When do they out grow a crib?

[DVCJEN]

DH & I are soon to welcome a beautiful boy to our family. He is 14 months old right now and should be home in Jan or Feb. Will we want a crib for him or a toddler bed? Any thoughts?

 

[twinspluscade]

Congratulations on your new son! Wow, you must be so excited!!!
Personally, at 14 months I would put him in a crib. Otherwise, at that age you run the risk of him getting up in the middle of the night and toddling around...or falling out of bed.
Hope this helps!

Kelly

 

[princess stich]

Both my DS and DD were climbing out their crib at 12 mos! Rather thatn risk a broken arm...or worse... we moved them at that point to a toddler bed. There are some issues at first with them "toddling" around to our room at night, but after a week or so, they knew that if they got up, then we would just pu them back in hteir bed. I wasn't ready for them to be in a twin since they were so young. Ds, 2 1/2, is still in the toddler bed. I think we may move him up to a "big boy bed" for his birthday.

 

[mrsltg]

First, find out what your ds is used to. If he's been in a crib he may be most comfortable with that as it's what is familiar. Also, for safety's sake, at least for a little while it may be better for him to be in a crib. Let him stay there at least until he gets used to his new family before introducing any big changes. My dd moved to a toddler bed when she was 2 years. She wasn't trying to get out of the crib, she was just so tall I was worried about her falling. We made a big deal of going to the store and selecting her "big girl" bed. She chose a fire truck! I'm sure your ds will love picking his bed out eventually, too!

Have a wonderful life together!

 

[DisneyMama2H&O]

I'd start by trying to borrow a crib from someone. Our DS5 started climbing out of his crib at 20 months. We moved him into a twin bed that had built in side rails (top part of a bunk bed). He climbed out of that also but he got used to it. Our DS 2 is still in the crib. He's never tried to climb out and is perfectly happy to stay there for the time being. I'd move him to a big boy bed but I don't want to ruin our great sleeping arrangements just yet.

Good Luck and Congratulations.

 

[KristinU]

Congratulations on your new son!!! What an exciting time! We're an adoptive family too

Our DS started climbing out of his crib literally on his 2nd birthday - 6 hours after we had the conversation with the pediatrician about when to move kids out of cribs. He told us there were two reasons to move: 1. they start climbing out and 2. they literally get too big for it. Being the dumb mom, I said "oh he loves his crib and enjoys laying there and reading books etc...it will probably be quite a while until he wants out" So we switched his crib to the toddler bed configutation. It turned out that he was physically ready but not emotionally ready to be in a bed so open and we had to rig up little curtains so he felt more secure for a while.

We were just at a birthday party for one of his little friends who just turned 3 and I noticed that he's still in a crib, and I have a friend with a 3.5 year old still in his crib...so each kid is different.

Personally, I'd go with a crib. Although I'd also weigh in what his sleeping arrangements have been so far. Do you know what he is used to?

PM me if you want to talk offline about transitions, attachment, etc. And once again, Congrats!!!

 

[ctnurse]

DS slept in his crib until about 2 wks ago until 1 night at 430 in the morning he appeared in our bedroom. I put him in the toddler bed the next night. He is 28 month old. So he stayed in his crib for a long time.

 

[las3888]

I would definitely start with a crib and see how it goes. Some kids are climbers out of their crib and some never even try. It all depends on the child. I know friends who have kept their DC's until almost 4.

Good luck and congrats on your boy!

 

[mickeyfan2]

By the time you get him home he will be 17-18 months old. Start him in a cute toddler bed (if you want) or just put a mattress on the floor and work him upto a boxspring and then a bed against the wall with a guard on the other side. I was in a bed at 14 months old, that was when the brother arrived.

 

[irishbacker92]

My son was in a crib until he was 2-2.5. At 11-12 months he could climb out of the crib VERY DANGEROUS. We tried a toddler bed but we had to rock him to sleep every night and then he would get up in the middle of the night and repeat the process. We solved this by buying a crib tent. Its made of mesh type fabric and zips closed. It was easy to put him in there awake at night and for naps and he could get used to going to sleep on his own. We only stopped using it because he figured out how to unzip it from the inside.It provided us with many nights of sleep that we would not have gotten otherwise. They make them for pak-n-plays also, perfect for VACATIONS!!!! Good Luck!!!

 

[Becky2005]

I think it all depends. At 14 months I would still use a crib. My kids all stayed in cribs until they were 3. My 2 year old is still in his crib. It works for us as none of mine ever tried to climb out of the crib. Actually, none of them tried to get off their beds either when we switched (they would just sit on the bed and yell "Mommy" when they woke up in the morning, just like they did when they were in their cribs.) They did figure that out eventually.

 

[lauritagoddess]

Where does he sleep now? I'd probably try to do the same thing to make the transition easier, but if you're not sure I'd get the crib. My DS slept in a crib until he was a few months shy of 3. He never tried to climb out and I waited until I was sure that he was ready for a bed and wouldn't be up and down the whole night.

 

[Holly]

I would recommend a crib for that age.

 

[jeni1072]

Congratulations!!

My oldest was in her crib until returning from her 3rd birthday trip to WDW. My youngest is almost 2.5 and I plan on keeping her in there for as long as humanly possible!

 

[Dina]

I've gotten alot of flack from this from my mil, but my 3year,3month old is still in a crib. Though he can climb in on his own, he never climbs out and still loves it. He sleeps great. We're getting ready to switch him to a bed, but since he still takes afternoon naps, I know when its time to go for the nap, he won't stay in a bed long enough to fall asleep. When I put him in the crib, he lays right down. My oldest went to a bed at 2.5-- but he stopped napping at that age as well.

 

[2dogmom]

Congratulations!

I personally wanted to keep my girls in a crib as long as possible. My oldest stayed in hers until just over 2-1/2, when I needed to transistion her to a bed for her sister's arrival. My baby stayed in hers until 2-1/2 as well but I moved her out because I got tired of getting the middle of the night "I have to go potty" calls

 

[daisyduck123]

I couldn't wait to get mine out of their cribs!! I put them in twin beds around their 1st birthdays. Changing the sheets on those crib mattresses is such a pain!!

Mine took the new beds perfectly. They never once wandered about after being put to bed. Once there....they stayed!!

 

[princesslibby]

You must be so excited!
If he's used to a crib you might want to buy a convertible crib.That's what we bought for DS4. I wish we would have had one for our other boys. It goes from a regular crib to a toddler bed(with a rail) to a twin or full size bed. He loves it.

 

[dzorn]

If he is use to a crib you might want to get one until you go through the transition. If you have no space issues after that I would just get a twin bed. We bought one from child craft. It had two heights you could put the mattress on. We started her out on lowest with a bunky board (almost as low as toddler bed) instead of a box spring. As she got older we moved it up to next level.

Denise

 

[familydisney]

I agree with the earlier post about the convertable crib. It can be a crib or a toddler bed, so if your son is used to crib, you can start him off and then convert it as he grows and gains independence.

Congratulations !!!!!