Transitioning from crib to toddler bed

kcam

Anyone have any tips or resources for transitioning 2.5 year old out of crib? Its actually a convertible crib so just one side will be removed and replaced with a rail. She's started trying to climb out but I don't want to move her out of a crib because it's the only place I can safely contain her!

dunlapbriggs

I think it depends on the kid. We turned our crib into the toddler bed with rail one day and DS acted like it was no big deal. Nothing changed except if he wakes up during the night he gets out of bed and calls for me. 

christinasullie37

We tried on her 2nd birthday and ended up putting the side of the crib back up two nights later. We'll try again in a few months.

michelle7482

We converted 2 wks ago and it went great. DD goes right to sleep and I told her to call me when she wants to get up ( I can hear her in the monitor) and she waits for me as if I had to get her from the crib. She's sleeping better and longer too. We had a tough month of sleep before we converted. She loves her bed and got to pick out her new sheets too. She will be 3 in Feb.

blu-eyedwife

We just converted it when he started waking at night to use the bathroom, so I don't know if it's a different mentality from the crawler-outer.  We didn't have any issues and he still rarely gets out of bed on his own.  Usually he calls for us and waits till we come in before getting out.

emberlee3

DD was such a good sleeper in her crib that I decided to wait until she forced my hand. The day before thanksgiving, she asked me if she could have a bed. So we took the side off her crib. She loves it. She calls for us when she wants to get up, mostly because she likes wearing a sleep sack to bed.

KDR1979

We recently converted our kids to toddler beds (just 1 rail off of the crib). They were 30-31 months when we did it. DD started climbing out of the crib around 2 and I put her back in a sleep sack and that bought some time. When she started climbing out in the sleep sack, I knew that I had no choice but to switch her bed.

We have a 2 story and weren't able to get a gate around the top of our stairs. So, the kids have toddler door knob covers on their bedroom doors. They are contained to their room. I took the dresser out of DD's room and made it as safe as possible. It was difficult for the first 2 weeks (waking up at night), but they are now doing pretty well in their toddler beds.