We moved Caitie to a big girl bed for her 1st birthday. We made a big deal out of it and redid her bedroom so it wasn't a nursery anymore.

not a full on parent yet ---- but my nephew who is 28 months was transitioned into a big boy bed in the last month.

it started because he is about to become a brother and the crib will be needed for the baby. they wanted to get him into the bed before the baby showed up even though it will be a while before baby sleeps in it. right about the same time, he climbed out of the crib at my parents house and fell on the floor...so i guess it was time, new baby or not.

my brother and SIL went right for a twin sized bed (and added guard rails), since they out grow the toddler beds so quickly (and my parents put guard rails on the full sized guest bed in the room where the crib is - he spends every saturday night at my parents house). he has not had any problems, sleeping in it. in fact he loves it and stays in it all night.

hope that helps.

I have the same bed question. We're going through a terrible rough patch sleepwise and I wonder if it would be easier if I could just snuggle beside him when he wakes up rather than try (unsuccessfully. always.) to get him back in the crib. But then I'm afraid of what he'd get into when left to roam his (childproofed, but still the boy can get into everything) room unattended.

E....
I put Tristian into a double bed when he was 15 months old ( with guard rails of coarse) and he started to sleep through the night. He never really liked the crib, not enough room I guess.
Mackenzie I out into a double bed when she was two ( she didn't mind the crib ) But once again she slept so much better with all the room to move around...
I am thinking of the same for Hunter ( but right know don't have the room yet for a bigger bed ) he is still in our room. I am not ready for him to go into a room with his brother. ( they would have to share)
Sammy sound like he is ready and willing to try it... I you have the room coul dyou leave his crib up and put a bed in his room- then he could get used to the idea. And he could sleep wherever for a while, But he will do great... He always does!!
good luck.

This has been on my mind too... not sure when the time to transition IS exactly but I am kind of dreading losing my one method of containing him in a safe spot. It scares me to think he could roam around in his room at night unsupervised... plus he's on the second floor and we aren't. Eeek.

Until Reilly starts showing signs of trying to climb out of his crib, I'm hanging on for dear life to the crib. Ha!

My son moved into a twin bed from a crib at just shy of two so that we could have the crib for his sister.

My daughter moved into a twin at 2 and maybe 3 or 4 months. I didn't want to make the change but we had the new furniture and my husband was sick of the crib so he just took it apart one day. I was not please. She did just fine, fwiw.

My sister transitioned my niece at just about 2. She was napping in a twin bed, and it came at a good time to transition (they were moving, and had another baby on the way that needed the crib) My niece had no issues. When I worked in EI there was a little boy who was in a big boy bed (it had to be a full or a queen!) from 1 year on and he loved it and had no issues either!

I can only tell you what our experiences have been. With Rachel - I kept her in a crib for a pretty long time (Past 2 years old). We moved her to a big bed more because I was hoping we'd be pregnant sooner rather than later and getting her transitioned to a "big-girl" bed while I *wasn't* pregnant seemed like a good idea. That all went ok.

With Zach - we had to move him to a toddler bed MUCH MUCH sooner than I *EVER* would recommend. In the beginning, it was ok, but now it's a total nightmare. I ONLY moved him to a toddler bed because he was consistently climbing out of his crib and this was the only way to ensure he wouldn't get hurt. But now - he wants to get up all the time. If he randomly wakes up at night or whatever he *gets out of bed* - opens his door - tries to get our attention. If I sleep in there with him - I might as well have the lights on and party music playing, because all he wants to do is play with me. (See mommy lying down - see mommy snoring... this means mommy wants to SLEEP!!! Not play!!) Basically - he's now gotten into some bad sleep habits, and there's not much I can do to break him of them.

Not sure if you were asking for advice, but after the fun we've had with Zach, what we did with Rachel was the right way to go. If the kid isn't climbing out of the crib - there's no reason to switch. For us, it only caused problems (even though I still feel we had no choice)

We moved Nate into his big-boy bed on his second birthday, but he's the one who really made the decision. We weren't ready to move him yet--just preparing his new room--and he wanted to sleep in his bed as soon as he saw it. Evan, on the other hand, well I'm going to try to keep him in his crib until he's three. I'm too worried about what he might get himself into if he climbs out of bed before I wake up in the morning.

My daughter Allie transitioned to a toddler bed around 16 months because she was a wild sleeper. She is 29 months old and we're getting ready to transition her to a twin bed.
Also, we had bats in our chimney for a week or two and had them run off by pest control. Regardless, it was a very scary couple of weeks for us.

Ours went like this..."Len, he's really getting too big for the crib & I think he'll be too long for the toddler part of the bed (bought a crib that went from crib to toddler to full size bed)what do you think of just turning it into the full size bed?" And that's exactly what we did before his 2nd birthday. He's been sleeping on cots at school since he was 18 months. Not to mention I was a lucky mother who's child never climbed out of the crib but one day Len & I were in his room prior to 'big boy' bed & I asked him if he know's how to get out of his crib. He said yes & proceeded to show us how he could climb out just never did. That was it. The next day we bought the full size mattres and my father in law & Lenny turned it into the full size bed.

our crib converts to a toddler bed/daybed. We converted it when Alexa was about 18 months and moved her to a twin about a year later. Piper moved to a toddler bed at 2 (when we brought Tori home!) and into the twin a couple months later when we finally finished Alexa's room and moved her to her new double bed. I'm in no hurry to move Tori but she's a bigger kid like Alexa was and I'm afraid I'm going to have to. I think Piper would still sleep in the crib if it weren't for her baby sister (she's my peanut and she always had more room in the crib than the other girls)

Miranda was not sleeping well in her crib and was just starting to climb out at 18 months. She transitioned to the toddler bed (and out of mine) so that I could get some sleep before Annaliese was born and we could use the crib for the new baby. So far, she sleeps there through the night much better! Other than some occasional wild sleeping positions and trying to get every single stuffed animal lined up right and covered for bed time, it worked out great for her. Just keep checking Sammy for signs when HE is ready.

I'm a tad behind in my response...been away for a few days...sorry about the bat stuff, I am off to read more, see if there's an update on that whole disaster...

As for the crib/bed issue-Rachel is one month shy of her 3rd birthday and is STILL in a crib. Why, you ask? Why not, lol? She hasn't seriously attempted to climb out (she does these wimpy attempts when she's pissed off about having to go to bed, but she gives up after about 15 seconds). She sleeps GREAT in her crib most of the time. Hubby wants to work on transitioning her to a bed before I go back to work at the end of the month...I hate the idea, but it's a good time, since I'm off and can catch up on sleep during the days if the nights are too rough. We've kept her in long enough...and I'd keep her there until she's 10 if I could. I feel like in so many ways, kids are forced to grow up so fast...and if this ain't broke, I hate to mess with it.

Just a thought...maybe wait until Sammy's fully transitioned into his new school setting...sometimes, too many changes at once can rock the boat...let him acclimate to school, and then give it a shot, perhaps...just an idea.

We thought about changing Rachel's crib to the toddler bed, but then we were moving and we thought it would be best to have her bed the way she was used to it, to make sleeping in the new house easier...so now we HAVE to do it. Soon.

We moved N over at 20 months with no incident whatsoever. He's so big at 3, he's already sleeping a queen. T is about to get a toddler bet at the new house (he turned 2 in June) and I don't suspect we'll have much issue with that either. You just kind of "know" when they're ready. Hoping it goes as smoothly for you!