Questions about cribs

aylyffe

Hello all! Some background first: I'm 21 weeks pregnant, and my husband and I are beginning to seriously look for nursery stuffs. I really loved the idea of convertible cribs, but we're operating on a small budget, and the nice ones are SO expensive! Also, we'll have a very small nursery for the first six months or so, so we're trying to save as much space as we can.

I found a mini-crib that converts to a twin bed that's reasonably priced, but most of the other convertible cribs I've seen convert also to a day bed or toddler bed.

So here's the question: Is a toddler bed really necessary? Is it reasonable to expect our son to go straight to a twin bed from the crib, or is that too big a jump?

dc120807

IMHO I think it's all a marketing ploy.  I mean, how many of us had toddler beds when we were little?  It seems like a way for companies to entice customers into thinking it's a genius idea.

We are just planning on putting our child right into a twin bed with guard rails.  I think that will suffice for us.

dc120807

I forgot to add that if you plan on having more than one child within a short time period the convertible bed is basically useless.  You will then find yourself buying an additional crib for the newest addition to the family while the other is using the convertible crib. 

The more I thought about the concept the less it makes any sense.

schnappycat

dc120807:

I forgot to add that if you plan on having more than one child within a short time period the convertible bed is basically useless.  You will then find yourself buying an additional crib for the newest addition to the family while the other is using the convertible crib. 

The more I thought about the concept the less it makes any sense.

Actually, we liked the idea for this exact reason! DS is in his convertible crib (converted currently to the toddler bed, but will be converting to full-size soon) and we bought a new convertible crib for DD. I figure we would have had to buy new bed for both kids at some point, so we will be spending additional money anyhow. Whether it's more on the front end for a nicer convertible crib or more on the back end, it didn't matter. So both kids now are in the beds they will have for quite a few years, if that makes sense.

So it's really up to you, but buying a SEPARATE toddler bed is certainly a waste IMHO. They can definitely go right into a regular bed from the crib (you can usually purchase rails separately if necessary). I just liked that we had a toddler bed option built in with a good-quality crib and full-size bed as well.

morganore

the Gulliver crib from Ikea is $100 and converts to a toddler bed

CrazyToast

I totally agree that "toddler beds" are a total marketing ploy!  My mother moved me from my crib to a twin bed around 15 months, because my sister was on the way...

DH & I thought a convertible crib was totally useless - we don't want to give our child a double bed once they're too big for a toddler bed!  Twin bed it will be for them until they're much older.  

We have a small bedroom for LO, so we picked the Ikea Gulliver in white - great price, great ratings.  We'll see if we even use the toddler bed portion of it, or go right to a twin like all of us did when we were little.

aylyffe

Thanks, everyone, for your input! We found a great deal at Buy Buy Baby - it's a mini crib that converts to a day bed, a toddler bed (if we decide we want it after all), AND a twin bed. And a pretty good mattress is included! Problem solved - with a little help from new friends.