Anyone skip the toddler bed and go straight to a real bed?

nvp05 · August 2009

Rena has never been a big fan of her crib. She sleeps ok in there at night but has never napped well in there (20-30 minutes at most). So she mainly naps on our bed downstairs. Her crib converts to a full-size bed and we're thinking to just skip the toddler bed and let her sleep in a bed within a few months (we would put those guard rails on the sides). The main reason I want to do this is because Rena moves all over the place when she sleeps. She goes from one end of the crib to another and wakes herself up a lot since she bangs the rails. So I think a toddler bed might be a waste of money since I don't see her sleeping on that small crib mattress for another year or year and half.

Did anyone else skip the toddler bed? Any advice on this? TIA.

LisaK2b · August 2009

I have a lot of friends that skip the toddler crib mattress bed and go straight to a twin bed (you don't have to use the box spring, just a board underneath if there's no platform or lots of slats for support) and then you can buy the universal guardrails (similar to pottery barn kids). We're looking into this right now and just ordered our twin mattress yesterday at Mattress Firm. We didn't do this at first and went to the toddler bed because it was just cheaper not to buy a mattress until we really needed one. Now with #2 coming, we're ready to pay the $$.

horn_jm@hotmail.com · August 2009

We ended up going from the crib to a twin mattress on the floor (was a bad sleeper until this move) to a full bed. DS never slept very well in the crib, so we never really considered a toddler bed.

rayskit10 · August 2009

honestly, i don't see the purpose of a seperate toddler bed. i know they use a crib matress, but you'll buy a bigger bed eventually anyway. if your crib converts with a side rail, i can see the point of the railbut most standard toddler beds don't have rails included, do they? you still buy them. so why not go straight to a bed?

truitt never slept in his crib. he went from the couch to a full

lilycat · August 2009

This makes a lot of sense to me. I would have if we had not inherited a toddler bed. (This free bed bought me time to determine the gender of our second before furnishing/decorating.)

nanann · August 2009

went straight to twin. really wasn't interested in spending the money on a toddler bed. Transition was seamless.

darva · August 2009

I went straight to 'real' beds with both my girls. Micaela went from crib to twin bed, Kaitlyn went from crib to full size (was what was in her room at my in-laws house). She almost immediately started sleeping through the night once in the big bed and I had lessened fears of her falling out since the bed is bigger.

Kian'sMommy · August 2009

Kian went straight from the crib to a very thick queen mattress on the floor. We wanted to make the move out of the crib plenty of time before baby #2 arrives so he didn't feel like he was loosing his crib to her. We had a queen mattress in the room that is becoming the nursery so we didn't see the point of buying another mattress or a toddler bed. I just switched the furniture between the two rooms and he loves it. He has never fallen out though he did stop sleeping through teh night after moving to a big bed. He also now expects us to lay with him to fall asleep but that was more an issue with us transitionining him (first trimester fatigue and a long trip to visit grandparents) then the bed. I suppose the fact that its comfortable to lay with him may have encouraged us to get in this bad habit.

jen5-03 · August 2009

E was never a fan of the crib either. Ok, she hated it with a passion. She started out there every night but we always ended up cosleeping by midnight.

We put her in a twin bed at 16mo and never looked back.

We put the mattress on the floor so rolling out wasn't issue. She did roll out a few times, but after she stopped we put the box springs back under the mattress and she hasn't fallen out at all - and she rolls every which way, goes sideways and upside down in bed and still doesn't fall out. Eventually I'll get a bed frame to go under it.

nvp05 · August 2009

Thanks for all the replies. I like the idea of putting the mattress on the floor at first.

M&M614 · August 2009

We did. We just put a mattress & box springs (twin) on the floor with a rail (one side was pushed to the wall. We put it on the floor because we wanted her to be able to climb in and out since I was quite pregnant and had to have a c-section with Micah. And if she rolled out, she wouldn't have rolled far.

We we first put her in, we just used the fitted sheet and her small blankets that she used int he crib. That way she wasn't overwhelmed by bedding.

Mia was like that. Still is. She rolls everywhere. She never sleeps at the "right spot" in the bed and still doesnt' even use a pillow blanket even though it's offered to her. They just slow her down!

Jennifer&Kevin · August 2009

With DS we got him a full size bed and he loved it. We needed the crib for DD so instead of just getting another little bed we just got him that

Good Luck

alisa1228 · August 2009

this was the route i had planned to take, but after the scare we had the first time M tried to climb out of her crib, we didn't have time to go get a matress. we just converted her crib to the toddler bed with the rails (we already had them bc SIL bought us our crib, and included them) immediately that night.

houstonkdw · August 2009

At 18 months we went from a crib to twin bed with rails for Kohen. Never once had an issue. Kamryn was coming so I was forced to so we could use the crib for her. She is now at 20 months and still in the crib. We will use the toddler bed conversion only because I really like her bedding and I paid a pretty penny for it

lilrunner · August 2009

We are on day 3 of the transition right now (DD is 22 months old). So far, it's gone GREAT (knocking on wood). I did a lot of "thinking" on this one, and we opted for a daybed with a trundle. I was hoping she would just sleep on the trundle, but she really likes the daybed part. She's been sleeping on it, with the trundle pulled out in case she rolls off (we're going to try a rail today, but the way the bed is made I'm not sure one will fit). I like the trundle rolled out b/c if she does fall, she'll fall unto another mattress. I think she likes being on the daybed part b/c it's tall like her crib was. Or at least that's my guess.

This is the bed we got, and love it. https://houston.craigslist.org/fud/1331634834.html

Good luck to you!

michellebelle · August 2009

We inherited a twin bed set when Maddie was still in her crib and it was always in her room (mommy slept on it when night nursing). When she was ready (about 18 months) she moved to the twin bed and I put on one of those fold-away rails on it with the wall on the other side.

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