When did you move your kids out of cribs...

I have heard so many different opinions on this...either 1) do it early (20 months or so) before they know how to get our of their crib and they won't try getting out of their beds or 2) wait as long as possibe...even age of 3?

Any advice from those of you who have "been there done that"?

 

We moved at age 3y 1 month and have had no problems ( going on 2 months now)....they know they have to stay in their bed. We talked about the 'rules' 1. stay in bed until the light goes on (it is on a timer) 2. stay in your room until mommy/daddy gets you 3. It is bedtime when it is dark 4. Quiet so everyone can sleep.

The only 'rule' they have a hard time with is #4---they like to talk if they napped well or we had a quiet day.


I really think being older helped a lot.I dreaded it= but so far my 2 have done well with only a few incidents here and there.

 

I haven't heard too many happy stories about kids who moved before the age of 2. I'm happy mine are still in cribs at just over 3 years old. I keep telling DH that we should buy them some beds soon, just cause I feel like they're getting ridiculously old to be in cribs, but none of us are really in much of a hurry.

 

Mine are still in their cribs, we're moving them at age 3. I actually went shopping for furniture today.

They've had crib tents for a really long time, so no fear of them falling out of bed.

 

Justin and Hannah were about 2, and Josh was 2.5. The twins switched at 22 months because Jake climbed out. All of my kids have lessened/or ended naps with the switch to beds. If I didn't have a climber, they would probably still be in cribs(and maybe still be taking naps! :crazy: ).

 

Thanks for asking. My boys are in mini cribs and I know we'll be out of them soon.

 

at 2 yrs 8 months I have no intention of taking down the cribs anytime soon! They're happy and sleep well (although since they're in the same room they don't nap on the weekend anymore - we have to take them for a ride) and they have no inclination to climb out (unless we're already in the room to get them - then they start to throw their legs over the side)...

we're moving in a month and separating them so I think moving, separating them and big kid beds would be far too overwhelming - we're going to wait until they're 3+ and I'll probably move them right into full sized beds with rails or mattresses on the floor

 

We moved my oldest daughter when she was 2.5, because we wanted to free up the crib for the twins. I had to move Cali into a bed at 11mos because she climbed out and fell (don't ask me how--there was nothing wrong with the crib!). We put the mattress on the floor so she couldn't jump or fall. Trent wasn't happy about staying in a crib when his twin got a bed, so we moved him about a month later. We moved Melanie at about 2.5. Jesse and Davin were moved at about 2, cause they insisted on sharing and one crib for both was getting too tight.

All of mine slept as good or better in their beds as they had in their cribs. If you're concerned about falling, you can either get bed guards (similar to what they use on the top bunks of bunkbeds), or just put the mattress on the floor like we did.

 

Mine are still in cribs and they are just 3 months shy of their third bday. Lorien can actually get into her crib by herself but has never tried to get out. Arwen can actually sit herself on top of the rail which gives me a heart attack but so far when she does it I have been able to make her nervous enough about falling down and getting hurt for her to go back in her crib and not try again. My plan is to wait until one of them actually gets out (or falls out...I hope not) and then I will just pull the crib rail down and leave it in the down position and that will serve as their bed for a little while. Definitely not in a hurry to get rid of the cribs but our cribs do convert into beds so we wouldn't be getting totally rid of them. I'm thinking that when they are getting in and out of the cribs by themselves I may have to put a gate on their door and teach them a few rules about having "big girl beds."

 

I am planning on waiting until they ask for beds, is that a problem :unsure: They still nap wonderfully, sleep wonderfully, so why mess with a wonderful thing?!

 

I have heard of one suggestion where the parents convinced the child that that had to use a "step stool" to get into and out of bed. This worked for a long time and the child never attempted to climb out of the big bed. I'm going to work the cribs for as long as I can !!

Heather

 

We switched just shy of 2 1/2. When Jon climbed out at 25 months, we got him a crib tent. We probably would have waited longer, but we were traveling to the IL's for Christmas, and our choice was beds or pack n plays. Since they could both climb out of the pack n plays, we decided it would be better to just get them used to beds. We did have a bit of a transition--like pulling the stuff out of their drawers and bookcases, but one day of THEM cleaning it up put a stop to that. Naps disappeared for a while, but we were able to get them back after a month or so as well.

 

All three of mine switched at around 27/28mths and they all used crib tents until we switched them (my son had a crib tent before he turned one since he could lean over the railing and I was scared he would fall out (he's tall). I switched my girls that early because one of my girls mattresses was torn and instead of buying a new one I figured we might as well just buy a twin matress so we switched both girls. I think it took about 3wks to a month to get everything back on track with naps and sleeping at night. My son I switched because I was tired of hearing him bang on the railing with his feet (I was worried he would break his crib or loosen the screws, even though I did check the screws to make sure). My son we had a little of a transition for him but it wasn't him getting out it was him wanting his crib tent. After a week he was fine and he now enjoys his bed (we just switched him the end of Nov beginning of Dec). He still stays in bed until we let him out and we never lost naps.

 

We moved one week before their 3rd birthday and we've had a very smooth transition. My girls still take great naps and don't get up and roam around the room. For us, it hasn't been much different than cribs. The only reason I moved them is to start night potty training. I say don't be in a hurry if you don't have to. If I would have switched mine at two or before, it would have been a nightmare!! Because they are older, we can have consequences for getting out of bed that I don't think they would have understood at 2.


Kristi, we waited until they asked--that's actually how I got Allison to potty train. She wanted a big girl bed so bad that I taped a picture of one above her chart and told her that when she filled up the chart with stickers she could get a big girl bed and it worked!!