So what signs should I look for? He's currently about to be 16 mos- his crib is REALLY tall and I can't imagine he'd be able to crawl out of it.
We're not sure if/when we'll have another baby and are thinking of getting an inexpensive toddler bed for him to use until we determine the next step for our family- if we don't do this, he'll transition straight into a Queen bed. How long can you use a toddler bed?
Re: When did you move baby to bed?
My child is over 3 & still in a crib. He sleeps great in there & loves his "baby bed" (his words). His crib does convert to a toddler bed, so we'll either do that or move him directly to his big boy room (our current guest room) which has a queen bed when/if we have another little one.
But I agree - keep him in there as long as possible!!!!!!
28 months here and only because he was climbing in and out.....and I was pregnant so we knew we'd need the crib for the baby a few months later.
I would absolutely not worry about a toddler bed until the baby is climbing out. A lot of my friends kept their children in cribs until 3 and it was a much easier transition. We did not have much of a problem with nighttime, but naps were so much harder!
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We converted her crib to a toddler bed at around 23 months. She wasn't climbing out or anything, we just kind of did it on a whim. She did great for several weeks then went through a month or so long phase of getting out of her bed every night, wrecking her room, emptying her dresser drawers, taking off her clothes, and sleeping on the floor. It is funny now, but was not at the time. hehe. But ever since then, she's done great. She doesn't get out of bed at all now. She stays in there until we come get her in the morning. We close her bedroom door, and there's a doorknob cover on the inside. So wandering around the house has never been an issue for us.
You can keep them in the toddler bed until they get too long for the crib mattress. Although plenty of people transition them straight to a regular bed. We plan to keep Holly in the converted crib for awhile longer, but will eventually buy her a twin bed. She has a toddler bed at my parents house and loves it.
We moved DD#1 at 17 mo., mostly because DD#2 was going to be born when she was 18 mo. and we didn't want to buy another crib. We just moved DD#2 on Saturday night (20 mo.) because we thought she was ready. As with anything, I think there is always a transition you have to work through. Overall, I think the transition with DD#1 went pretty good and so far with DD#2, it's going well. I'm personally of the opinion that waiting till my LOs can crawl out of the crib is waiting too long; a broken bone can happen on the first fall from a crib. But that's just my opinion .
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Personally, I wouldn't have even considered it at 16 months. I think it depends a lot on your child's temperament. Lots of kids go into a bed before 2, but we waited until 3 to move Liam. He was a terrible sleeper when he was little, and I have no doubt it would have been a nightmare trying to get him to sleep in a bed before or at 2. Then, as he got a little older, I would ask him if he wanted a big boy bed, and he'd tear up and say no, I like my crib! So we just didn't push it.
When he turned 3, we made a big deal about buying his big boy bed (twin mattress and box spring on the floor) and Thomas bedding for it which he LOVED. We told him we'd just put the bed away until he was ready for it...well, he had us set it up that night LOL. Because he was older, he was sooo excited about his big boy bed, and so proud about it, and honestly, it hasn't been an issue at all. Getting up to pull clothes out of his dresser and trash his room during the night might have been exciting at 2, but it's just not at 3. He gets up sometimes, to knock on the door if he needs to go to the bathroom, and in the morning when he's ready to get up for the day, but other than that, he's been a total champ. I'm SO glad we waited.
So I say, go with your gut, and if you don't have a pressing need (like a 2nd on the way or a toddler climbing out of his crib), then wait until you and DS are ready. There's no rush!