How soon is too soon for a toddler bed?
We had a serious crib scare this afternoon. Tony was being fussy around his nap time, so we changed his diaper, put him in his crib, closed the curtain, etc. He was quiet for about 10 minutes, then all of a sudden he started screaming hysterically. I was outside taking the dog for a quick walk, but DH ran in the room. Tony had somehow gotten one of his chubby thighs stuck-and I mean STUCK-in between the crib slates. DH tried to get his leg out, but it wouldn't budge. Tony was screaming and crying in pain, and DH panicked and put his fist through the slates. One of them broke off, he got Tony out of the crib and snuggled with him for a few minutes. When I came in with the dog, Tony and DH were both crying. Poor DH was so scared, and Tony's leg was extremely red, swollen and bruised. We called the on-call pedi, who asked us a bunch of questions (we just wanted to make sure Tony didn't need his leg X-rayed. It looks bad right now, but he's walking around just fine and he's putting weight on it, so the pedi doesn't think there's a fracture or anything like that).
DH called his dad, who is also a pedi, and his dad said it sounded like Tony had actually been trying to climb out of his crib. Which would make sense, given the way his leg was stuck between the slates. He said even though Tony is young, it might be a good idea to move him to a toddler bed. We're going to have to do something, since DH pulled a ninja move on the crib. We're either going to have to completely replace one of the sides, get a new crib altogether, or maybe try the toddler bed. What sayeth the December moms? What would you ladies do?
Ugh. It's been a miserable day already. To top it off we have a fraudulent charge on one of our cards. 
Re: How soon is too soon for a toddler bed?
Wow, that must have been terrifying! I'm so glad he's okay, and I have to say, I love your H's daddy instincts.
As for the toddler bed... personally, I think it's too soon, but that's just me. If you can trust him to be in his room alone and night and not wander around and mess with stuff he shouldn't be getting into, then he's ready. I'm keeping Nora in the crib for as long as it's safe and as long as she's happy there... but then again, we haven't had an incident like that!
How scary for Tony and your H, I'm glad he is okay though. I posted a week or two ago about transitioning to big kid beds. Sorry cant find the link and post but I was curious if any dec babies had moved out of the crib. Some had good experiences some were saying the babes are staying in the cribs til 3
.
That being said A is tall and has been making efforts to climb out of the crib we were planning on transitioning this summer So we could use crib for #2 but instead moved it up to this last week. We just have a twin mattress on the floor with his seahorse and his pillow. He has actually transitioned very easily do far. The first day he did fall asleep on the floor by the door for his nap but I just moved him to the bed and he still took his normal nap.
Tricks that worked for us... We put the mattress/bed where his crib was in the room. His room is pretty boring now and child safe, all of the toys an books have been moved out, the dresser is anchored to the wall, and the closet is closed so he can't get into it. We shut the door when we leave after our routine and say good night. Some people lay with the kiddos til they fall asleep but A needs his space to unwind and if we stay with him he will try harder to stay awake but that is him. We don't have any night lights so that at night when we leave We turn on his glow seahorse so If he does follows us to the door he can find his bed. We didn't want him playing with the night lights and stuff so we will introduce those later if he starts getting scared of the dark. Hope things work for you guys good luck!
Thanks for the comments ladies. Yeah, after today's incident DH was really wanting to begin the move to the toddler bed, but I really have my hesitations. For one, I am 100% convinced that Tony will hop right off the bed, run over to his changing table or bookshelf and start pulling things off. Even if we child-proof everything in the room, I have no doubt that he will find a way to get into something. I think we're going to try and replace the side of the crib and keep him in it for a little while longer. He's just too young and I think that would be a difficult transition for him right now.
Enjoylife, sorry I missed your earlier post about this! I will go back and try to find it.
I would prefer to wait as long as possible in the crib, we waited with the triplets until they were 3. They went from being dreams about bed time and naps to giving up naps, trashing their room and taking forever to go to sleep and waking up extra early in the mornings...it has been a PITA!
When they started climbing out at 18 mo we put crib tents on and when they started getting their legs stuck in the slats we weaved their bumpers in and out through the slats. Problems solved.
Good luck!
Honestly I'm thinking of doing the same thing (when the time is right). Ever since birth Tony has been in the 97th percentile for both height and weight, and I'm not sure a toddler bed would be right for him. Oh and I can't believe Landon learned how to undo the baby gate! What a little stinker!
Great idea-I never thought of weaving the bumpers in and out. Thanks!!
Poor guy! We caught C trying to climb out yesterday and it scared the bejesus out of me. We took the side off his crib and put on a toddler rail and he did great last night! I was shocked. His crib is crazy low to the ground (about 6-8 inches) so he can get in and out himself. I just super baby proofed his room and put a gate on his door.
Im convinced that the whole toddler bed thing is like the sippy cup transition or getting rid of the paci - we gear ourselves up for a battle, when it may be as simple as putting im in a new bed. If you're worried, I say give it a shot. You can always put the crib rail back on. Good luck!
Ginny DX 21-Hydroxylase Deficiency Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia
Charlie DX Specific Antibody Deficiency & ASD
That's so scary! I'm glad he's okay.
We moved Nate to a twin mattress on the floor a few months ago. No regrets. He slept terribly in a crib, but does fine in the real bed. We've never found him up playing at night. He usually just sits on the bed at night and cries. A few times he has come into our room looking for us. We have baby gates up blocking off the kitchen and bathroom at all times and he has free rein of his room during the day anyhow, so not a big deal if he were to get up. During the day he gets up after his nap and comes to join us like a big kid. I'm so short it was getting too hard to get him in the crib after he was asleep anyhow - it had to go!
Our Family Blog Weightloss Blog
How scary for Tony and you poor Dh! I think my dh would have done the same thing.
We are going to keep K in a crib for a few more months. I'm going to move the guest bedroom downstairs and make that room for K. Once the room is all finished then we will get a full bed and try to transition her slowly into it.
I think transitioning him to a toddler bed all depends on how safe he would be in his room if he did get up and roam around. If you feel he might stay in bed and it is fully baby proofed then go for it! If you don't feel safe with him roaming around then I would wait and try to fix the rail. I like the pp about weaving the bumper through the rails, I never thought of that but it is a great idea and might help in your situation. If you do that just make sure he will not be using the bumper as something to step on to try to climb out of the crib.
Good luck and I hope Tony's leg feels better soon! By the way that totally sucks about the fraudulent charge on your credit card! Hopefully it was just the one and you can get it resolved - I hate thieves and had to deal with a bunch of fraudulent charges from my wallet being stolen!
Poor little guy. I hope his leg feels better. And I hope you get the charge fixed.
Ive thought about switching J because he does so well on a cot at dc. This weekend we put him on a cot at ILs and we were up fighting with him all night to go to bed. No toddler bed for us right now
Dang, that really sucks! I hope his leg doesn't bother him to long.
We made DD's crib into a toddler bed a couple weeks ago. She would not sleep in her crib so we made it a toddler bed so I could get down by her. She is doing great with it now and sleeping in her bed.
Going from crib to toddler bed - I've done it 4 times. Honestly the first couple of naps and nights went good. Then of course the kids realized that they could get out of their beds. Then we spent the next week or more putting them back in bed a million times until they started staying in bed. I plan on switching Isaac to a toddler bed late summer, early fall possibly. Not yet - I don't feel rushed to - no babies on the way and he is not a climber. So in the crib he will stay for now.
For your situation - now that your crib is no good. I would consider switching to a toddler bed if I was in your situation. It might be rough. Definitely make sure his room is safe even if you have to take half the stuff you have in there out of it. Let us know how it goes if you do switch. Good luck!
Thanks for the advice, everyone. I really appreciate it. DH and I talked during Tony's nap time (the nap that he actually DID take), and we think we're going to keep him in the crib/pack 'n play a little while longer. There is no doubt in my mind that the second we put him in the toddler bed he would be running around the room, not sleeping at all. We may give it a try in a few months though, once DH and I can afford to lose a little more sleep! (DH is finishing up both classes and training right now, so both of us are exhausted most of the time).
Oh, and Tony's leg is looking better. We watched him closely today, and although he has a good size bruise on his right thigh, he was running around, playing and putting weight on his leg. He was in fine baby spirits when he woke up from his nap, so we don't think the incident earlier today was anything serious. Just very scary for all of us. Again, thank you for your kind words and advice!
As far as the fraudulent charges go, there isn't a whole lot we can do until tomorrow. Fortunately (or not so fortunately?) this has happened to us before, and our bank is very good about catching it right away and fixing the issue for us. So I'm not too worried about that, just annoyed.