Both of mine were in a bed at around 2 years. Both because I am short and trying to lift them out was getting harder and harder for me. I never had any worries about them wandering the house at night - never even thought about it until a friend said something a couple of months ago (and my kids are 10 and 6 now!) I was lucky that they never gave me a hard time about going to bed and if they get up early I get up with them.
Post by penguingrrl on Oct 14, 2018 19:15:58 GMT -5
All three of mine climbed out before 18 months, so they moved then. Two of my threee slept better than they ever had in their lives when we switched, the other slept exactly the same. None were attached and none wandered the halls at night or anything.
We're planning to do it next month, she's going to get a big girl bed/bedding for her 3rd birthday.
She could stay in the crib longer, she isn't escaping it and she is still wearing pull ups to bed so she doesn't need the freedom. But I'm pregnant with #2, and we want to move her out of the crib and have it sit unused for a while between her and #2 so she doesn't feel like the baby "took" her crib.
I converted her crib to toddler bed just before her third birthday. She had climbed out a handful of times but wasn’t generally motivated to get out on her own. She was also potty trained but also fine waiting until we got her to use the potty (even now she doesn’t always pee upon waking and will wait up to an hour after waking before the first pee. Don’t know how she does it).
My primary motivation for switching her was because she was starting PK3 and I felt like she should be in a big girl bed since she was going to big girl school. She’s already the youngest in her class so she I didn’t want her to also be sleeping in a ‘baby’ bed (though I think(hope?) that isn’t a thing at 3)
Similarly I’ll probably transition her to a twin before she goes to K if it hasn’t happened naturally by then.
My kid is ridiculously short and a serious sleep roller, so much like rear-facing in the car seat, I think we’ll keep her in her crib until high school. LOL.
Team crib for life. I don’t think she even realizes she is missing out. The other day when I went to get her in the morning she told me “when I get bigger I can take myself out”.
I did tell her that when she gets bigger she will get a big girl bed. I think if we start talking it up maybe the transition will go better. Who knows. I make this parenting stuff up as I go along.
Post by icedcoffee on Oct 14, 2018 20:25:28 GMT -5
DS is still happily in his crib at 23 months. I honestly am in no rush to move him out. We’re currently going through IVF for #2 so they will be at least 32 months apart (assuming this works). With that age gap I’d really like to not buy another crib and I’d like to move DS with enough time that we do that before a baby is here so probably by 30 months. We will also be moving him to a different room so I guess we’d just do it all at once.
If kid 2 is the same I’ll probably keep them in a crib until they are ready to potty train.
Post by Velar Fricative on Oct 14, 2018 20:33:34 GMT -5
22 months, which is when DD1 catapulted out of the crib. If not for that, I would have been crib4lyfe. As it stands now, DD2 is our last kid so she will stay in there forever if we can help it lol.
We converted DS1's crib to a toddler bed last month at 3y3m. The only reason we did it was because when we move in a couple of months, the crib is going to DS2, and DS1 will be getting a twin bed. I thought putting him in the toddler bed would be a good transition step. It's been pretty uneventful.
Post by cricketwife on Oct 14, 2018 20:46:44 GMT -5
Thanks for all the replies. It’s fascinating to me how many people have 2 and 3 year olds who haven’t climbed out of the crib! Mine both did well before two but I was kind of like, ok, they seem to do it fine without getting hurt, whatever. It also never occurred to me that either would wander the house at night. Probably because if they ever did leave their rooms, they’d come straight to me. I still can’t even pee by myself! Anyway, I think we are going to do it next weekend, I’m just ready. I’m not really sure why but I am.
Post by mccallister84 on Oct 14, 2018 21:28:20 GMT -5
I am team crib for life. We actually have fwo cribs as the girls are only 19.5 months apart. The second crib is a hand me down from a friend but I would have bought another one had we needed too. We have zero plans to move DD1 (23 months) anytime soon.
I did not want to move DS1 out of his crib, so we bought a second crib for DS2. When he climbed out of it around 27 months, we took the rail off and put up the toddler rail. I was prepared to keep him in there until he climbed out, honestly. I will do the same with DS2. I see no reason to transition to a bed until they are able to get in and out on their own. The longer they stay forcibly confined, the better!
I will say that the transition for DS1 was totally fine. He never got out of bed when he wasn't supposed to. He does a bit now, at 3, but that's just the usual toddler stalling routine. It was no big deal to move him to a bed. I have a feeling it will be a different story with DS2...
Post by Velar Fricative on Oct 14, 2018 21:46:46 GMT -5
Oh, and I should add that the transition went...okay. There were a few weeks after crib-to-bed conversion that she was so angry and would fall asleep on the floor next to the door. But it was short-lived and in hindsight, a brief hiccup. She remained a good sleeper after that.
Never. My triplets started crawling out consistently at 29 months so we switched. It's been awful.
Yes!! The transition from crib to bed was terrible with my twins. Might just be a multiples issues but it took at least 6 months for it to get better.
I am sooo not looking forward to this. They are already throwing things at each other. Plus everyone loves to share that one viral video of the twins climbing out and tearing apart the couch in the room.
We moved my twins at 3 years, right around their bday. Transition was super smooth. We went straight from crib to twin beds. They also had just potty trained so I felt like that was good for them to be able to get up on their own. I plan to do the same timing with DD2. Neither of my twins ever tried to climb out and loved their cribs.
Post by IrishBelle on Oct 15, 2018 10:15:44 GMT -5
My kids hated their cribs so they got moved earlier than most.
DD1 switched to a full mattress on the floor around 14 months. She stayed that way until her 2nd birthday when she got a bed. Not sure how it happened but she would never get out of bed on her own. She always called for us and we went to her to tell her she could get up.
DD2 switched to a twin bed around 15 months. One side was against the wall and we did have a bed rail on the other side for a few months. She would get out in the morning but otherwise stayed in bed.
They both slept much better in a bed. Luckily we didn’t have any issues with transition since they hated their cribs anyways.
This happened in the PnP last night 😭. However, he just laid on the floor for 2 min and then climbed back in and went to sleep 😂🤷🏼♀️. Never even tried to leave the room.
We just switched S a few weeks after her 3rd bday since she climbed out of the crib for the first time at 3. I was waiting for that before going to the bed and it was an easy transition for us so far two weeks in. She was genuinely excited for the big girl bed and is old enough to really understand she has to stay in it. We went from crib to a twin and really hyped it up and did it up nicely so she would be excited and it worked for us.
Post by HoneySpider on Oct 16, 2018 10:49:15 GMT -5
We moved when DS1 was 20 months and decided to switch him then from the crib to a mattress/box spring on the floor. He's tall and was starting to try and climb out which was making me nervous so we figured this was a good time to try (and if it really didn't work out, we'd go back to the crib). It was actually a really easy transition, he loves his bed and it's easier for us too. We read him a book about Elmo getting a big boy bed each night for a few nights before we did it and it seemed to help with the idea.
DD moved herself out around 20 months. She'd start the night in the crib but then refused to go back to sleep in the crib after her first wake-up. She had a mini-crib. At grandma's she had a regular sized crib and she stayed in that a bit longer, but she was definitely out of it before 2.5. We got her a toddler bed but she barely slept in it. She went straight to a regular bed. She either sleeps with someone (my mom or me) but she can sleep in her room by herself in a full bed.
I remember staying in my crib until I started Kindergarten so I didn't expect her to leave so quickly LOL.
DS is a lunger at 7 months. I fully expect when he is tall enough to attempt lunging from the crib.