Twin bed on the floor for toddler

skibunny59

Just looking to hear your experience from other mommas that have tried this.  DD is 20 months old and we are thinking of getting rid of the crib and putting a twin bed on the floor for her room.  (we would eventually get a twin bed for her but I feel more comfortable starting out on the floor.)  She has  never been fond of her crib.  She starts the night in her crib but comes into our bed around midnight.

We are working on night weaning with her and also trying to get her out of our bed.  I love cosleeping with her but DH is kind of done with it.  Also, we are trying for #2 and I realize that now is the time to work on these things with her not after I get pregnant and have a big belly and am exhausted.

We've always rocked her to sleep so my plan is to put her down the same way on the twin bed and then when she wakes up, instead of bringing her into our bed I can lay down with her in the bed and then remove myself after she's asleep again.  I'm just not sure if she's too young to be out of the crib.  DH really thinks we should go for it.  I'm nervous about not hearing her when she wakes up and then she can get off the twin bed and wander around her room.  We always have the monitor on but sometimes I don't always hear her immediately and she cries for a little bit in her crib before I go get her.  I think if she got out of bed and we didn't hear her she would probably just go to her door and keep crying for us until we come in but I'm still nervous about that.

=Lee=B

We're not there yet but I have friends that had their kids in toddler beds at 14 and 16 months.  So I don't think 20months is too young.  Especially if you have them on a mattress on the floor.

I know a handful of families that taught their kids that when they wake they have to stay in bed until mom or dad comes and gets them (calling mom or dad over monitor)...they can't get out on their own.  Somehow the kids obey this rule!

MouseInLux

Our DD moved at around 16 months to a twin on the floor, it took her ages to figure that she could get out of it! We moved her to get the crib free for number 2, it was great while pregnant as I could just sit in her bed to get her to sleep and didn't have to pick her up and out.
Now she's 28 months and upon waking gets up and comes out of her room to find us.

Emerald27

DS sleeps on a twin mattress on the floor, but it's in our room next to my side of the bed. We transitioned him there from bedsharing just before he turned 2.

I love it because it's so easy to lay with him while he falls asleep and then sneak away. And I'm right there when he needs me, and can easily hop down to him.

He loved his big boy bed from day 1. It has a train pillow and cool blue sheets and blankets.

boogerbearoriginal

We moved LO out of our bed at 2yrs, so not much older than yours. He went into a full sized bed simply because that's what we had in our guest room and it seemed silly to go buy a twin bed when we had a perfectly good bed not being used.

He transitioned just fine. Since we have 2 bedrooms that are identical/mirror images we elected to move our bed/dressers into the "guest" room, and keep LO in what had been our shared room. I don't know if this helped him or not, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to keep as much the same as possible.

Initially he would wake and come join us in the other room. Now, partly through my own doing, he sits in bed or stands at the doorway and yells for me and insists I join him. He almost never sleeps in our bed, but I usually spend about half the night in his bed so I am very thankful we've got a full sized bed lol.

We night weaned first, and then about a month or two later did the bed switch. His bed is on a low rise frame and we put up a bed rail JIC.

TiffanyBerry

We always coslept - attached cosleeper for 9 mo, then bedshare. At a year, she moved to much to keep her in bed with both of us, so we put a mattress on the floor and I slept with her down there.  Way easier to teach her to stay in bed at that point, too.

pixieprincss

We let our boys start the night on a floor bed at 9 months (DS1) and 12 months (DS2). We needed to lay with them to get them down. For us, once we are in bed, they are still welcome to come in with us. DS1 is almost 3 and still does not STTN. But, as least now he's old enough to wake up, use the potty, climb in the sidecar and then just ask me to put a blanket over him. Sometimes, DH will go and get him back down in his bed, but that usually leads to DH sleeping there rather than with me. It isn't problematic, but I just wanted to mention it. As far as a second baby, I say don't let hypothetical future problems rob you of something that works now. If your DH really is over it, then move on to a new plan. But, if he really is ok with it, what your child wants in 9+ months may be totally different, plus it will all change with the emotions of a new baby any way. For us, we found that continuing to bedshare (now with both boys) helped our toddler refill his attachment "tank" while we slept.

musicalmama5

I'm just trying to imagine being hugely pregnant and getting up from a mattress on the floor lol. 

Oasismomma

We just transitioned DS last month (so, 21-22 months old) from our bed to a full size bed on the floor in his own room. We kept every other aspect of his bedtime routine the same, so it was a really painless transition.

Some nights he sleeps 12-13 hours straight, other nights he wakes up and needs one of us to rub him back, get him water, or snuggle. He does still occasionally ask to nurse overnight. He hasn't figured out that he can get out of the bed at night yet, which is kind of hilarious, because he jumps in and out of it when the sun is up.

sugarbear0524

musicalmama5 said:

I'm just trying to imagine being hugely pregnant and getting up from a mattress on the floor lol. 

Exactly. Why not start this process with DH laying with your LO instead you?

MouseInLux

sugarbear0524 said:

musicalmama5 said:

I'm just trying to imagine being hugely pregnant and getting up from a mattress on the floor lol. 

Exactly. Why not start this process with DH laying with your LO instead you?

I did this, ever over due and it wasn't bad at all! I loved it even!

versed

We started DS on a floor bed at 14m. He does great and doesn't get out of the bed on his own yet. We bedhsared, but I knew we needed to transition him out once we got pregnant. DH or I go to him if he wakes in the night, and even at 7m (and hugely pg already), I don't mind crawling in and out of bed with him. We are working on DH being the one to check on him the majority of night-wakings, but we're not there quite yet. However, at the same time his night wakings are decreasing.