Convertible/3-in-1 cribs: The truth

tqtunney

Do cribs really withstand the beating of the baby and toddler years to become full-size guest room beds?

Sept1799

My dd was a real biter and even thought I brought something to go over the rails to prevent that.....she learned to move it over. She bit right through to the wood part and now it looks pretty bad. I am not going to use it for a toddler bed or regular bed.

On that note....I do know some ladies who already converted it to a regular bed.

So I guess it really depends.

I personally think that the full size bed it goes to is to big for them and takes to much of the room and I'd rather have my kids have a twin and have the room for toys. I don't want toys all over my family room

SuperCuteBenz

We won't use ours as one. I don't really like how some of the cribs look when they are converted.

My neighbor converted her DS's crib to a full, and it cost her a small fortune. She ended up needing to buy the rails, a bunky board, and then a full size mattress. I think the bunky board was because with the box spring the mattress was too high. Anyway, then she ended up throwing the side rails out, because once converted they are useless.

Anyway, we wouldn't need all the extra stuff for our Graco crib, but I already have a twin bed for DS, and we will use the crib for #3 (if we have another).

Lina1030

I bought these to prevent DS from biting the crib.  (front and side)

https://www.buybuybaby.com/searchSKU.asp?SSTR=leachco+teether&go=1&

Ashley&Scott

We're only planning to use ours as a crib & toddler bed.

We already have a queen bed in our guest room & a twin bedroom set when he's outgrown the toddler bed.

jksweets

We will use it for both.  DS is still in his crib, so we plan to buy another whole nursery set for the new baby.  

RHitch

DD is 3 years old and she is still in her 3-in-1 convertible crib.  We went from a crib directly to a full-sized bed when she was15 months.  We only had to buy mattresses (which you would have to do with a twin bed too) and a $49 conversion kit.  The bed is white and it is still holding up just fine.  I would do it again.....actually I did do it again with DS.  He is still in a crib, but I do plan to convert it to a full-sized bed in a year.  There was a full-sized bed in his room before I got pregnant, so we will not need to buy anything when we make the switch.  His bed does not require conversion rails.

ETA: We have a nice sized home with huge rooms, so space is not an issue in our children's rooms.  DD has a full sized bed, a dresser with a hutch, a 3 foot doll house, and a toy box in her room.  She still has room for other one-off items.

Kimee13

So far ours is still in pristine condition, however, we've got some time to go.  Regardless, we opted not to get the rails to make ours a 3-in-1 - we want to make a big deal about his big boy bed and let him pick it out, plus I've yet to find one that I actually liked the looks of as an actual bed. 

srs5624

We bought one with intentions of using it for a crib, toddler bed and full bed.

So far, we're still on the crib (obviously).

For the toddler bed, we're skipping the wood rail and we're just getting one of these. We'll let him pick out new bedding when it's time for the toddler bed. What we have for him now is fairly babyish, so by then he'll be ready for something else.

For the full bed, we only had to buy the rails (~$100). I like the look of our crib as a full size... but we also bought a more simple, classic design. It's very plain compared to a lot of the cribs out there. The full bed actually looks like a nicer version of the bed that H and I currently have. Yes, DS's furniture is nicer than ours. Go figure. Our house has two master bedrooms, so space isn't an issue.

We'll be getting teether guards for the crib very soon, but if he were to scrape on it... oh, well. That's why we bought real wood. It can be fixed.

I agree that some of the cribs look atrocious as full beds. But I purchased with that thought in mind.

We're only having one child, so I don't mind that the side rails of the crib are rendered useless when changing to a full bed. It's not like DS's kids will be able to use it... crib standards change constantly so it's not worth it to hang on to any baby stuff anymore. We're donating most everything that DS grows out of to friends that are having twins in December, but we'll use his furniture as long as we can.

christine_marie

I have one and will probably use it as a toddler bed but I'm not going to use it for a full bed, I'll just put him in a twin bed.

JillBean78

SuperCuteBenz:

We won't use ours as one. I don't really like how some of the cribs look when they are converted.

My neighbor converted her DS's crib to a full, and it cost her a small fortune. She ended up needing to buy the rails, a bunky board, and then a full size mattress. I think the bunky board was because with the box spring the mattress was too high. Anyway, then she ended up throwing the side rails out, because once converted they are useless.

Anyway, we wouldn't need all the extra stuff for our Graco crib, but I already have a twin bed for DS, and we will use the crib for #3 (if we have another).

THIS!  It would cost us a small fortune to turn ours into a bed.  When I bought it all I saw was 3 in 1 crib and I was sold.  I didn't read the fine print and that I had to buy rails seperate, a kit to covert into a full size bed seperate and something else seperate.  All said and done to make my crib turn into a toddler and a full size bed I'd need to spend another $350 on it.  So, I basically paid $300 for a crib that does nothing else unless I want to spend more money.

I wish I had been more knowledgeable and done more research.

GreenFlamingo7

We purposely bought a crib that comes with the parts to convert to a toddler bed. Because of the marks/teething that will happen over the next couple of years, we knew that we wouldn't want to convert anything to a full size bed. Plus, like a PP mentioned, we would rather have DS in a twin bed and have room for toys.

slwprincess

Hell no.  I've seen way too many family members make this mistake only to end up with chewed up furniture that they had to replace.  My personal opinion is that you wait and buy "quality" stuff when they are old enough to appreciate it and take care of it.  Until then, safety is my number one priority with form/function being a close runner up.  That said, if you find a crib that you love that is a 3-in-1, get it.  But don't buy it expecting it to last forever.

FLchicken

We bought our crib with the intention of keeping it all the way till she goes to college!  I really like the simplicity and think it will look great as a full size bed.  It came with toddler rails. I just need to get the full size rails and a mattress when that time comes.  I am going to get the teething cover that Lina posted above ASAP.

okate0213

FLchicken:

We bought our crib with the intention of keeping it all the way till she goes to college!  I really like the simplicity and think it will look great as a full size bed.  It came with toddler rails. I just need to get the full size rails and a mattress when that time comes.  I am going to get the teething cover that Lina posted above ASAP.

This was our intention too. The bed and dresser look very handsome for him to have for a Looong time. I don't mind spending money to convert it, if you add it up to buy a twin, then a full possibly later with mattresses and such, it would be a lot more. IMO. We plan on doing the same for all of out kids.

sabrina69barnes

Ours didn't hold up very well. I got a cheap crib from Wal-mart and I never planned on using it as a full size bed but we are using it as a toddler bed. It looks pretty bad because not only did DS chew around the top but he also chewed on most of the bars. This LO will get a new crib. Most cribs now are 3-in-1 so that's what we got. It's wouldn't have saved us any money to just get a crib.