When to move out of crib?

[cricketwife]

I’m wondering when is a good time to move from the crib. We moved DS1 at 2.5 because we needed the crib for DS2.  It was a rough transition, but I’m learning that transitions are just generally rough with him. dS2 has a totally different personality and I *think* will be easier, but you never know. He won’t really be moving to a different bed, it will just be converting his crib to the toddler bed option, if that makes sense. He is 26 months. Part of me doesn’t want to ruin a good thing. Part of me wonders if it gets harder to move them the longer they are in their crib. So if there were no external factors impacting your decision, when did you ditch the crib? 

[pooh8402]

We took the side off of E's crib when he was 22 months, then put him in a twin bed on the floor at 26 or 27 months. (We stored the crib at that time) It was a really easy transition for us. We never even used toddler rails.

He had been taking naps in our (tall king) bed for months prior though, and was never much of a roller. He also was the type to not attempt to climb out of bed, but would rather call out for us.

We were TTC at the time, but it wasn't much of a factor in our decision, especially once our FET failed and we knew we'd need IVF again.

[jnibean]

DS is only 9 months old, so it will be a while yet, but I plan to leave him in his crib until he's climbing out of it and I can't drop the mattress any lower.

[minionkevin]

Kid2 is 27m and still in the crib, but climbs out in the morning upon waking.
Kid1 is 4y2m and still in a crib, not converted, but we will get a twin size bed soon bc we are not buying a 3rd crib for Kid3. Kid1 is usually a good listener, rule following type, and I had a crib until 4.5 (parents lived in a 1BR apartment and that’s all that fit), so it’s normal to me to not move until this age.

[sillygoosegirl]

We converted it to a toddler bed at 15 months. We figured doing the transition when she couldn't work door knobs yet would be good. And we wanted her to have independent access to the potty. And she seemed close to being able to climb out (she was trying to climb in at the end oof bedtime routine and nearly able to). The transition wasn't too bad, but we've had various difficult periods along the way when she'd get out of bed when she wasn't supposed to... on the other hand, I think those periods were inevitable either way.

[scm1011]

If I wasn't expecting #2, I'd leave DS (23 months) in his crib indefinitely. He loves it, has never tried to climb out, and is no where close to potty training. He'll be 2.5 when #2 arrives, and the baby will likely spend 4-6 months at a least in our room, so we'll move him around 3 I imagine. I may even entertain buying a 2nd crib if he isn't showing signs of readiness, we'll see.

[katiecj6]

I tried at 2 years old and it was a disaster and after two nights, I put him back.

Didn't try again until 3.5 years and switched from the crib to a twin and it went great.

[Blue Moon]

I moved my older child at 28 months from crib to converted toddler bed. She was already potty trained (but we used a pull up at night anyway) and she wasn’t climbing out or anything. The main motivating factor was that we needed to move the glider in her room into the nursery for her younger brother. We were still using the glider daily to read and snuggle before naps and bed, so we moved to the toddler bed so we could kind of lean in and read snuggle in there when the glider was moved. That didn’t last long before we just went ahead and converted her crib to a full size bed so we could all read more comfortably. We had zero issues with the transition.

[madringal]

My older two learned how to jump out at 18 months, so that made our decision to move them out pretty easy. My youngest will be 3 next month and is still totally content to be in the crib. I actually want to move her to a bed bc she is potty trained and having to get her out of bed in the middle of the night occasionally bc she has to pee is pretty annoying. But I hate that phase of you worry that they will wonder around the house at night or not stay in their bed once you put them down - so we are dealing with it.

[starburst604]

Still going strong in the crib at 3.5 lol. She’s not a climber and seems content so we’ve left it. It will convert to toddler bed then a full so when we do make the switch we’ll likely go straight to the full bed. Soon I think - lifting almost 40 lbs in and out is getting to be a workout!

She wears a pull-up at night but we’ve noticed that when she sleeps in our bed she will wake to go potty, so she’ll be able to easily go to the bathroom across the hall from her room if she needs to without waking us.

[cricketwife]

FWIW, my first coukd climb out for at least a year before we moved him. We just made it safe fir him to cling out. Shrug. DS2 can climb out but rarely does. Climbing out isn’t a factor for me at all. PT’ing will be if we haven’t already made the change by then. There isn’t room for a twin bed in his room so he will stay in the crib itself regardless. I guess it’s just a question of rail or no rail.

[jordylee]

DD is almost 18 months and we just converted her crib to a toddler bed this week. She is really tall and has tried climbing, so I would rather rip off the bandaid now. She is on the cusp of being able to open doors, so we figured it would be harder after that. We tend to do early transitions though, and she handles them pretty well.

[hopecounts]

Check your manual most say move out when baby begins to climb out or is 35 inches whichever happens first.

At 35 inches there is a fall risk if baby pulls up in the crib so most say to move baby out at that point.

[dcn]

DS2 will be 3 in December and is still in his crib and I have no plans to move him. Don’t want to ruin a good thing! He goes in there at 7:30 and we don’t hear from him until at least 6:30. We are moving though in January so we may end up doing it then.

We moved Ds1 when he was around 2.5 because we moved and we didn’t have his crib for 6 weeks, and I was pregnant so it seemed like a good time. He did fine, the worst part was getting him to stay in his bed at bedtime at first.

[Mrs.flang]

DD is 26 months and I’m planning on keeping her in a crib as long as I reasonably can. She still cries whenever we leave her to sleep so I cannot imagine the battle if she could easily just get up and run around. If she didn’t do that I’m not actually sure what point I’d switch, except that I wouldn’t mess with bedtime if it’s working for you as is.

[felicity]

DS is almost 4 and still in the crib. Not sure when we will move him. Probably when he asks or when I don't think it will mess up his sleep, whichever comes first.

[pinotgrig]

Ds1 was in a crib until 3.5yo. Super easy transition once we did the pool noodle trick to keep him from falling out of bed..

Ds2 is still in his at 2yo. No plans to change as he’s not interested in climbing out and sleeps well.

[curbsideprophet]

Oct 14, 2018 11:21:44 GMT -5 minionkevin said:

Kid2 is 27m and still in the crib, but climbs out in the morning upon waking.
Kid1 is 4y2m and still in a crib, not converted, but we will get a twin size bed soon bc we are not buying a 3rd crib for Kid3. Kid1 is usually a good listener, rule following type, and I had a crib until 4.5 (parents lived in a 1BR apartment and that’s all that fit), so it’s normal to me to not move until this age.

How does the 4 year old go to the bathroom? Do they climb in and out themselves?

We converted both kids when they started climbing out. I think it was around age two for both kids.

[krystee]

DS1 was 2.5 and I will probably do the same with DS2. DS1 (now 3.5) is desperate to have bunk beds with his brother.

[boiler717]

T is 2y10m and still going strong in sleep sacks in the crib. We are thinking of switching soon, mainly because he hates pack n plays but doesn’t really know how to fall asleep in a bed without someone laying with him. So naps at my parents house and traveling are rough. I’d like him to be able to nap better there and on vacation!

[kate1482]

We actually bought a new crib when ds was born because I wasn’t ready to boot my daughter. We moved her 6 months later right before she turned 3. She loved her crib and never tried to climb out. We only switched her because Land of Nod had a sale on the Jenny Lind furniture we wanted.

[macmars45]

DS is 2.5 years old. We're team crib for life... or until he climbs out.

ETA: boiler717, could your DS just be really uncomfortable on the hard "mattress" that pnps have? At 7 months my DS started refusing to sleep in his pnp while traveling. Pretty sure he went 48 hours without sleeping more than 45 minutes at any one time. It was Christmas at my parents' house and it was bad. We got a pnp mattress and it he went back to STTN while traveling. They also have pnp that come with built in mattresses. We actually ended up buying one when DS outgrew the normal size pnp just before 2. Guava and Lotus are two brands. I can't find the one I bought to link for you.

[expectantsteelerfan]

We waited till 3 with both, that worked for us.

[minionkevin]

Oct 14, 2018 13:57:10 GMT -5 curbsideprophet said:

Oct 14, 2018 11:21:44 GMT -5 minionkevin said:

Kid2 is 27m and still in the crib, but climbs out in the morning upon waking.
Kid1 is 4y2m and still in a crib, not converted, but we will get a twin size bed soon bc we are not buying a 3rd crib for Kid3. Kid1 is usually a good listener, rule following type, and I had a crib until 4.5 (parents lived in a 1BR apartment and that’s all that fit), so it’s normal to me to not move until this age.

How does the 4 year old go to the bathroom? Do they climb in and out themselves?

We converted both kids when they started climbing out. I think it was around age two for both kids.

Overnight diaper at night and a pull-up for nap. Kid1 also wears a pull-up at school for napping (where no climbing is necessary, as they sleep on cots) and has never, not once, even as a fluke, woken up dry after any sort of sleep.

[luv2rn4fun]

Great to see all the older kids still in their crib...I thought DS1 was an anomaly still in his at 3y10m. He doesn’t climb (and when he does I let him know that if he climbs out he will get a big boy bed...he loves his crib!). I will convert him when he climbs out or asks for a big boy bed.

DS2 just turned 2 and will be in for awhile...

[Shreddingbetty]

Mine was in a crib until 3.5. Never climbed out until then. She was also perfectly happy in her sleep sacks. She got a sleeping bag for Xmas that she loved and wanted to sleep in and shortly thereafter we decided to change her to a bed. Mostly because she was climbing out of the crib (really only for her naps never at night). The transition was easy. She was so used to having to holler for me if she needed anything that she never got up out of bed anyway, almost to a fault....
But she is also very easy going and has been sleeping in lots of différents places since she was a baby with traveling and that was never an issue either so I didn’t really expect the transition to be a problem

[steamboat185]

We will be leaving this one in the crib until she climbs out. We moved our first a little before 3, but no rush this time.

[nextbigthing]

I think this is SO kid dependent. I had two friends that were out of the crib at 18 months because the kids were climbers.

DS is 3.5 and I just got him out of the crib and sort of had to force the issue. He's now on a twin mattress on the floor.

[dcrunnergirl52]

DD and DS1 were in cribs until 3.5 years old. They were both potty trained at 3 years and never needed to get out to go to the bathroom. (FWIW, at 8 years old they still have never needed to in the MOTN.) We moved them when we needed to move DS2 out of our room at 6 months old and into a crib. They both went right to twin beds with no rails. DD never fell out, DS1 only fell out once.

DS2 was moved around 3 years old. He climbed out once at 2 years old, and I scolded him pretty hard, and he never did it again until about 3 years old, so we converted it to a toddler bed with no rail.

[tarajane]

Never. My triplets started crawling out consistently at 29 months so we switched. It's been awful.