Toddler bed transition

chrissyp86

Have any of you transitioned your toddler from the crib to a toddler bed before 2 yrs?  I am honestly not sure that he is ready and want to keep him in the crib as long as possible.  I have a lot of lower back problems and am having trouble lifting him in and out of the crib.  He is 21 months and 30lbs.  We currently have his mattress on the floor of the crib.  We removed the metal part because he was trying to climbing out.  I am so nervous about him being able to roam freely.  His crib converts to a toddler bed with the rail.  I still feel like he will end up on the floor.  He moves around a ton!!

quietlyexpecting

My LO is 15 months and flops all over the place when she sleeps.  I can't imagine she'd stay on a bed.  We're aiming for 2 years.  Sorry about your back problems. is it possible to have some kind of little stool you could put in the crib when you want to get him out after a nap or bedtime that you could take right back out of the crib and store under the crib or beside it?  Maybe that would help your back a bit...at least when removing him from the bed.  GL

Kristen3009

we transitioned at 18 months (actually just a few weeks ago) to a twin mattress on the floor- not putting the frame on just yet- because he is so tall that i swear he was close to just leaning over the rail and falling on his head.  there was just no way i could imagine him *climbing* out- i think it was a giant accident just waiting to happen and luckily he took right to the big bed.  he is super verbal though and i think it made a huge difference to be able to prep him and talk about/rationalize the transition a little.  he actually sleeps better overall in the twin bed now- we let him have whatever blankets/animals he wants (we had taken everything out of the crib because he could have used animals or whatever as like a step- and was that much closer to toppling out!)  i think every kid is different and we probably just lucked out, but i think it is totally possible and hopefully you'll be pleasantly surprised with an easy transition

chrissyp86

Thank you for the advice.  I tried the step stool at nap time and it helped with my back a little bit when lifting him out.  I think I am going to try this a bit longer.  He is not really talking a ton yet so trying to explain the big boy bed concept probably would not go over too well. 

MrsI

DD is very vocal but we didn't explain the bed to her at all...  (ooops).  We just switched her last weekend (17months old) and she has done geat.  There are a few reasons why we switched: 1.  She has hated her crib since her DCPs kept her in one for an hour screaming because they didn't want her "pulling up on them while feeding the other babies"  I work at this center and it is a DCFS violation to leave a child in a crib that long and pulled her out of that room, I hoped she would 'forget' and begin to like her crib again but hasn't.  2. She is beginning to self potty train so we will be going full force with it when I am off around Christmas and hoping it works,  I think it is unfair to have a child potty trained and expected to go potty but trapped in a crib (just my opinion) 3. DD lays with me to go to sleep since incident #1 happened so I am slowly trying to transition this out.  I am hoping to lay with her in bed for a week, sit next to the bed for a week, move to middle of room.. etc until she will go to bed on her own.  So far out night routine is already 90% better than it was!

As for falling out of bed or roaming around...  DD still wakes up in the night looking for her paci.  I left the monitor on for a few nights so I would hear her and make sure she didn't get up.  She never once tried to get out of bed.  Even last night when she woke up at 4:30 upset she just sat in her bed waiting for me to come.  I do shut her door just in case but we always have anyway so I didn't want to switch things up either. And even though she moves a TON at night she has not fallen out of bed, the toddler rail holds her in just fine. 

I personally am so glad we made the transition and looked at it as it was only 6 screws for us to take it off and 6 to put it back on.  If it didn't work it wasn't the end of the world...

Heather16578

Thinking about putting LO in her bed finally this weekend. She's been sleeping in her pack 'n play for the past few months when she discovered that she could flip herself out of the crib. Her crib converts to a day bed and then finally a twin bed so its in the day bed position right now but have been waiting till she got alittle older to try the bed. We will see what happens.