When to move out of the nursery?

jhenrie · May 2013

My husband and I just found out we're pregnant again, due in January. Our daughter will be 15 months old when her new sibling is born. We have plenty of room in our house for each baby to have their own room. I want to move my daughter to her own room and keep our unisex nursery exactly the same for the next baby. But my problem is, is 15months too young to move dd to her own room/toddler bed? I would rather not have to buy another crib to keep her in for a few months. Suggestions? Thanks in advance!

mkenney12 · May 2013

We are in the same boat, our son will be 18 months when our next child is born and he is nowhere near ready for a toddler bed. He is almost 14 months now and we JUST got him to go to bed in his crib without much fight. He is also not walking yet, and small for his size, and he moves around way too much. I don't think you should push it and just bite the bullet and buy a less expensive crib from a store like Target. We are moving our son to his new room in the next month or two, so he is settled a couple of months before the next child comes.

You can always put baby in a pack and play/cradle/bassinet for the first month or so to give you more time but our son never would sleep in those so we are not counting on that as good back up for this child either.

I think 15 months is fine for a new room, just start slow and allowing our child to play in there and get used to it as you are setting it up, and start by doing naps in there before you adjust to bedtime in the new room. That is our plan. I hope this helps!

crene84 · May 2013

I have the same situation. DD will be just under 15 months when the new baby comes. With DD, we had her in our room in a bassinet for 5 months and that worked well, so I am hoping we can do the same with the second baby. That would make DD 20 months when we need to move her out of the nursery. I am hoping I can just do a twin bed on the floor in her new room with those railings you can buy. Some people say 20 months is early, but some kids are trying to get out of their crib by then anyway, and so far DD has proven to be very adventurous!

Unknown · May 2013

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kagl08 · May 2013

We never moved rooms with our kids, so I'm no help there, but I thought I'd way in on the crib thing. My DD will be 3 in August. And my DS will be 2 in September. They are both still in their cribs and we will not be moving them to toddlers beds any time in the near future. At 15 months, there no way my kids would have been ready.

We got 2 cribs that both convert into toddler beds, then full sized beds. So I don't feel like it was a wasted purchase at all.

mamarazzi528 · May 2013

Mine are 16 months apart. I wanted the same as you -- keep the nursery for the new baby and move my older LO to a new room.

What I did was have the baby sleep in my room in a bassinet (and eventually pack n play) for the first 4 months. I figured this would give us all time to adjust to the new baby and DD would be a little bit older for the room transition. A month prior to the switch, we got DD accustomed to the new room by letting her play in it and check out the new bed (we did a twin bed with a rail on the floor). When she was 20 months, we officially moved her in there. The transition went really smooth and we never had any trouble with her not staying in her bed. From then on she acted like she had always slept in that room and in that bed. She never asked to sleep in her old room or crib again!

You could wait and see if your DD has a problem with the toddler bed and buy a crib at that time if she does.

Good luck!

BeckyTheEngineer · May 2013

My first was about 2 years and 2 months when we switched to a toddler bed, and that was an easy transition. At about 2 years and 9 months she got a twin bed. My 16 month old is still in a crib, and is nowhere near ready to transition. Baby 3 is due any day, so we are glad we just got 2 convertible cribs back when we had our second.

VTFutureMrs · May 2013

We moved each of our kids into their own rooms and into toddler beds at 18 months with no problems. 15 months might still be early. It really depends on your LO.

StayingSecret · May 2013

We'll be 18-19 months apart. I plan on moving LO#1 to the new room a couple of months before I'm due. But I'm moving him to a different crib. He sleeps well in a crib and I don't think he's ready for a bed. But I'm using a hand-me-down crib that my sister's youngest just grew out of aka: FREE!

RedDDD · May 2013

Mine will be 16-17 months apart and there isn't a chance in hell I will move DS before he is ready. He sleeps like a rock in his crib and seems to really love being in it so I am just planning on biting the bullet and buying a second convertible crib identical to the one we have and having them both in cribs. Some kids start climbing out early but some still sleep in cribs at 3. I would rather keep him in the same routine with minimal changes. Having a second baby in the house will be enough change and one thing I wont mess with is sleep. If it aint broke dont fix it. But thats just me.....

SweetHurricane · May 2013

We bought another crib (convertible). DD1 is almost 2.5 and is still in her crib. I'm not rushing the toddler bed transition. As for switching rooms - we did it as far in advance as possible. As soon as her new room was ready we started by playing in there during the day, then moved her for night sleep, then finally for naps (naps were worst for her since it was light out and she wasn't familiar with the room).

LC122 · June 2013

We started out with a convertible crib for 1 and after much discussion will likely do the same for 2 so that each can transition on their own schedule.
We talked about getting a toddler bed for 1 to sleep in but that would really be meant for 2 because 1 would get her convertible furniture back after 2 was done with the crib function. We decided that was too much back and forth and would force 1 out of her crib perhaps before she was ready.
I think you should get a convertible system now and then you can keep 1 in a crib as long as you need to without being pressured to transition before ready.

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