skipping the crib?

[Lirazel]

I am currently working on night weaning my co-sleeping 16 month son.  Once he is night weaned I'm planning to move him out of our bed.  But I don't know what to move him *to.*  We have a crib, but he's never slept in it and it feels weird to start now.  I kind of want to just get a regular twin bed with a rail and go for it.  I don't know how long it will take to night wean, but is it crazy to try to get a child under two to sleep on his own in an unconfined bed?   Or does anyone have any other suggestions?

[lifeguard]

We did it. I nightweaned ds at about 15 months & then moved him to his own room in a twin bed with rails at around 18 months. It has worked great for us.

We did put a baby gate on his door so we could keep the door open to hear him but keep him from wandering - we've honestly only used it to keep the dogs out during the day.

[TSomm]

If it's crazy, then I guess I'm crazy.  My now 14m DD sleeps in a twin bed placed on the floor in her own room and has been there for naps and bedtime since about 6 months.  If she woke in the middle of the night (which she did A LOT), I just snuggled up next to her to nurse and if I fell asleep with her, no big deal.  Sometimes I'd sneak back out to my own bed.

Everything in her room is childproofed.  She makes noise as soon as she wakes, and I hear her, so I know she's up.  I used to keep the door to her room closed, but for a few days now I've opened it when I go to bed.  Now when she wakes she comes to get me in my bed!  :D  We have our morning nurse/snuggle in my bed then go start our day.

It's really worked out great for us.  The crib is so dusty at this point we should really take it down.

She did roll out of bed a couple times, but it's only 6 or so inches onto a carpeted floor so she's fine.  Not worth getting a rail, imo.

EDIT:  The mattress is pushed up against a wall, so I try to keep her on that side of the bed.

[Caitlyn]

We were gifted with a crib when our oldest was born, we coslept for 18 months before we set up the crib. How weird would it be to sleep in an open bed and then suddenly have bars? Yikes. We bought the little guy his own twin mattress and gave away the crib. He sleeps on it just fine and crawls into bed with us in the morning when he wakes up.

[belltree]

Our son (18months) won't sleep in cribs period. A mattress on the floor and even at daycare he was in a toddler bed from the getgo. So, yes, you do not need a crib. And at that age I know several kid that tried and were able to climb out, which I think is more dangerous than just falling out of bed. A carpet on the floor will soften the bump.

[Marissamom]

we've never owned a crib. DD started using a crib mattress on the floor of our room at 11 months for naps and she started out the night there. we moved it into her own room at 15 months. I would do a mattress on th floor, DD still rolls off quite often at almost 2. 

[P.J.]

One of my friends' 11 month old son sleeps in a toddler bed with guardrails. Our DS (also 11 mo) naps on our bed with guardrails. I don't see why it shouldn't work for an older toddler to sleep in a kiddie bed with rails. Maybe have the bed in your room for the first while (which I would think is the best way to transition to his own bed anyhow), just to be able to monitor if he's doing okay and not sleepwalking or something.

[YayJennie]

We also nightweaned my son around 13 months and moved him straight to a full size mattress on the floor.  We did full size because then daddy could go to sleep with him or lay next to him easily if he woke in the night.  It's worked great for us!

[Kedrosami]

We also have a full size mattress on the floor. DS's room is totally baby-proofed. He's been in his own bed since 12 months and is now 18 months. Most nights DH or I sleep in his bed for at least part of the night. It actually helped a lot with night weaning in a gentle way, because DH could go in and lie down with him at night--he's in his own bed in his own room but co-sleeping is still an option for us to ease the transition. We love this setup! Google "Montessori floor bed" for inspiration.

[Lirazel]

I LOVE these ideas!  Thanks for the encouragement.  I think I'll go with my gut and skip the crib!  I really like the idea of a full mattress on the floor.  Sounds perfect for us. :)

[tex.mom]

I think it depends on how active a sleeper you've got.  Two of my children, and now my youngest too, were just so active in their sleep, I didn't feel comfortable leaving them sleeping in another room unless they were in a crib.  My ds in particular seemed to just gravitate to the floor any time he was on an open bed, even regardless of whether he was right next to me, and I'm a very light sleeper myself.  Even on a mattress directly on the floor, guess where he still ended up?  If they weren't so active, though, I might've moved them to a futon mattress or something and then their "big" beds.

[Gretchen_PDX]

We've had our son in the toddler bed for about a month now and it works great! He still sleeps in our bed after his first few hours, but he naps in there too. I like that he can get out when he needs to. Ours is also Montessori inspired as this is similar to what he does at school.

[Youngfrankenstein]

I don't see why not.  We don't co-sleep and Julia is in a crib for her bed but she's up so much and crabby, she ends up in bed with us anyway and it's crowded!  We are going to have her and her 6-year-old sister share a room and we're buying them matching day beds.  I think we're just going to stick a rail on the daybed and go with it. I can always crawl in beside her in that type of bed.  I figure she naps on my full bed a lot and can get down and out of the room on her own so she comes down or calls to me when she's up.

I don't know if you could "get" a co-sleeper to be in a crib at this age.

BTW, I am jealous of the night-weaning.  I wouldn't even know how to begin.

[grethel]

DD hated her crib - she screamed every time we put her in it no matter what. She is 18 months now and we still happily cosleep for most of the night and some naps, but she sleeps on her floor bed in her room for a couple of hours every evening before we bring her into our bed.

I have a baby gate i can put in her doorway, but we really never use it. Just leave the door cracked, put on the monitor, and she can come find us if she wakes. She does sometimes roll off the mattress onto the floor, but we put a "snoogli" pregnancy pillow around the mattress (only use we've ever gotten out of it) to soften the roll, and there's a rug on her floor. Sometimes we find she's moved off the bed onto the floor in her sleep, but it's no biggie.

[H&HMom]

Great thread!  My DD is 11 months and still co-sleeps and nurses through the night.  She has a crib in her room she has spent about an hour tops in all year (I've put her in there after she falls asleep nursing, and she usually wakes up very quickly and plays with the toys in the crib for a few minutes before she wants to get out) and I don't think she'll ever sleep in the crib.  I may have to take the crib out, put the mattress on the floor and try that.  There's also a twin bed in her room, so I may just get a bed rail for that for her to graduate into.  I don't know!  I have two older boys who co-slept when they were babies, and I somehow managed to move them to a crib later, but I have a horrible memory and this is one of the things I can't remember!  When did I move them?  How long did it take them to get used to the crib?  Gosh, I miss my pre-mommy brain!

;;

[Kellie Padgett]

I am a Montessori teacher and a mother of 3.  None of my kids slept in a crib.  We just "prepared their environments;" making sure everything was safe in their rooms.    Paula Polk Liiliard has a great book called Montessori from the Start and she explains why you do not need a crib.  Plus, I always hear horror stories from my friends when they switch from a crib to a toddler bed.

[beebalmmama]

Ds1 was in his own twin bed in his own room at 19 months, right after we nightweaned. We never did the rail. Just had a mattress and box spring on the floor with no bed frame. He wasn't much of a mover in his sleep though. His room was minimally furnished and very safe and I didn't have any worries that he would get hurt by something. He generally would come find us in bed if he woke up.

[goldenapple]

Go for it Mama! I weaned DS at 13 months, then slowly transitioned him to a futon on the floor in our room, to a futon on the floor in his room, then straight to a twin bed with no bed rails. Put him in the twin-bed (raised off the floor) at about 19 months and he has not fallen out. I was a little worried he would, so I took precautions for the first few months (we had a crib mattress we stored under the bed during the day, and pulled out at night in case he fell out). Actually, we did try a crib for a few weeks but he hated it and we hated it and then they all got recalled and we just thought "what's the point". The twin mattress is great because if he's sick we can sleep with him instead of bringing him back into our bed.

[chel]

You could even use you crib mattress on the floor. Currently my 15 m dd naps on her boppy on the carpeted floor and sleeps on a very high king bed

[waiting2bemommy]

I can't imagine putting a 16 month old in a crib. I know there are people who keep their kids in cribs until they are 3 years old, but I just can't fathom it.

For one thing, both my kids started potty learning around a year, and the crib prevents them fro going potty when they wake up.

Both of mine started in my bed, then transitioned to a toddler mattress/bed around the time they strted crawling. The toddler bed was only for naps and the beginning of the night, ad then at the first waking, or wheneverI went to sleep I bring them in with me. Ds went fully to his own bed at around 16-17 months. dd shows no signs of nightweaning or sleeping alone, and the kids have bunk beds, so I can't put her on top with her brother, obviously and he refuses to sleep with her on the bottom because it's pink and has Dora. sigh.

Anyway, neither of my kids had any real use for a crib, and I definitely wouldn't introduce one this late in the game.

Also, about the falling out of bed thing, the toddler bed rails do a pretty good job of keeping them in. ds had a car bed and that thing was hard for ME to get up out of, no chances of him falling out!