Here’s a little secret about Sam – he still sleeps in a crib.
Yes, Sam. The one who turned three at the beginning of April.
I’m all about leaving a kid in a crib as long as possible (clearly), but even I am wondering if this is going on a little too long. We switched Kate to a big bed at about 2.5, but we had a good reason to – we moved, so doing a new room/new bed made sense (and setting up her crib in the new house did not!). But we’ve had no reason to move Sam, so we haven’t.
He’s not climbing out of the crib, he doesn’t mind being in there, and he is a wonderful sleeper. Frankly, I hate to mess with it!
The fact remains, however, that he is nearly three and a half and still sleeping in a crib.
So tell me – what would you do? Let sleeping babies toddlers preschoolers lie, or break out the big boy bed?
As you know, we had a similar situation with Sophie. We finally moved her to a big girl bed when she could barely fit in the crib anymore. I say leave him in there until a) he has no more leg room or b) he wants a big boy bed. Because really, once he realizes he can get out of his bed and get in yours? It’s over!
I’m almost in the same boat. I made the mistake of putting my son in a bed WAY too early and spent a good six months being a mommy zombie while ushering him back in to bed 100 times a night. It’s a mistake I care not to repeat. That being said, my daughter is pushing three and my MIL is pushing like CRAZY to get her in a big girl bed. I sort of want to tell her, SURE we’ll put her in a big girl bed – if YOU come over at night and deal with her! She’s happy in her crib, has never tried to get out, and it affords me some extra sleep in the morning – why the heck would I mess with that?!?
I agree, let sleeping babies/toddlers/teenagers lie!
I’m like you and moved my daughter when we moved right after she turned 2 and the moving company lost all the screws for the crib. (Thanks guys!) Is he potty trained? Because it seems like you’d have to switch before you do that so he can get up and go potty when he needs to.
Maybe he’ll surprise you and stay in his big boy bed just like he does his crib. We never had problems with our daughter getting out of bed after the big switch. In fact, I have to point out to her that she can get up and go potty without screaming for mommy in the middle of the night. It’s like getting out of bed never occurs to her.
He’s been potty trained for more than a year, and oddly enough he never has to get up to go! My daughter was the same way as yours – she didn’t seem to realize she could get out of bed for a long time. The transition was really easy with her… hopefully it will be the same with Sam!
Shelby got a “big girl bed” when Donovan came along about 3 1/2 years later. Donovan got rid of the crib after convinving us with his Power Point Presentation on “Why I’m Too Old To Sleep In This Stupid Crib”.
Mrs. Duggar suggests letting your kids sleep in another house. That way you won’t have to worry about them climbing out of the crib at all.
LOL!
Tessa will be 3 next month. She is still in her crib and perfectly happy with it so I haven’t had any reason to change it. If we ever sell our house and move, we have talked about putting her in a toddler bed but without that motivation? Who knows.
I agree with Jenny…move him if he doesn’t fit or wants to move. I was such a chicken when it came to moving my girls from their cribs. They were potty trained as well, but never needed to get up at night. They were over three before they finally realized they could actually get out of their cribs all on their own, and that’s when I finally decided to move them.
When I finally moved them to beds, I think I scared them half to death about what would happen to them and how much trouble they’d be in if they got out of their beds at night (except to go to the bathroom). To this day, they still call down to us each morning and ask if they can get out of bed before they come strolling down the stairs, even though I’ve repeatedly told them they don’t need to call me anymore and can just come down!
Leave him! He’s happy, he’s got room, it’s not causing any problems. I say leave him until the bed buckles. 🙂
shoot! I kept both kids in theirs until a little before 3 and actually just now moved Carter. More because Jeremy wanted to. He NEVER once tried to climb out and I don’t think he ever stood up either – ha! I am so happy to hear you are as crazy as I am. I was getting quite sick of other mom’s being surprised that they stayed in their cribs for so long. Why rock the boat, if everyone is happy and sleeping! And actually, he didn’t like the transition! It’s been a week and last night was the first good night of not coming out of the room, calling for us and actually sleeping all night! It kinda freaked him out a little!
I say if he’s comfortable and not in any kind of danger and not fussing or way too huge for the crib, leave him. Why mess with a good thing? We had to move my son to the big boy bed because we couldn’t stand him chewing on the front rail of the crib anymore! It was so yucky!
I agree not to mess with it if it is not causing any problems. But a lot of people find that the transition is not too difficult. My son (at about 2.5) stayed in the bed pretty nicely. A suggestion: when you decide to get the big boy bed, use one of the doorknobbers on the inside of the bedroom door so he does not suddenly have free roam of the whole house. My son (now 3.5) has always had this, and does not mind or know the difference that he is confined to his room when the door is closed. He can’t get into unspecified trouble at night around the house, and he doesn’t come into our room at night either. He just plays in his room until I get him up in the morning.
Get him a cool big boy bed! Three definitely seems a bit old for the crib. He’ll probably sleep well in a regular bed too.
Are you able to take just the gate part off of the crib…I mean he still fits in the bed because he is a tiny 3 so you may be good in that bed til he’s at least in middle school….I say pick your battles…
I wish my kids would have stayed in the crib that long but all 3 of mine learned how to climb out around 2 yrs old. Then I decided as long as they were quiet in their rooms I would not make them stay in the bed I know some parents think that is lax but I decided that was not a battle I wanted to fight they would go to sleep when they were tired.