Toddler beds vs Twin beds?

I am expecting a new baby any day now ( :wacko and my DH and I are going to move the girls out of the "nursery" and into their "big girl room", which is right next door to where they are currently. The girls are really excited about the move - they got to pick the paint colour on the walls, have chosen a lot of the accessories and are really quite excited about big girl beds. I am considerably less excited, as I really like being able to confine them in a crib, but they are starting to climb & we are reluctant to have to buy a third crib for the new bub.

So my question is - did you all go straight to twin beds, or did you do the transitional "toddler" bed? We were thinking about the toddler bed, because one of my girls is a little on the uncoordinated side (to say the least! ) and I was thinking it would be easier for her to get in/out of, and less distance to fall! But now I am looking at the economics of it all - ouch - and thinking maybe just make the investment in twin beds straight away & use side rails for a while? (like, years!!!)

I would really appreciate any advice and/or experiences y'all had in your transitions from crib to "big girl bed". My girls have been really adaptable to change so far - every time we make a big change I imagine the worst, but they always surprise me with how adaptable they are! The only thing I worry about is losing naps altogether. They are 27 months old now & still really need a nap each day, although they do skip on average 1 day's nap a week, or else really shorten it up. They have been having a lot of colds lately though, which have really played havoc with their sleep patterns. As I am typing this I can hear one of my girls still screaming her head off, so I am guessing no nap today... :headbang:

Anyway, thank you all in advance for your help!

 

We went straight to twin beds. We thought toddler beds would be a waste of money. If you are worried about them falling out you can put rails up. For us the transition wasn't as bad as we had expected, although sometimes I just sit in the room with them until they are settled enough to fall asleep, otherwise they think of all sorts of fun things to do and keep eachother up. Good luck and congratulations on your new baby!

 

I swore up and down that we would never do toddlers beds and that is what they have. The main reason for us was space. Right now, they are in the smallest of the bedrooms which is 8x11. If we were to get twin beds that is all the room would have; two beds and nothing else.

We thought about switching their playroom and making it their bedroom, but it would have been too much work. Plus I know the transition would have been harder for them with a new room and all.

Lastly, was the cost. I had these great daybeds from Ikea picked out for them. They were $500 each plus the cost of the mattress. The toddler beds were $175 each and they are these really cool Buzz Lightyear beds which started the whole Toy Story theme. Here is how it turned out.

If we are still in this house by the time they grow out of these beds, my goal is to move them into the larger bedroom and go straight to bunk beds.

 

For my oldst we went right to a twin bed but with these two we decided to try toddler beds. It's been great! For us it was a matter of space and cost. Plus they are still so ROUGH on everything that I didn't want to pay for something that they were going to draw on, scratch up, bounce on etc. Plus buying two twin mattresses was not cheap and the ones we had in the crib were still in great shape. Now going through potty training and changing sheets all.the.time. I'm glad that we stuck with the smaller ones :faint:

 

If you saw my other thread we switched two days ago, and yeah so far we've lost naps. And that's with nothing left in their room (we even emptied the dresser). They climbed out though so we didn't want to run the risk of one falling and getting hurt, and they'll be 3 in less than 3 weeks so I guess it was coming anyway.

Our cribs change into toddler beds, unfortunately the parts for it are in storage (dh is a king procrastinator and hasn't got anything out since June)... My BIL gave us some bunk beds (that can be separated) when he moved so we figured we'd just use the twin beds instead and get them some cute bedding. My kids move a lot though and I didn't trust bedrails so we just put the mattresses on the floor... at least the fall is short. That's why I probably wouldn't have turned their cribs into toddler beds, the mattress would have been too high too, and I didn't want to spend money on toddler beds just for a year or two. I'm not sure when we'll use the bunk bed frames yet, but we'll probably buy new bedroom sets in a few years anyway (when they ask for their own room).

 

I've had friends who got twin bed sets but only put the main mattress on the floor for now along with a bed rail that slides under between the mattress and the floor. I can't imagine a full bed for one of my DD's, she's almost three but has barely gotten a handle on steps!

 

We just took the fronts off our cribs and made toddler beds. They did fall out at first, but it's a short fall. I probably wouldn't have bought separate toddler beds, but I'm glad to have them. We did lose naps entirely though.

 

We still have our guys in toddler beds. Their cribs converted to toddler beds and their room is TINY, so we're keeping them in them till we can move them into a larger room, at which point we'll move to twins beds. I don't think it makes much of a difference, and if money is an issue, I'd just do twin beds with rails. Either way it'll be a big change from their cribs, though it sounds like your guys handle change better than mine do (it took a good 6 weeks before our boys slept decently in their toddler beds).
I know lots of kids that have gone straight to twin beds and they've done as well or better than mine did with toddler beds. Also, for the record, the switch from cribs was the final nail in the coffin for naps at our house (they were almost 3 when we switched them out of their cribs: we did crib tents for a looong time), but we still do "quiet time" for at least an hour a day, in their room. Dropping naps gave us a better (and earlier) bedtime, but I still find our afternoons a bit rough and grumpy. Maybe that's just me, though!
Good luck with the transition!

 

We tried taking the rail off their cribs but they managed to throw the mattress on the floor during nap time and use the springs as a bouncy toy. :wacko:

We ended up putting their cribs mattresses on the floor and that is how they sleep now. We did loose naps for a couple weeks but they were already dropping them for a few months prior to the change. Now, they nap maybe twice/week but they go to sleep just fine at night. We will probably get them twin beds in a little while but for now, this is working for us.

 

We made the switch to toddler beds only because we had cribs that the front came off of, and will eventually go to a full bed. If I could do it all over again, I would have rather had twin beds. One reason, mine now like to sleep together and a toddler bed is tiny for two kids! We didn't have any trouble with naps. The first day, they wanted to play and that lasted about an hour. Second day was about 15 minutes. After that, they sleep same as before. I only had one fall out and think that rails on a twin bed would be fine.

 

We bought beds from Ikea that convert. Right now it's toddler sized, but when they get too long for the toddler mattress we'll buy twin mattresses and stretch the bed out to twin sized.

 

We went straight to twin beds, but mine were over 3 when we switched. I tried using rails, but the rails I bought didn't work with our (unbunked) bunkbeds. Each kid fell out once or twice in the first couple of days -- one time, Amy landed on a wooden stepstool, which taught us to keep something soft underneath -- and then never again.

It would have been nice to have more space for awhile, but I just couldn't see buying a set of beds we'd only use for a couple of years. Plus, the twin beds have lots more space for stuffed animals, books, etc. :ibiggrin:

 

The boys' mini cribs transitioned to twin beds, so we went straight to them at about 20 months. The mini cribs were just too small for them. It worked out great! They were really tall (the beds) so we pushed each one against a wall and put up a bed guard/rail on the other side. We also had to put step stools next to their beds to help out. I loved it b/c they couldn't really get out without help so they never got out of bed without us getting them. Naptime was tricky b/c I had to stay outside their door to remind them not to play around in their beds and chat with each other (why that didn't happen when they were in cribs I don't have an answer for!). It only took about a week and they were good to nap on their own. We never had trouble with bedtime even after we moved. Naptime now at 3yrs old is "quiettime" about 3 times a week, but I think that would have happened if they were still in cribs too. Good luck and have fun shopping!!

 

We went to toddler beds because our cribs converted to them. Otherwise we probably would have gone twin beds with rails.

 

Our cribs converted to toddler beds, but they didn't stay in the toddler beds very long. Both my kids are pretty tall and they outgrew the toddler beds and we moved them to full size beds (the headboard is the back of their crib). If you have to buy both, I would jump straight to twin size beds. Twins beds might be a little bit more expensive than toddler beds, but it is something they will use much longer.