once they start you really have to keep an eye on them that's for sure nothing like that feeling of when your asleep and all of a sudden you get the feeling something is watching over you only to find it is your little one wanting your attention in the middle of the night gives you a fright the first couple of times though.

We put a crib tent (aka "baby jail") on our daughter's crib when she was 9 months old.  I think it works differently for every child but after the first night or two, the obsession with climbing out of the crib was over and she slept, well, like a baby (instead of constantly trying to climb out of the crib at all hours).

Our crib is the type that converts so we're trying to decide when to make that move from crib to toddler bed.  She is 17 months old now.  My biggest fear is that she simply wouldn't go to sleep.  I think she would be playing with toys and otherwise entertaining herself at this point.  I think she will probably be ready by age 2.

Our daughter went into a big girl bed at the age of 3.  We had a crib that converted to a day bed type of thing, which allowed us to take one side of the railings off.  She was around 2 when she began trying to climb out, so we were nervous about her falling wrong.  I think she also didn't like the idea of being stuck in, because occasionally we would have trouble with her going to sleep and she seemed to like the fact that one side was now open.  My daughter is not a caged in type of child, lol.  Around 3 we decided to just buy a big girl, twin size bed and she loved it.  She likes jumping in it more than anything though and now has more room for all of her stuffed animals to sleep with her. 

great advice. Helped me make my decison to transitionmy daughter !

Thanks for the article. My 2 year old's big boy bed arrived this evening, and I have just spent 2.5 hours getting the little bugger to sleep! He normally goes in the cot and fall sasleep whenever, but I suppose the excitement and trepidation of the big bed meant he couldn't get to sleep alone tonight! We still have the cot in the room for now so that he has the option - he went in the bed, then the cot, then decided he definitely wanted the bed, but not by himself. Oh well, he'll get used to it. If we waited until he could climb out of the cot, we'd be waiting until at least 3 - the cot is huge!

i really needed to read this as i have been asking myslef when i need to get Myah who is 16 and half mths old a bed...thanks for the advice,im going to go looking tomorrow as she has started to climb and we have a hard floor!!!

naomi xx

I've been trying to work out how I was going to transition my 18 month old from cot to bed as we have another one due in 15 weeks and will need the cot soon after. I was thinking of starting with day sleeps...hopefully he will cope with it all!! He has never tried to climb out or anything as yet. He is a big lover of sleep (still has 2 day time sleeps) so hopefully he will still want to when he goes into the bed.

Good advice!

this section is exactly what i needed advice on. my 1yr old jacob is already independant, and i wasn't sure wether to put him in a toddler bed or not. this helped make my decision.

this section is exactly what i needed advice on. my 1yr old jacob is already independant, and i wasn't sure wether to put him in a toddler bed or not. this helped make my decision.

this is a huge help for parents with toddlers

xoxox

great article and its a question thats been asked recently in advice xxxshar

All children are different. Its true. My daughter basically co slept and didn't like the cot so she went into her own bed at about 18mths (though most of the time she sneaked in with us) My eldest boy  co slept  with me til about 2 and a half then he went and slept with his sis. My youngets has never been fond of sleeping with us and loved his cot til around 2, just before his birthday actually, he started climbing out. :o It shocked us but now the cot is packed away and he usually falls asleep with his bro and sis.

thanks! Great advice. We have been talking about it, but so far Caitlin hasnt even tried to climb out so I might leave it a little longer. I do want her out of it by the time the next baby needs it, but she has some time yet!

Also once she is in a big bed, then thats it, she is a big girl. The cot helps me think of my baby girl as still little. It might sound crazy but hey, a mothers mind does tend to be!

But helpfull advice, thanks very much!

great advice i think it is about time i put my daughter into a toddler bed as she is exploring climbing trying to climb out of bath over the arm of the sofa and it wouldent suprise me iif she has took a go at getting out of her cot and she keeps getting in her sisters bed instead of cot lol

cheers

Emz

I am the proud mummy of 6year old twin girls, we took that BIG Bed step after about 6 months of taking the sides off their cots and putting them against the wall so it was kinda like a big bed, then when they out grew that, we went to the matress on the floor as i was terrified they weould fall out and injure themselve... there came a day when i was kinda thinking to myself, ok they are 2 now and asking when were they getting a BIG girls bed? After deliberation with my partner about this issue, we figured ok, they are almost toilet trained, so why not...

Day one...

We got them two single ensemble beds...Day time naps were so easy... they were so excited to be "big Girls" now and went to bed with no dramas at all, not that we ever had issues with that either however they werent in bed half an hour and they were sleeping like babies...

Day two...

Off to bed again, then out of nowhere, Taryn, crys.... i go into her, and she is sitting on her bed, tears streaming down her little face, i asked her what was wrong... she said nothing... i just figured, maybe a nightmare. it was the mid morning nap at this stage and the middle of winter so it was rather cool... i figured well i may as well run a fun bubble bath and maybe she will be ok after that. The tears stopped and all was back to normal ... UNTIL... i went to lift her from the bath and she screamed when i took her by the arms.... ouch mummy she said, i thought to myself,,,,, i didnt do anything that could possibly hurt you!!!! Taryn was cradling her arm.... i inspected it and seen no swellling no discolouration no blood no nothing.. looked perfectly normal to me.... she was till crying so i thought ok maybe we go to the dr and have him check her out....

Off to the dr's we went where he too couldnt see anything at all however as a precautionary measure, sent her for xrays... to my surprise she had croken her top bone in her wrist....

I Have no idea how this happened.... as far as i was aware, she had been sleeping along with her twin sister...

Later that night, at dinner, Taela, said no more monkeys jumpin on the bed... it was then that i figured oh maybe she had been jumping on her bed and hit her arm on the window sill or something to that efffect however that still didnt explain the no sign of any trauma to that area. At 2 years old, i figured that was plenty old enuf for the BIG STEP into a bed... Just depends on the child and how communicative they are... good luck with it all, hope nothing like this happens to you!

cheers

Sam and Rhys

Hi there,

I am sitting here writing this as I wait for my daughters new bed to be delivered. I am not looking forward to tonight as I think she will be up and down like a yo yo. Im not too worried of her falling out as she has many times fallen asleep in her brothers bed during the day and havent had any accidents. Fingers crossed tho

This is really good advice!! Mine isn't ready for a bed yet but I was wondering...since kids can be reeeeeeeaaally quiet when they know they can get into things...is it ok to put a gate on the doorway and a baby monitor in their room so you can hear when they get up??

I still remember the panic when my 13 month old son came running out of his room after climbing out of his crib.

I agree with kseers, to toddler bed really is the end of napping unless he's really tired, but I keep all his books in his room, so he can play quitely on his own.  That way he can still have some much need quite time.

So, what's the deal with my kid?? She's 3.5 and doesn't want a big girl bed. She loves her crib. Go figure. I guess I'll just leave well-enough alone.

Thanks so much, that's really helpful. I don't think she's ready yet, but at least I know what to look for now.

I was just now asking my sis in law about this ... Think for me for now I may need to wait a bit longer ... your info is very helpful !