Toddler bed q's

My boys are still in cribs & have yet to show any inkling of climbing out. My husband is really itching to get them into toddler beds, but I'm not as eager . Our cribs are the convertible ones that convert to toddler 'day' beds, but when you do, they don't have any rails on the 4th side.

So, my questions are:

*What age is a "good" age to switch to toddler beds from your past experience? I know it will vary per child, but an overall idea would be helpful.

*Do you need a rail on the 4th side for the converted toddler beds? Most toddler beds have built in rails, but the converted cribs do not (or you can buy a conversion rail for like $100!). Aiden is a super restless sleeper, so I KNOW he'll fall out, but Conner is a fairly quiet sleeper. Do you just let them fall out to learn or should I pay the big bucks & put up a rail?

 

We switched our girls into twin beds at 2.5 and it went very well. We use bedrails on the sides because they still fall out. I take them off occasionally but they still need them.

 

Thanks for posting this topic because I am struggling with the same thing right now. My one son, Samuel, actually climbed out of his crib and fell at my in-laws last week. Thank goodness he was not hurt but it has really gotten me thinking about the switch to the "big boy beds". I actually ordered two toddler beds because our cribs do not convert. They arrived on Wednesday but I am actually dreading making the switch. Samuel has not even attempted to get out of the crib again so for right now I am trying to buy my time. I just can't imagine how I would convince 2 barely two years olds that they need to stay in their beds at naptime and bedtime. How do you even begin to do that? When I start to think about it I get overwhelmed and think....ok I'll wait just a little while longer!

Good luck and let me know how it goes if you do make the switch!

 

We've never used toddler beds. We switched DD to a twin bed at 26 months since she climbed out of her crib. We moved DS to a twin bed 4 months before he turned 3. Now at 3.5 years old they each still have a bedrail on the side of their bed (the other side is pushed against the wall). And we take them when we travel to put on the beds as well. I feel better knowing they won't fall out of bed.

 

Tomorrow will be our 1 week anniversary of toddler beds. We also have a convertable crib and didnt want to spend $100 each!!! So, we got regular rails (not sure what the brand is but it only had one side in the box). My DH put them on. The problem with a regular rails is that the crib matress isnt heavy enough to hold the bars down that go under, so he used zip ties to sucure it to the frame. It is working great! And it was only $40 each!!! The boys are doing better every night. The first night it was about 2 hours til they went down and each night has gotten shorter. knock on wood!!!

 

We switched the girls over right before they were 2. It was easier for me to get them to bed by myyself in the toddler beds( still rocking them and then putting them to bed. Our toddler beds had half rails. Walmart sells a really nice white one that is easy to put together. I have 2 still if any one in Okc is looking for one! At three we put them in twin beds and now they sleep together again ardon: . They slept in a crib together till 14 months when they were over the weight limit. They do not have a rail on their twin beds

 

I would use the rails. Then you won't be obsessively checking on them before you go to be to make sure they aren't hanging out of their beds! (Or is that just me :blush: )

Mine still managed to fall out with rails a few times, but now they are mostly capable of not using them at almost 4.5~

 

My girls never attempted to climb out of the crib so I had no reason to switch them to beds until right before their 3rd b-day. We went straight to twin beds even though the cribs we had did convert, just seemed better to make the switch to beds. We never had any issue with them getting out of bed, they were old enough to understand they needed to stay put. They do have rails, though one just broke yesterday so DD slept without a rail on one side for the first time last night and all was fine. We will how that continues. I am not sure how you are supposed to know that your kids won't fall out and you can take the rails off since they don't fall out cause they have the rails.

 

I always said mine were restless, esp DD. But they went to the converatble at 19 mo and have only falled out 1 time each. I just picked them up an dput them back and they were asleep before they were even really awake. THey are low to the ground and think about how much they fall on a daily basis. It hasn't been that big of a deal for us.

 

We are on night #2 in the toddler beds. We are not using rails at the moment and last night went very well. No one fell out of bed which I was quite surprised about. We do not plan on adding rails unless falling out of bed begins to happen regularly.

 

We just moved a little over a month ago and we went ahead and assembled the cribs as toddler beds when we set them up in the new house. We do have the little half side rail and they still fell out the first few nights. Although they slept right through the "thunks" LOL it bothered me because DD broke her collar bone at 3 by falling out of bed. Anyway, we were going to get the big bed rails to attach to the side but they stopped falling out so I think we may skip the big rails afterall. I guess they just had to get used to sleeping without 4 walls. We did push their big little tykes toy boxes against the beds for a couple of nights.

 

Our girls were 2yrs8mos when we moved them to big girl beds. They are double beds though and I can't remember if you said you would be moving them to twins/singles or doubles. Our girls have fallen out a couple of times but have not hurt themselves. H has fallen out twice but N has only fallen out once. I figured at this age, they couldn't really hurt themselves and they seem to have learned very quickly to stay in the middle of the bed. I also go check on them before I go to bed. If they are too close to the side, I move them to the middle. You can also put pillows around the bed or even thick comforters to cushion their fall.

 

We moved from cribs to twin beds at age 3 and it was a super easy transition. I would wait as long as you can. It would have been a free for all party every night (and naptime) had I done it at age 2. But at 3 they understand that they need to stay in bed.

One of mine has a rail (the othe side is against the wall). She's a restless sleeper and fell out of bed almost immediately. The other one has no rails and isn't against a wall, but she's never fallen out.