apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

We went straight from the crib to a full size mattress on the floor when my son, who is also rather tall, was about 2 1/2. The full size mattress gives him enough space that rolling out of the bed isn't really an issue. And if he does, the mattress is on the floor, so it's not really a fall. Soon, we'll get a low platform bed for the mattress. He should be able to use this bed for years, much longer than a toddler bed. Another benefit of this arrangement: once he was out of the crib, he wanted to get out of his bed and into our bed a lot. So we would tell him to go back to his bed, but mommy or daddy would lie down with him. We'd stay with him until he fell asleep. Eventually, he stayed in his bed on his own without us.

Most people will tell you to buy a twin or full bed and it will grow with your son the best so you don't have to replace a toddler bed.

BUT

We wanted to maximize the space in his room so that it could also function as a play room. And a twin or full bed would've taken up far too much space. So we went with this one, that he picked out himself:

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/S99837492


My son loves his bed. He isn't overwhelmed or intimidated by it and it is the perfect size for him. Plus, because it is an IKEA bed it is very, very long and thus it will be a long time before he truly grows out of it. I also have a daughter and another little one on the way so it will be well loved.

My son didn't come out of the crib until just before his 3rd birthday, but he went right into a twin sized bed. It's fairly low to the ground, with drawers underneath. I put pillows around on the floor the first few nights to pad any falls. He only fell out one time, on that first night, but went right back to bed and has never fallen out since.

If it were me, I'd choose the bed that you intend for him to sleep in forever. (Well, close to forever.) Skip the toddler bed. If it makes you feel better, put rails on, though it might not be necesssary. Or do what the other poster did and start with a mattress on the ground.

We went with this daybed from Ikea http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/30080316 with the intention of using it as a guest bed later on. The daybed works well for us because of the high sides and it also has a trundle that pulls out flush with the twin mattress so it converts to a king size with a second twin mattress, or you can pull out just want you need to hold a firm foam bolster to block off that fourth side.

We went straight to a twin bed with both kids (at eighteen months with the first, since he climbed/fell out of the crib, right at two with the second). We used ikea beds, with no box spring, so it was low enough for them to climb into, and used a partial rail which I covered with a blanket that matched the bedding so it wasn't so obtrusive. Neither of them have ever fallen out of the bed, and these beds will last them well into their teenage years if we want.

At age 2 our's went from the crib to a full sized mattress on the floor so it was easy to climb in and out of and he's not likely to get hurt if he does happen to roll out (we put his decorative pillows on the floor next to the side he sleeps on just in case). SO glad we did that rather than spending money on something that would need to be replaced soon after. Toddler beds seem like such a waste to me. If they're out growing their crib, isn't a toddler bed going to be small too? You use their old crib mattress for it. He adjusted great and now at age 4, we're not thinking about his next bed.

I love the idea of the daybed with the trundle! We had our two year old on a full size mattress on the floor of her room, which was fine and fun to play on, but took up half the floor space. She was enamored with the idea of her own little bed, so we got her a toddler bed from Ikea. I picked out one with three sides and a rail. It is great for her because she is a very active, floppy sleeper and rolled off the full mattress several times even with pillows in the way! I SO wanted this bed http://www.gnr8.biz/product_info.php?products_id=426 to the point where I was going to build it. But buying the one from Ikea was a heck of a lot cheaper, even than buying all the wood to build it. The toddler bed frees up tons of space in her room so we have fewer toys in the living room. My friend's six year old is still in hers, so I don't feel like it was a waste.

My(tall) little boy will be four next month but just last week, he moved out of the crib to a twin bed. I got a very low to the ground bed from west elm:
http://www.westelm.com/online/store/ProductDisplay?partNumber=WE-PRODf830&storeId=17001&langId=-1&catalogId=17002&viewSetCode=E&parentId=WE-SH1FRNBDF&retainNav=true&cmsrc=WE-SH1FRNBDF

I cheaped out a little on the bed so we could spring for the organic mattress. With the bed and mattress combined, he's still less than a foot off the floor, and hasn't fallen out yet.
I'm hoping this combo will last until he leaves for college, and we can add a box spring later if he wants to be higher up.
I waffled forever on the toddler bed, (they are so cute!) - the bedroom is small and it would be nice to have more room in there. But I knew I'd have to buy the twin eventually, and then the toddler bed would be another piece of furniture to try and get rid of.

We moved both our children to big kid beds by the time they were 2. Our first went to a full size bed with a safety rail from One Step Ahead and she did just fine. She fell out once, at the bottom of the bed, but was just fine. I think she was 2.5 when that happened. For our second child we bought the Kura bed from Ikea (http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/10123996) and have it in the option where you can have two beds and we use the one on the floor for him. We got this since if we have lots of company our now 4.5 year old can sleep up top. (Yes, I know they technically aren't supposed to till they are 6 but I can't imagine how she would possibly fall out). The one drawback is we had to watch them a lot around the bed at first till they both got used to the steps and learned how to use it safely. It wasn't a big deal though and now I'm confident with it. If it was in issue, I could have just taken the steps off or flipped the bed the other way. The Ikea beds are nice especially since they have a topper that can be washed if it gets wet, but I highly advise against the sheets, we bought them and they didn't fit on either of the mattresses that we bought. Target had a nice waterproof mattress pad and any standard sheets fit.

We got a twin size bed for our kid when he was just under 2. We got a platform bed with a natural cotton futon-style mattress, both from White Lotus (whitelotus.net). It's a low-key style and B just loves having his own bed. It's big enough that my kid, my husband and I all can fit on it when we're reading stories at night. One side is against the wall and I got a bed rail for the other side. It has worked out really great.

We chose to go with a toddler bed www.spotonsquare.com for our very tall 2 yo son who, was catapulting himself out of his crib. It has worked out great, giving us the much needed space in his room for a nightstand, bookcase & play table. He is still loving and fitting into his toddler bed at 3. We do plan on moving him into a full size platform bed sometime at the end of this year.

P.S. We gated off the doorway to his room to keep him from escaping during nap time or the middle of the night!

We moved our also tall little boy to a "big boy bed" just after his 2nd birthday. We went straight from crib to twin--with bed frame, box springs, and all. It eliminated the need for yet another transition down the road (outgrowing a toddler bed) and eliminated the need for toddler-bed linens. I purchased fun sheets and added a favorite quilt, which made our boy excited to sleep in the bed. We also kept the bed in his room a few months before the transition and often snuggled there for stories. For safety, we invested about $30 in a safety rail (mesh--soft, safe) that has worked perfectly. It's not a glamorous feature, but he won't need it for much longer. He was happy to sleep in the big bed, though for a few nights the temptation to get out (because he could!) was just too much for him. We put a lock on the outside of his door and after a few nights he learned that he just had to stay put. Plus, I felt good knowing he couldn't wander about the house alone. Sorry this is so long!

We made the transition at 3 years old in to the Pogo bed from Room and Board. We debated between the Pogo and the Ayers bed from Argington which is very similar. Ultimately, Room and Board won out because the Argington is never in stock!

We are using a simple Dex railing for now with no problems.

Love the bed!

We use a twin frame and mattress without box springs. The frame is from the 50's (we found it on Craig's List), and very low to the ground. Our daughter has never fallen out of it, but even if she did, she would only have a few inches to fall. Our daughter is also very tall and I thought it was ridiculous to buy a toddler bed she could only use for a very short time.

We bought the Ikea kritter bed (white with sheep cut-out of the headboard), and I wouldn't do it again. The mattress that came with it is terrible. No complaints (of course) from my 3 year old, but even sitting on it to read books makes my butt fall asleep. Also, I wish I had just gone straight to a twin bed since I can see this one won't fit for a whole lot longer.

Our crib transitioned to a toddler daybed. Our older son was in it from about 18 months to just before his 3rd bday when he went into a twin without a guard rail.

He did roll out of the toddler bed frequently when first using it (he was a restless sleeper so we had floor cushions on the side to soften the wood floor) but had pretty much learned not to by the time he went into the twin. He moved into his big boy bed (actually a top bunk of a bunkbed set - bottom is put away until he is older) because his baby brother was moving out of his co-sleeper/my bed into the crib.

His bed is pretty high (which offers us great storage for their room which hasn't any closet) and he has rolled out of it 2 times in the 9 months with not so much as a scratch (we considered putting the extra top-bunk rail on it but honestly would be more worried with the boys climbing all over the bed with the extra rail attached as an additional thing to bang/bump against)

If our crib didn't transition to the toddler bed I certainly would have went straight to a twin bed either on the floor or with a guard rail attached. Otherwise it's just another transition that you make them adjust to and another expense... while a toddler bed takes up less room there are a lot of twin beds that offer great storage too...

We are planning to switch our son to a toddler bed. His crib is going to remain set up because we're having another baby and there's no space in there for all the furniture and a twin bed. I was annoyed that a toddler bed can only be used for a short while and then is useless, but then I found the Pkolino Toddler bed: http://www.pkolino.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=60
You can use it as a chair when it's not a bed.

Thank you all for your great comments! We've decided to skip the toddler bed and go straight to a twin that's low to the ground. We got it today and my son is very excited to be so grown up! We're about to christen it with a 'eating cake in bed' party!