3 and a half still in cribs

Discussion in 'The Toddler Years(1-3)' started by someone, Jan 17, 2012.

  1. someone

    someone Well-Known Member

    My three and a half year olds are still in cribs. They are totally fine with it and don't even try to climb out. Anyone else have kids this age still in cribs? Their cribs turn into toddler beds.. but do you think they are too old for that and we should just buy beds? How would we eve do it - my husband would prob have to take off work to move the cribs out before the beds come.

    or can the just go in toddler beds for about 6 months - we happen to be moving into a new house around then anyways..

    or can they just stay in their cribs longer?? like i said they are totally fine with it, but I think they are getting too old to still be in cribs...
     
  2. jjzollman

    jjzollman Well-Known Member

    Here's my confession: :tomato:

    My boys just turned 4 and are just now transitioning into their toddler beds. They have loved their cribs, they call them "forts", they love it when I "fly" them into their beds at bedtime or when we "divebomb" them into their beds. They cozy up in there and just love them. They got new (adorable!) pirate bedding for toddler beds for their b-days and we just converted them. Yes, they are 4. Yes, some would consider that appalling and turn us into Child Protective Services for holding our children hostage in their cages. :rofl: But, they were happy - we were happy - all was good. They share a small room, we want to do lofts in a few years - but really what is the difference in taking one side off of their cribs? Not much...so I've never really worried about it. It is what it is - no one is being hurt - and the kids are happy. Don't sweat it! :)

    If it works for them, it works for you, seriously - it is really not a big deal. It is not like you are cramming a 10 year old in a crib! :)

    Do what works for ALL of you.
     
  3. mommylaura

    mommylaura Well-Known Member

    As long as they are not too long for the crib/todder bed (which I'm sure they aren't) they are fine to stay there. I was surprised to see my niece is still in a toddler bed and she is almost 5! I put my oldest in a toddler bed (converted crib) at 2, and a regular bed at 3, but will be waiting much longer with the twins.
     
  4. TwinLove

    TwinLove Well-Known Member

    I see no issues with it at all. :pardon: My two were in cribs until 3.5 and were perfectly happy. We only got rid of them because my SIL was having a baby and we wanted to give them the crib/furniture since we knew the kids wouldn't be in cribs much longer. :good:
     
  5. SMax

    SMax Well-Known Member

    My kiddos turned 3.5 on Saturday...as a "present," we converted their cribs to toddler beds. We have been talking about the rules for weeks; we also have a red light/green light clock which they have been using for almost a year. I was adamant that we keep our schedule/easy bedtime!

    Overall, the transition went well...they have a harder time getting to sleep because they are super excited about their beds, plus they are waking early and chatting, again, because they are excited. They also took naps pretty well, but I can see that we might need to separate them in the future for naps. I intend to keep them in their toddler beds for awhile before moving to twin or full-sized beds.

    My kids were happy in their cribs and would climb in/out as necessary. We transitioned because I started to have a complex about having them in cribs :) I would do what works best for your family...keeping them in cribs is totally fine!!
     
  6. Minette

    Minette Well-Known Member

    We moved ours at 3y3m mostly because I just felt like it -- I was excited to buy beds. They were perfectly happy in their cribs and it worked well for all of us. But I was a little afraid they'd break the cribs with their increasingly vigorous jumping.
     
  7. kingeomer

    kingeomer Well-Known Member TS Moderator

    I don't think that's a bad thing at all. My son was in a crib until 3 and we only changed it to a toddler bed because we had a Toy Story bed for him. He was not getting out or anything and if we did not have a toddler bed for him at the time, he'd still be in it. My best friend kept her 2nd oldest son in a crib until he was 4 and she had to transfer him out of it because they were expecting another child.
     
  8. Fran27

    Fran27 Well-Known Member

    I see no issue, personally though if you have to buy bedding, then I'd switch to twin beds... kinda a waste of money to buy new bedding for a bed they will be in a year or so. When they were in cribs my kids didn't have any notion of head and foot of the bed, so we only got them bedding once we moved out of them.
     
  9. Twin nanny

    Twin nanny Well-Known Member

    I really don't think there's any harm in them still being in cribs. I would think they'd be fine in toddler beds too, if they are comfortable in the cribs there is no reason they won't be comfortable in toddler beds for the next six months. Naomi and Luke were in toddler beds until they were 5 1/2 and old enough for bunk beds (they have a fairly small room) and they fit fine. Eleanor is still in a toddler bed and she will be 4 soon, she is also perfectly happy.

    I was going to say just keep them in their cribs for now as they are happy, then I thought some more and I think that, if it were me, I'd convert the cribs to toddler beds now. Purely because I would not want to do two big changes (move to a new house and move out of cribs) in one go. I know my kids would not handle that well. So I would talk toddler beds up for a little while and then switch. That way you can get them used to sleeping in open beds and deal with any excited chatting/playing/getting out of bed problems-if you have them-now. Then you can sort out getting new beds once you've moved.
     
  10. cheezewhiz24

    cheezewhiz24 Well-Known Member TS Moderator

    I don't think it's a bad thing at all. My friend refers to cribs as
    The 7 Year Bed- evidently kids used to be in them until about 7. I'm keeping mine in cribs for a long while. I don't think they have the self control to stay in bed and I don't have the will to fight them every night about it. :)
     
  11. cjk2002

    cjk2002 Well-Known Member

    I plan on leaving mine in toddler beds until they are 5 unless they have a huge growth spurt over the next year.

    We converted to toddler beds on their 3rd birthday. They were (and still are) into Toy Story so I did their entire room in a Toy Story theme which included a really cool Buzz Lightyear spaceship bed.

    Even at 3, they never did try to climb out of their cribs so I could have left them in there for much longer. I was the one who wanted to redecorate their room and get toddler beds.

    If they are happy in cribs, I would leave them in there as long as you can.
     
  12. someone

    someone Well-Known Member

    Thanks everyone! I feel a lot better. What brought this up was it came up that they were still in cribs when I was taking to a couple of people recently and they gave me strange looks! But I guess I'll probably keep them a little longer then switch to toddler beds, and when we move, beds.
     
  13. SMax

    SMax Well-Known Member

    Believe me, I finally quit mentioning that mine were still in cribs :) Active, independent and busy twins sharing a bedroom is a whole different ballgame than what my friends have to deal with!
     
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