes a fair amount of effort. if your son can easily get into an adult-height bed, you may as well do that directly and skip the toddler size.
i actually like having him in the toddler bed instead of the crib because sometimes when it's naptime (i.e. we can see he's super-tired) he needs a little time to wind down. we can hear him on his monitor in his room playing with random toys. he'll do that for about 10-30 minutes, but then conk out for a good nap (he almost always finds his way into the bed; otherwise he creates a little nest out of his blankets/animals on the floor, which is too cute). in his crib i felt like he had 2 or 3 things to play with and that was it, so it would take him longer to actually wind down. also, when we travel we used to bring the pack-and-play. now he's getting to be too big for that. but because he's used to sleeping in a bed in a room (not a crib), we can put him to sleep without scrunching him up in the pack-n-play or worrying that he can't handle it. he's now used to the "responsibility" of a big-boy bed.
FYI, we got our toddler bed at IKEA and they are longer than a crib mattress but shorter and narrower than a twin.
good luck!

Hi C., we just made this transition this week with our 21 month old. I couldn't decide whether it was too early or not, or whether to get a toddler bed or not. He can climb out of the crib and has tried, he's at chest level with the mattress as low as possible. But most of all, he takes FOREVER to wind himself down at night (an hour), he wakes very early (5am), and he kicks and hits the sides of the crib which makes it sound like he is breaking the house down. And wakes our 7.5 month old an hour before she should be getting up. After lots of back reading on this site and looking at our own situation, we decided to get him the little tikes car toddler bed, off Craigslist for dirt cheap. We are fully aware of many moms' other opinions that toddler beds are a waste of money. But moving him to a twin right now is not an option for us (with our current living situation and travel schedule).

We also have had him sleep in a PeaPod Plus tent, on top of a queen bed. He did great but it was hot in there, and buying a peapod would cost you money too (we plan to use it for traveling and the plus one is good for kids up to 4 years old or older).

Last night our son slept on the car bed for the first time, after 3 nights on a crib mattress on the floor. He stayed in bed the whole night! He was asleep in 5 minutes after I left the room! And when he woke, he stayed in bed and waited for us to come get him (as always - he does this on the cot at daycare too). He was pretty wound up about the car - "my car" "my bed", so we spent 45 minutes doing the wind down routine instead of our usual 15-20, and I let him lead when he wanted to get into bed. I also had the crib up and with a mattress in it, so if he chose to sleep in it, he could. We will leave it set up for at least a few weeks so he can choose it if he wants. I hope this helps....

My son was in a toddler bed @ 13 months. The little monkey was climbing out of his crib (on the lowest setting) and coming into our room to give us our wake up call.

Your little one will be just fine in a toddler bed.

I think it is a great time to put your son in a toddler bed. Both my kids tranitioned at 18 and 19 months. Dont get rid of the crib mattress though. Put the toddler bed against the wall (so he cant fall out that side) and then the crib mattress on the floor next to the bed in case he falls out of bed at night. Or maybe start with the toddler mattress just on the floor (not in the bed frame) until he get used to it. Both my kids fell out of bed a few times. Good luck