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Home › Articles › Toddlers › Bedtime Transition

Bedtime Transition

Is Your Baby Ready for a Big Bed?

By Carol Sjostrom Miller

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When Andrea Nicholls of Shropshire, England woke in the middle of the night to find her 2-year-old daughter climbing back into her crib, she decided that it was time for the toddler to switch to a bed.

Michelle Pearson's one-year-old son, on the other hand, hadn't started climbing out of the crib, but Pearson felt that he had outgrown it. "He was just such a big kid, every time he rolled over, he banged up against the bars of the crib," the Leaf River, Ill., mom recalls. "It would wake him, and us, up in the middle of the night."

And Lisa Sanders of Rixeyville, Va. bought a bed for her 18-month-old daughter when the family was expecting a second baby.

Three different children. Three different ages. Three different reasons for making the transition from crib to bed. And each one is perfectly normal.

Timing is Everything
While most children move from a crib to a bed during their toddler years, keep in mind that each child is different, and there is no definite "right" time to make the transition. "There's no one-size-fits-all age recommendation to tell parents when a child is ready to make the move from a crib to a bed," says Ann Douglas, author of The Mother of All Pregnancy Books and The Mother of All Baby Books. "You have to pay attention to your child's developmental clues and decide when he or she is ready to make the transition."

In addition, Douglas recommends waiting until your child wants a bed. "You should also look for signs that your child is interested in making the move from a crib to a bed," she says. "Not every toddler is ready to make the move at the same time."

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