My daughter was 2 weeks passed her 2 year birthday. I made the switch because I had noticed her trying to climb and was scared she'd figure it out sooner or later. I made a big deal out of her new bed and she came and picked out the bed and bedding and helped put it all together, she was so excited she was practically bouncing off the walls. She actually got into the bed before we even finished getting the bedding on it, she wanted to go to sleep and it wasn't even bedtime! I recommend moving the crib right out of the room when you do the switch otherwise seeing it may cause the little one to want in the crib in the middle of the night. We had no problems, she woke up once the first night but only needed to be tucked in, she was still half asleep, I think she may have just forgot where she was. She slept right through the second night. I had another friend who had her daughter in a big bed at 18 months, and her son by his second birthday. But I had another friend who gave it a try and her little guy wanted nothing to do with it so she tried a couple months later and he has been fine. I would say if it doesn't work the first try to try again in a few weeks and see how it goes, or you could try naps in the big bed and bedtime in the crib until things get comfortable. I also recommend getting the siderail so s/he can't roll off the bed, I think it also gives them a sense of security, they were used to having the crib rails so the siderail is very similiar and gives you a piece of mind knowing s/he won't fall off the bed.
My son is 19 months right now and my mom and I went looking the other day at big boy beds and found one I fell in love with. I was just wondering if it was still to early or not. He hasn't learned how to crawl out of the crib or anything...was just wondering when you knew they were ready for the transition.
How did he react to the beds? My daughter was excited about the beds even in the store, she was climbing up onto all of them and would lay down and pretend to sleep, it was funny. It's up to you, I do know kids that were in beds by that age, for me I wanted to wait as long as I could, until I noticed she was trying to get out on her own. Goodluck. Oh, we also put the baby gate at her door when she'd go to bed, because for the first little while she would try to come out, I also didn't want her getting up at 4 in the morning and getting into trouble, with the gate up I know she is in her room, and she knows she is to stay in there...but because the door is open she isn't the least bit bothered by it and I can hear her well too.
LOL, I know what you mean about waiting as long as you can this bed is just sooo adorable! Well, he wasn't with me while we looked, I can picture him being very excited though. I will definitely be putting the side rails up...he tends to move around a lot at night. Good idea about the gates too. Thanks
I waited until my daughter got to the point of wanting to climb too much, I was concerned that she would fall out of the crib. I had tried her once before on a big bed and she definitely made sure she let me know thats not what she wanted. She would not go to bed unless I put her back in the crib. She now is 2 and a half and has been in a big bed since the summer and loves it. Sandra
My kids were both 2 years old when we made the switch from crib to toddler bed. I did it then because they were at the point where they were climbing out......and rather risk them getting hurt by climbing out of the crib, I bought them toddler beds and they did just fine.
