Are you buying another crib or toddler bed?

Sarahbear621 · June 2011

When LO #2 gets here DS will be around 15 months old. DH and I are trying to decide if we should buy another crib or possible move DS to a toddler bed. Does anyone have any advise on this? DS is a roller but in 6-7 months I just don't know how his sleeping will be.

kcisthebombdotcom · June 2011

We never bought another crib. DS was cosleeping with us up until about a month ago when we moved him into a twin bed and DD uses the crib.

Unknown · June 2011

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meredith anastasia · June 2011

Mine will be 19/20 months apart and I don't think my DS is anywhere near ready for a toddler bed. We are going to keep him in his crib, and have the baby either in a basinett in our room or in a pack n play in the nursery. Hopefully when DS is closer to 2, and the baby is ~4 months, we can get DS in a toddler bed and baby #2 in to the crib.

Raffes484 · June 2011

I think it really depends on your child. We moved DD to a toddler bed when she was around 15 months and she did great. Now that we're having #3, I don't think DS is going to be ready for a toddler bed. We still have some time and my opinion could change, but I just don't think he will be.

You could always try putting his crib mattress on the floor, since it's the same as a toddler bed, and seeing how he does.

memali26 · June 2011

We're getting a toddler bed given to us by family. Our girls with be about 19 months apart, so our plan is to keep DD2 in our room in the P'n'P until 6 months. When DD1 is a little closer to 2 we'll try the transition to the toddler bed and then transition DD2 to the crib.

monkeyqueen · June 2011

Natalie was 12 months when Dominic was born.

What we did:

For the first couple of months, Natalie stayed in the crib and Dominic slept in a cradle in our room. When Natalie was around 15 months, we moved her into a playpen and Dominic moved into the crib. When Natalie was around 18 months old, we moved her into a toddler bed - actually, it was a crib mattress on the floor. She did great with it.

Dominic is our last baby, and I'm very glad we did not buy another crib.

tpandr08 · June 2011

DD is 18 months old and for the past month we have had the front off her convertable crib trying to get her used to that so we could move her into a twin bed soon. It was an epic fail and a terrible month of sleepless nights for everyone. We are going to just buy a second convertable crib. Walmart has a special right now for $140 includes Seely Mattress and ships to walmart for free which is almost the same as the $125 Twin mattress set we were going to have to buy for Riley...She isn't climbing out of her crib so we just left her in there.

KOscar · June 2011

DS is 20 months and not ready for his toddler bed. I honestly think it'll be awhile before he is. Given that number two is due in about six weeks we plan to keep him in the pack n play for as long as possible. If we end up having to buy another crib we'll just do that. I really don't want to move DS to a bed before he's ready.

Bran_ham · June 2011

My DS will be 22 mos when #2 arrives (in 2 wks). We bought another crib as DS's crib is convertible so we plan to eventually turn it into the frame for a full sized bed. LO2's crib is also convertible. We just converted DS's bed into a toddler bed with the partial rail and he's doing fine. He started climbing out of his crib on a regular basis and we felt it was safer. He loves having his big boy bed as we call it, he occasionally falls out of bed but usually only when he's getting ready to wake up.

scaneiki · June 2011

We bought another crib. Both cribs are convertible so we'll never have to buy another bed for either child. DD is still in the PNP and we just converted DS's crib to a toddler bed so we could have gotten away with one crib and one toddler bed, but then we'd still need to buy big kid beds.

Mrs.Christie · June 2011

We went straight to a twin daybed (no rail) at 17 months. DD has done really well with it and it was a much easier transition then I thought it would be. I really didn't want to buy a second crib or a second crib mattress for a toddler bed and it has worked out. DD was a good sleeper before and continues to be and she's only fallen out once in since we made the switch (our floors are carpeted and the bed isn't that high off the ground).

MammaBear81 · June 2011

Even though the kids are only 16 months apart the baby spent the first 5 months in our room in a bassinet, so DD1 was about 21 months when we moved her to the toddler bed and then moved the baby into her crib. It really depends on your older ones personality and if you are going to keep the baby in your room (or at least a bassinet for a while) or not. I wouldn't put DD1 in a toddler bed when she was 15 months, I think the extra 5 months really made a difference for her.

caymanbride · June 2011

Both of my boys still sleep in their own cribs. DS 1 LOVES his crib, has never tried to climb out, naps 2-3 hours a day, and STTN 12 hours. There's no reason to move him out yet! I definitely would not have wanted him in a toddler bed 10 months ago when DS 2 was born.

shortstuff15 · June 2011

We will not be buying another crib. Our daughter will be 23 months old when baby is born, but we will probably transition her to a twin bed (we see no reason for a toddler bed) at about 20 months just so she doesn't see the baby as taking away her bed. Our twin bed will have a rail on it and won't be high off the ground though! I know lots of people who have had kids in or around the 2 under 2 and none of them have bought a second crib, so I figure we can get away with it too!!

vanessaNOV2 · June 2011

I knew that ds#2 would use a bassinet for a while So I wasn't worried about It. Now ds#2 is 5 months old & growing out of it. Ds#2 Still needs his crib so we will put ds#2 in a pack & play with bassinet insert. Hopefully BEFORE he grows out of it ds#1 will be ready for toddler bed

CaitlinJ22 · June 2011

hocus:
We'll have 2 cribs. Cribs don't have to be expensive. IKEA sells a decent one.
I personally see no advantages to moving a kid early. A crib keeps my daughter contained and I can see how that might be very important if I'm alone with her and a new born.

I agree. My son is 2.5 and not ready for a bed yet. We bought a graco crib for DD that was $169 and it was so worth it. I think we'll make his crib a toddler bed when he is closer to 3. I see no reason to rush it. He is also having nightmares now, and I can imagine him trying to get out of the room and screaming, waking DD up down the hall.

At 15, 16 months old I vote crib. My kids are 18 m apart and I got an extra crib. WORTH IT.

12bailey18 · June 2011

We bought another convertable crib for this LO. DS will be 18 months and I'm not quite ready for him to be in a toddler bed. I both wanted them to have beds that could grow with them, as well.

WhitePicketFence · June 2011

DD1's crib converts to a toddler bed (which I don't think she's ready for just yet) so she'll keep that. We will plan to buy a new convertible crib for DD2.

t.bird · June 2011

we bought another crib

Cilley · June 2011

Yes, we got her a convertible crib, like her brother, and it was delivered yesterday.

Gina070605 · June 2011

We bought another crib. DS is still happy as a clam in his and I didn't want to kick him out of his bed for the new baby. Plus it's a convertable crib so it will be his toddler bed when he decided he wants a big boy bed.

kristalovesjared · June 2011

Definitely another crib and mine will be 22 months apart. DD is nowhere near ready to sleep in a toddler bed. We can't even get her to sleep with us in our bed.

ReiszsPieces · June 2011

We are in the same position. LO will be 14 mos when the new one gets here. I'm thinking that we could use a second crib. I know that it may be possible to transfer LO to a toddler bed by then, but I find that it is much easier to keep kids in their bed and sleeping if they can't easily climb out. A second crib will be a solid investment.

moonfaerie · June 2011

We bought a second crib. Both are convertibles. My older DD still sleeps in the crib. She still moves around a lot, and I like that she's contained. She doesn't climb out of the crib yet, though she can certainly climb off a bed. It makes my life much easier, and since she 's perfectly happy in our crib, I'm not messing with it until it doesn't work for us anymore.

agmaso · June 2011

Mine are 15 months apart. We knew the baby would be in a bassinet in our room for at least a month or two so we decided to wait until she was here and take it from there. My older DD still needed a lot of our help to go to sleep and only started to put herself down around that time so we "thought" we decided on get another crib when she was 16 months and baby was 1 month old. We went to the store and came back with a toddler bed!!!! total spur of the moment... she just looked so cute in it when we were there.

I have to admit I panicked when we brought it home but we purchased it on an out of town trip and the store was 3 hrs away. So we bit the bullet and just set it up in her bedroom (left the crib there as well). Soon after we moved the crib to baby's room and never looked back

DD#2 switched to a toddler bed at 16 months as well. She also only just a few weeks earlier started putting her self to sleep and she was still nursing at bedtime and when she woke up at night. She did however start climbing out so instead of buying the tent, we just put her in the toddler bed which was already set up in her room. She has been sleeping in it since.

Of course both would climb out at first and we'd go in and put them back in but they "got it" pretty quickly.

agmaso · June 2011

My point is, you'll get advice on both sides... once thing I've learned with 2u2 is wait until baby is here... you really can't predict what's going to happen and how your older one will be in regards to sleep. And that can go for just about anything... not just sleep.

Oh and if you do decide to skip getting another crib... putting a baby gate at DD's door was the best thing we ever did. DD#2 has a gate in her door now too... She is far to young to potentially be walking around the house in the middle of the night. The gate keeps her safely in her room. Which is why I don't get the "I'm not ready for her to be able to get out" argument... supposedly their rooms are safe for them to be unattended in right? to an extent obviously but in our case (both cases) them being able to get out of their beds in the morning and start playing has bought me some extra "me" time in bed before I have to go get them. When they were in the crib they were much more eager to have me come get them. Once they were able to freely choose what they could play with it definitely made it easier.

mayowife · June 2011

Every baby/toddler is different.

We got a second crib. Both cribs are convertible, so nothing will go to waste. Our second crib was very affordable.

DD is actually still sleeping in our room, but DS is no where near ready to be out of his crib. DD is 7 weeks and DS is nearly 18 months.

laura1 · June 2011

Mine are 15 months apart. We had Dd in our room with us for the first 6 months...at the 3 month mark, it was pretty clear that DS was NOT ready for a toddler bed, so we bought a second crib. They are both still in their cribs, so it was a good investment! Both of them have convertible cribs, so they will grow with them.

Honestly, having them both in cribs has saved my sanity - it is nice to know that they are both safe and secure in their cribs and not roaming the halls. I have no idea when we will start moving DS out...hopefully not for a while!

sweetpea2003 · June 2011

We have two cribs. Both can convert to a toddler bed.

I got advice when I first got pregnant that with 2u2 (mine are 16m apart) that I would want my older one contained more than ever. Boy were they ever right. The last thing I needed when I was up 542 times per night nursing and trying to soothe a newborn was my DD wandering around.

Frankly, I have no plans to put DD in a toddler bed until she really shows interest. She will be 2 in a few weeks and she LOVES her crib. She doesn't try to climb out, loves to go into it, and is just happy overall. I didn't want to take the security blanket away from her when DS was born.

So yea, we have two cribs. But both of them can turn into toddler beds if we choose. We got our second crib (a Pottery Barn Kids sleigh crib in pristine condition) on Craig's LIst for about $200 so it wasn't a big expense.

Mereou12 · June 2011

We bought another crib.

DS1 will be 21 months when DS2 is born, but we know that even then, he won't yet be ready for a toddler bed or twin bed. I don't see the point in trying to take him out before he's ready -- so long as he's happy in his crib, we'll keep it that way.

funkyfrog · June 2011

Our children will be 15 months apart as well.

My daughter slept in the bassinet for 4 months so that will bring us to 19 months if baby #2 does the same. We were planning then to put her in a bed but it depends how she is when she is more mobile after a year old. Right now she is a great sleeper. So I'm hoping she will be fine going to a bed around 19 months. But we're not going to make any decisions yet.

futuremrsmcnichols · June 2011

We are not buying another crib. DD rarely ever sleeps in her crib as-is. This is mainly because I have a fear of something bad happening and me not knowing about it. We have a first floor master and for me to be able to get to her during the night, I would have to walk to the back of the house, up the stairs, and down the hallway. She has basically been co-sleeping with us since birth. We plan on using a bassinette and then transition to the bassinette part of a pack-n-play. Hopefully by the time DD#2 grows out of this, we can move DD#1 to the full size bed we already have in her bedroom, and DD#2 can use the crib, and DH and I will move our bedroom to our guest bedroom and make our master the guest room. We will be moving within the next few years, so we will buy DD#2 a new bedroom set once we move, hopefully by then she will be old enough for real furniture and DD#1 can have her convertible bed back, use it as the headboard and footboard.

xtencornfield · June 2011

Already bought DS a new convertible crib. He will be 18 mos when #2 gets here and there is no way he's going to be ready for a toddler bed.

flgator · June 2011

laura1:
Honestly, having them both in cribs has saved my sanity - it is nice to know that they are both safe and secure in their cribs and not roaming the halls. I have no idea when we will start moving DS out...hopefully not for a while!

This. My boys are 22 months apart and we got a 2nd crib. DS1's is convertible. I'm so glad we bought another crib b/c DS1 was not ready for a bed when DS2 was born. Also, DS1 is a good sleeper, and we didn't want to mess that up. I like having a safe place for both of them.

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