Cribs to toddler beds

Good evening ladies! I have some questions and I am sure you girls can help me. I really hope ican keep my twins in cribs as long as I can't. But lately, Nolan starts trying climb out of his crib. He can't get out yet but soon... So should I convert their cribs to toddler beds? I am afraid they won't stay in bed. My kids are very active. If they can get out of bed, there is no way they will stay in and sleep. What xan I do? TiA!

 

I keep waiting for my boys to climb out....I just feel like it's coming any time. My plan is to try crib tents before giving up on cribs and going to beds....I am afraid their sleep, especially naps, will go totally out the window once we go to beds!!

 

We switched the girls at 18 months (not for any particular reason - I was just ready for the transition). What we did was take everything (and I mean everything) out of their room. The only thing left were their beds, bedding, a couple of loveys each and an empty change table (we moved their dresser into the closet & put closet locks on; we installed a floating shelf up high for their white noise, fan/humidifier & night light & ran the cords behind the change table into one of these). Then we did nap & bed time like we always had & left the room and did not go back in. The first couple of weeks they would get up & run around & play, sometimes for several hours, before finally conking out, usually on the floor by the bedroom door (we would put them back in their beds before we went to bed). Naps weren't as much of an issue - they usually fell asleep pretty quickly. I won't lie - we had some grumpy days, but then the transition was over & done with & they're now very good at sleeping in regular beds & staying in them.

 

I can't offer any advice yet as I'm hoping to keep my 2 in their cribs for as long as possible! The transition to beds is not something I am looking forward to. At least when their in their cribs, I know that they can't go anywhwere and even if they're not sleeping, I can leave the room (and them lol). I am soooooooooooooooooo not ready to give that up! :babyflips:
Goodluck!

 

I had to transition my DD at 19 months because she kept climbing out of her crib. She did a good job with the transition. Like Rachel, we really toddler proofed her room prior to making the transition. Had her watch as DH turned her crib into a toddler bed, which she was excited about. At night time she was great at going to bed and not fooling around. Nap time was a little harder, as she took that time to play and run around. I used to sit in her room and not say anything to her. Any time she got out of bed, I quietly put her back in. After the novelty of the bed wore off, she was back to napping.

 

We did it at 19 months. For us bedtime has been relatively easy but naps have been a little tougher. At night they go into their beds and go to sleep. At nap one of my DDs just seems to think it's playtime so I sometimes remove her and put her to sleep in my room. We also removed EVERYTHING from the room. They have their beds, blankies, a few stuffed animals and books and that's it. Everything else is in the closet which is locked.

The transition went a lot smoother then I thought it would...as with all transitions I seem to work myself up over them so much that when it comes time to actually do them the reality isn't nearly as bad as I imagined it would be . The hardest part for us is that we also took their soothers away so we're still dealing with some craziness on that respect. I think if they still had their soothers the bed transition itself would have been a piece of cake!

 

should you convert?? that's the million dollar question!

anyway my ds tried to hike his leg up and over his crib at about 19 mo. Immediately kept them both in sleep sacks. It helped for several months for them to not be able to hike their leg up and over. After that we did do crib tents for a good year. So from 22 mo. to about 34 mo. we had the tents.

A couple of months into crib tents - at 24 mo. - I attempted open toddler beds for almost 2 months. UGH!!! It didn't go well for us, that was the understatement.

I think that it's a great idea to get the kids to understand limitations at an earlier age, but for us it worked out well to have crib tent and just be able to "zip them up"... and keep them inside! Good luck!!!

 

p.s. when we did finally do toddler beds this past spring, we did what the others have said, take out all the furniture! we kept just cribs w/bedding. I even had to take the crib skirts off b/c one day I came in and they were off!! anything to keep their little minds going so that they wouldn't have to go to sleep.

we finally at 3 yrs old took naps away and it helped. I realized since then at 3 yrs old that they only require 11 hrs of sleep... ugh! hopefully you are able to keep naps and keep your sanity!

 

Thank you so much ladies! I decided to keep them in cribs for a while. I would like to try out crib tents. Do you girls have any suggestions? I don't know which kinds work best? This morning, Nolan was hanging on top of the crib rail!!!

 

NO advice for when to switch to toddler beds, but I will say my girls starting climbling out about 3 months ago. They tried it for a couple weeks and then they were not intersted in doing it anymore. maybe it is just a faze and nolan will grow out of trying to cimb out. I am going to keep my girls in cribs for as long as possible. i could not imagine trying to make their entire bedroom floor like a crib and going through all that right now. they sleep great, and they still nap two times a day! not doing it anytime soon here!

good luck and i hope he stops trying to climb out!

 

I think you will probably have to deal with kids getting out of bed no matter what age you switch them over, LOL, it's just natural once you put them in a new environment. I switched my girls to regular twin beds from cribs at 2 and I had a heck of a time getting them to stay in bed for the first couple weeks, but then they adjusted and stopped getting up.

 

Mine started climbing out at 18 months, no way was I going down without a fight!! LOL. I took out the crib matress support and put the crib mattress right on the floor. Success!! They will be 2 next month and still can't get out.

 

for crib tents read the instructions before you buy if you can. I used both the Crib Tent Original and the Crib Tent II, the original was just a topper and didn't have the "surround" netting around the sides of the crib and under the mattress like the "II" version. BUT... if you have a crib where all sides are not level... like if it has a "head board on one side, you won't have good results with the "II" version so go with the "Original" instead.

if all sides are level, then you could choose either crib tent. one thing I liked about the "II" version is that it kept pacifiers inside!! BUT... when you go to potty train, if you have any accidents that go over the side of the crib, the netting will get dirty/wet and have to be washed and it's a royal pain to take the whole thing off...

anyway, good luck!!