Toddler Beds...Worth it or not????

[babymakes4]

So, Owen will be 3 in january, he has never slept anywhere but in my bed or in his crib. Right now and for the last 3 or 4 months he has only slept in his crib at night, and sleeps in my bed with me at nap time.

The situation is that I need to get him out of the crib so that I can use it for the new baby coming in december.

I have shopped around for toddler beds in the stores here, and I haven't found one that I really like. I need something that will last a while because if I spend the money on a toddler bed and another toddler/crib matress, I won't have money to spend on a twin bed for a while.

My nephew has one of those race car toddler beds and Owen has layed in it and seemed very comfortable. I can't find any in the stores for less than 200 dollars, which is A LOT of money right now.

I thought about bunk beds since Owen and the new baby will always be sharing a room as long as we live here. I worried that Owen would climb on top and fall and get hurt.

Another option for me is to go to the place we rent our washer and dryer from and see if they have a twin bed or a set of bunk beds and rent. I don't want to do that though.

I need to spend the least amount of money right now to get Owen out of the crib and into a bed. Help?

As you can see I am a little scatterbrained....LOL, but I do want to get this figured out in the next few days.... It really is time to get him out of the crib.

[AuLait]

We bought bunk beds that could be separated. Each kid has a bed in their room, but they can be stacked when the time comes.

Honestly, if money is super tight, then I might just buy a twin size mattress and put it on the floor and let him sleep on that until you can afford a frame. Or pick up a simple frame from a second hand store.

My. 02 is that toddler beds are a waste of money. They grow out of them soon enough and then you have to buy ANOTHER bed.

[nicurn]

I have loved our toddler bed. It was a gift for DS1 from a family whose last child had just outgrown it, and DD is using it 6 years later (a total of 10 years nearly continuous use). It is a plain white plastic frame on which sits a crib mattress, but it is very sturdy, has built-in side rails, and is low to the ground. Most importantly, because it is slightly smaller than a crib, it has fit in some tight places: between our king bed and the wall, between crib and bunk bed in the boys' room (DS2 had a slow transition), and between a dresser and the wall in the kids' room when we decided we needed play space more than boy/girl space.

Here (http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2333449) is a pic. I bet you could find one totally cheap on craigslist.

[Teresa64]

I would buy separated bunk beds. Toddler beds are a waster. Put the bed against a wall and get a twin bed side rail...Walmart has them for cheap. Won't totally prevent him from falling out...but it will slow him down.

[lolabear]

we got one for $40 and dd1 has used it since she was 15 months old and she just turned 3 and she still has room to grow and she loves her bed! we have another one my mom bought for her house but brought to us so we can move dd2 into it when ds grows out of the bassinet co-sleeper in our room.

[Marysmom]

We did exactly what AuLait suggested...put a twin mattress on the floor. We even had two toddler beds, our kids hated them.

[Joyto5]

We had a toddler bed given to us when I was expecting our second. It's been used alot. Our 4 year old has been sleeping in it since she outgrew her play pen. Before that her brother (DS#3) was sleeping in it till he was 5 years old. We've been blessed by those around us. Every time we need a bed someone gives us one. We've only ever bough bunk beds.

[KatieLou]

IMO toddler beds are not worth it. If it is free, of course, take it, but I persoanlly would not go out and by one, just to turn around and but another bed late. We used my old twin bed for DD at 17 months. It sits very low to the ground and we padded the floor with lots of blankies JIC she rolled out. Which she did a couple times, but never even woke up. I had a rail at the end of the bed, and I plan to put a rail on the side for DS since he is most likely, not going to just lay in bed happily like DD did/does.

[Earthmama]

I agree with the separatable bunk beds.

[HammBugga]

Craigslist. I see toddler and race car beds on there all the time.

We got lucky in that I wanted to get a toddler bed and a friend of mine posted a bulletin on myspace saying she was getting rid of her race car bed. We took it and DS has slept in it ever since (he was around 20 months old).

[babymakes4]

the problem with the seperatable bunk beds is I would not have room for them seperated. They would definitley have to be stacked on top of eachother.

[kohlby]

We didn't see the point of having a toddler bed. It was an extra expense, even if you get them cheaply. My kids were used to sleeping in our bed, so it was a very easy transition for them to sleep in their beds. (Though sometimes DH and I end up in their beds as well!) We think long-term and our kids both have full sized beds so we'll never have to buy a new bed frame. Even a single twin bed would last for quite a while.

My son is 5 and there's no way he could handle bunk beds even now due to his daring personality!

[jessiehannan]

I have a toddler bed that I picked up for 4 bucks. It is metal and plastic. It uses a regular crib mattress, and it fits Ds who is 3 and DD who is 6, and won't sleep in her own bed.

[babymakes4]

thanks for the craigslist suggestions!!! I am hoping to hear from someone soon, I found a couple really cute beds for cheap. There was a LIghtning mcqueen racecar bed with mattress and comfortor/sheet set listed for $80!!!!! I hope she emails me back, that would be awesome. :)

[Babyblue]

I would try and find something used, we have a twin bed and a todler bed, we dont know which one we are going to try and use, esp because ds is still in his crib with his crib tent and loves it.

[CatSoup]

When ds1 started climbing out of his bed we just bought a twin size mattress and box spring. No bed,just directly on the floor until he was a little bigger. This way we didn't end up with an un-needed toddler bed to get rid of later,plus he was all set for a big boy bed. He loved it.

[babymakes4]

Thanks ladies for the suggestions. I went to craigslist and I just went and picked up this bed and brought it home and cleaned it up and Owen LOVES IT!!!!! I can't see how it can be wrong, he loves it, I love it, and I only spent 20 bucks plus a little gas and time to go get it and clean it.

It's in great shape, just a few little scuffs on the rear end and it looks like someone took a crayon to the underside of the roof, but I was able to get that off with a magic eraser. Im so happy I found one so quick.

Here is the bed I bought, complete with matress for $20 I can't even believe it.....

http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2336190

[jessiehannan]

It is cute!

[Babyblue]

that is frekin adorable!

[babymakes4]

that is frekin adorable!


I know. I can't stop walking back to his room and smiling. He is playing in his room by himself for the first time in a long time. :) Im so glad he likes it. The real test will be bedtime. LOL.

[HammBugga]

Very cute. Curses to that Mcqueen bed. Today DS1 found a little booklet in one of his DVD's that had Cars things in it. One of them was the McQueen bed and he cried for an hour because he wants it. Damn advertising!

[babymakes4]

Very cute. Curses to that Mcqueen bed. Today DS1 found a little booklet in one of his DVD's that had Cars things in it. One of them was the McQueen bed and he cried for an hour because he wants it. Damn advertising!


I wanted to get owen that mcqueen bed, but I couldn't find any that weren't very expensive.

[JulieBaby]

I got one for DS last year at Walmart. I believe it was about 45 dollars. He was using it until a few weeks ago.

I moved him into the twins crib (twin sized) which Iconverted to a bed, moved the twins into separate cribs and stored away the toddler bed for later use the the twins are older.

[FrznPolarAngel]

I got a toddler bed about 3 years ago on craigslist and its a standard white one but at age 5, Brian is still using it. I feel a bit bad he isn't in a regular twin but every time I think about getting one, I find him sleeping on the floor. Ugh, the toddler bed has rails and he still manages to fall out. **shakes head** Silly kiddo!

[nicurn]

That's awesome, and so cute! I'm glad he likes it so much.

[Crabbie]

good deal!

[Just_Peachy]

great find

[amynhailey]

My DD was 23 months when my DS was born. She was still in the crib. We moved her to her "big girl room" when she was about 21 months (to get her out of the nursery) and borrowed a crib from my brother for her to move in to for a while. We really didn't need it though, as my DS was in the bassinet for 3 months, and by that time, DD started freaking out about sleeping in the crib (she was just over 2). We moved her directly to a twin bed- but put the mattress on the floor against the wall, with a bedrail. That worked out great b/c, once she got bigger, we just bought a bedroom set for her and she didn't have to make another transition.

My kids are tall anyway, so I wouldn't think they would last long in a toddler bed since it's the same length as the crib.

[babymakes4]

Thanks ladies for all the input and suggestions. How did I not know about craigslist? so weird.

In any event, Owen slept all night in his new bed :) He was a little alarmed this morning when he woke up and came out of his room, but I heard him right away. My bedroom is right next to his. We are not used to him being able to get up out of bed.

[BeanBabies]

Bean had a toddler bed, Gums did not. I took the side off his crib and put up one of those (too early for me to think of the name) one of those things that prevent them from falling out. We bought him bunk beds (the lower bunk is just on wheels so it's really low) and he went straight to that. He loved it!

[Ilovemonkeys]

The toddler bed and toddler mattress have been about as necessary as diapers to us.

I don't use cribs, so when I had one baby in my bed and another on the way I put the toddler bed right up next to my bed. So I could have my space and get the baby used to sleeping on her own, and still be right next to her and hold her hand.

With older dd we used the toddler bed to get her out of our bed, just slowly moved it away from our bed until she was in her own room.

We got rid of the actual toddler bed a long time ago but we still use the matress. I have it all made up and stored under my bed, it gets slept on at naptime, rested on in timeout, sick kids sleep on it and anytime there are too many kids in my bed I can just transfer one of them to the toddler mattress.

IMO they are definitely worth the money.

If you have the room you could also buy a twin matress and frame and set it up in your room. We've done that too when we ended up with 2 under 3, had one inthe toddler bed next to our bed and one in a twin bed in the corner.