Question about when to transition to a "big boy bed!

Hi,

This is for all of the mommies on here that have older children. My son is only going to be a year old in like 10 days, but he's very tall. We've placed his mattress at the very bottom of his crib, when he stands up, the top rail is at his chest height(nipple height basically). He's just shy of the 3 feet tall mark., about 34.5 inches to be exact. When is it safe to transition him to a big boy bed?? I've heard people say when he's 35 inches tall, others say once the top rail is below his chest etc...etc.. etc.. I don't know what to do. I don't want to change him yet, cause he's not quite a year old, but I was wondering when, because we'll have to go out and buy a bed. Anyone else have really tall kids? At least the height goes with the weight too. He's 30lbs! We've got ourselves a "big" little boy!! lol.

Well I have never been lucky in this area, my now 3 yr old went into a toddler bed at 1 yr due to him bouncing so hard in the crib he broke it and could bounce out. it was tough. my now 8 yr old went at 14 months because she climbed out of the crib. I have heard people still havingh 2 yr olds in their cribs though. I have just never been that lucky. I would milk having him in the crib as long as possible. If he isn't bouncing or climbing out I would leave him personally.

Very cute pic by the way he is a cutie!

I never went by height so much...ODS was a little monkey who I found climbing out of his crib at 13 months so he went into a toddler bed at that point.But then of course it makes nap time and bed time tougher because of course then can just get out of bed.DS#2 was 18 months before we moved him.He was still happy in his crib and not even trying to get out...But I wanted to put the crib away.He did very well in his bed.ODS it was quite the tough time.Truly its when you feel comfortable and that he's ready.Good luck!

to eileen: OMG. My son doesn't seem to want to bounce in it yet, but he sure likes to stand up in his crib. I was just so worried about him falling out of it and hurting himself. I guess I'll wait and see how time goes. If he decides to climb out of it anytime soon, then I'll transition, but if not, I'll leave him right where he is. And thanks for the compliment, he's my sweetie pie!
to mythreesons: Another baby that climbed out of their crib! OMG. I'm gonna freak if I find Tyler out of his crib one morning, or in the middle of the night. I guess I'll have to keep the baby gate locked at the top of the stairs! I'll just wait and see what happens then.

Thanks ladies!

We moved my ODS into a toddler bed at about 20 months. We moved DD into a bed (not a toddler one, but just a mattress on a bedboard in a metal frame, so low to the ground) at 2. We ended up having to put a gate at her door because she would go into her brother's room at 2am and start playing with his stuff and wake him up. That way, if she got up she didn't bother anyone because she was stuck in her room!

Elise-I forgot to mention gates!We still have them up mostly to keep the ogs out of the kids room and to keep the dogs out of my room whie we feed the cat.We had to get the kind with vertical bars to hold ODS in.We used to have bearded dragons and found ODS cleaning them one day with bleach.Luckily they didnt get hurt, neither did ODS and DH got a major lecture for leaving the bleach spray out(I mean why babyproof if you're just gonna leave dangerous stuff out?)

redheadmommy-I forgot to mention that ODS was hanging by his ankle and thats what made the decision for us...Luckily he wasn't hurt!

I am with the other's that it isn't so much if they can stand up or so in there as how he is acting, if he is trying to climb out and such than it is time to try the transition. We moved our older daughter at about 18month but that is also because we were expecting a new baby. We did the gates too. But if he isn't trying to put his leg up or get out...just wants to stand there, than I would say you are good for now.

on the gates my kids always learned how to scale them adn climb ove rtthem so we actually turned the door knob around adn made the lock on teh outside so wehn we tuck him in we locked teh door. after a little bit he got trained and we don't have to.

I moved Dawson to his toddler bed when he was about 2. He didn't walk until 18 months so I had no worries....until one day when he was suppose to be napping and I heard toys playing in his room.....he was in the middle of the floor with the toybox dumped out. That's when I knew it was time. So we got him one of those little tykes car beds and he HATED it. He slept on the floor as opposed to in that bed. He fell asleep on the couch one day so I carried him into his bed and when he woke up he was so furious he went running out of his room and smacked into the hallway wall. We saw the entire incident from the living room and it was not pretty. He bloodied himself pretty good and had a black eye for a few weeks. You know how you just know when to go up a size in the diaper or fill the bottle with more formula.....you'll know when it's time to move him into a big boy bed, too! ;-)

I kept my ods in his crib minus the side rail because mine er well his was a convertible that converted into a daybed type deal until he was about 4 1/2. I took the side rail off when he was about 2 or maybe 2 1/2. He was a good climber so I just let him climb for a bit.. DD I had her in her crib up until she was 3 then I moved her to a twin size bed..because baby needed the crib. She actually tried climbing out of the crib one time when she was about 2 or a bit more and fell flat on her face and I heard it and went to see what the noise was. It scared her quite a bit but she was not hurt(she was not that good of climber as Elijah was) so I tried taking the side off her crib(which also converts) and it was impossible to have her take a nap because she would just get out of the bed so back on went the side rail. She did not try to climb out again though because of the one time falling out.

Yep, that's what sucks about getting them out of the crib....they are not caged in and can just get out! I know Brenden is going to be a handful with this.....

Yeah indeed and she did just that and kept on getting out that day and ended up not even taking a nap thats why I put the side rail right back on...

OMG. Reading all of the stories about kids climbing out and so on and so forth. They really are little monkeys aren't they! Lol. Well right now he just stands up in his bed and he sits and plays in his crib right now, so I'll wait and see how it goes. I'm just scared of him falling out if he tries to climb. One of my friends daughters tried to climb out of her crib and she fell out and broker her shoulder and collar bone at 18months old! Ouch! As for the baby gate, I never even thought that far ahead, but you're all right. I'll need to get one to keep Tyler in his room once he is getting out of bed on his own. I'll keep an eye open this summer for second hand ones. I got a great deal on a wooden evenflo baby gate last year. I only paid 10$ for it, and it's worth 80! . Thanks ladies, all the responses really help!

It is amazing what a child will do! I remember waking up one morning, Dawson was about 5, and smelling waffles and sausage cooking. I thought, oh how nice DH is making breakfast! Then I saw him still in bed next to me! So I flew up and into the kitchen and there was Dawson in his robe making waffles in the toaster and sausage patties in the microwave like he had seen me do so many times! I nearly had a stroke! He even had the plate with towel over it keeping the already cooked waffles warm. He was so proud of himself and it was all I could do to calm myself so I didn't ruin his moment!

OMG, I think I would have had a heart attack!! LOL. you're 5 year old, cooking breakfast!! WOW! Kids really are amazing and they really do mimick what we do!

Michelle- That story is priceless.....that's too cute.Shows he pays attention and learns things quite well.. But yeah I would have to agree I would have had to suppress the freak out mode to because that would be a bit scary to wake up to. Good thing your little guy was taught well by example(even though you probably never thought he was watching that closely I know I wouldn't have) to where he didn't make a mess or burn the house down..

I will NEVER in my lifetime forget waking up to that smell! Of course now he can pop an Eggo into the toaster if he wants but if he does it while I'm in bed I always jump up and start to freak a little! I've actually written the story in the journal I've been keeping for him.....he probably won't understand the significance of it until he has children of his own! ;-)

MichelleL- That's too funny! Your story made me remember a good one of my kids.This is why I don't get a job right now where I have to work weekends..When I worked at the bank I'd have to work the occasional Saturday which was tough because DH would've worked Friday night and would want to sleep in a little bit on Saturday which is fine but not so much when you have small kids and he sleeps like he's in a coma! I got a call at work(that was never a good sign-he only called me when things went wrong)and he asked me to bring home more butter and cheddar cheese.I told him I just bought some the day before and it was in the fridge.He got kind of quiet and said not anymore.Well apparently when he woke up he came out to find Dylan(ods) and Brady(ds#2) no where to be seen and all 4(at the time we had 2 danes and 1 lab/mix and one smaller spaniel mix)dogs were licking each other.The boys had taken the tub of butter out of the fridge and spread it on the dogs and then poured all the cheese on them as well.Oh I was so not impressed!! But it would've been funny to see all the dogs licking each other.Luckily nothing really bad ever happened while DH slept but lots of stupid little stuff like that did...One time they washed my black and white dog with blue gatoraide powder and bubbles(the blue stained her white areas for about a week).Oh and they decided to make scrambled eggs on their bedroom floor with about 3 dozen eggs. Yup this is another reason I don't often go out leavng DH with the kids....Sad isn't it?

Shannon - Sad, but funny! I'm sure you didn't laugh about it at the time, but you should be able to now!

MichelleL - that is too cute! i too would freak out though!

Wow the things I have to look forward to! You ladies arent making me nervous at all. I do have a story about my little sister. When she was a baby (I say baby she might have been 2-3 years old) she got into the cabinet and spread peanut butter all over her body and then poured a bottle of maple syrup on her head.

Oh and my brother (when he was 5) saw the movie Explorers and decided he needed to make himself a space ship in the garage. So he found some old paint and our garage floor, driveway and front yard grass was covered in pink paint for the longest time. My dad was so mad! LOL!

Amy- I never did those things as a kid...My mom tells me all the time how good I was when I was little and how I followed directions and did as I was told etc.My MIL now is telling me stories about DH and he did ALL of those things...I was like "Gee thanks for telling me now"LOL at least it keeps things interesting.They are a little better now that they're older.

Shannon - OMG! LMAO!!!! I can only imagine how much fun those dogs had!!!

Amy - you shouldn't be nervous at all..... LOL! Let me tell you about the time I was at a friend's house and we couldn't find her 2 year old son....we were running all over looking for that kid....he was on top of the refrigerator!

MichelleL-Told you my stories were good!

Elise-Oh I laugh my a** off now when I tell that story.Though DH swears it didnt happen that way!

Well I have no crazy stories yet with my LO'S although I do have one of my little brother when he was younger...He used to love to pull poo outta his diapers and draw on the walls with it(poop crayons were the fad then) and rub it in the carpets( a bit of home decor) and shove it into the heater vents the type that runs along the walls and are not easy to clean at all( added a bit of fragrance to the room every time heat would come on) then another time he got a hold of my little sisters cereal bottle mom had put her in bed with she was about 1 or so popped the nipple off of her bottle and proceeded to massage the baby cereal into her hair like he was treating her to a salon treatment free of charge......Boy during them two event my mom was so mad but I ended up receiving the duty of clean up crew of the wall designs and the crib afterward because she had to clean the kids up... I cannot complain though because having to help constantly with every aspect of her raising my younger brother and sister taught me responsibility and how to take care of kids as I was only about 10 or 11 years old and I knew how to do everything for them aside from be their actual mother.....

Joy-When ODS was about 1 or so we had to keep at least shorts on at all times with his diaper or he'd "paint" as well.My mom learned the hard way after putting him down for an afternoon nap.Boy you should've heard her shriek!!!