# Is one year old too young for big boy bed?



## Grace and Granola (Oct 15, 2005)

My ds just turned one and he has never ever been a good sleeper. We stopped co-sleeping when he was about 6 months because he is a light sleeper and neither of us ever slept well. So, ever since then ds has been in his crib...first in my room, but now in his own room for the past 4 months. His sleep has improved most of the time, but getting him to sleep is still sometimes difficult. As of now, I bottle nurse him to sleep in a recliner. He almost never falls asleep on the bottle, but usually he takes anywhere from 10 to 40 minutes rolling around and flip flopping on me until he's asleep. Then I put him in the crib. Here's the trouble....I am 19 weeks pregnant, and his rolling around on me is making me nervous about hurting the new baby. If he's having a really hard time he will thrash around and kick his legs inadvertantly hitting my stomach. And as I get bigger, there won't be so much rolling around room.

I recently tried co-sleeping again, and he just didn't stay soundly asleep for more than a minute. I was thinking of putting a twin bed on the floor in his room and then I would feed him his bottle in the bed and then hopefully just lay with him until he's asleep....and then I would leave the room. I would get a bed rail and put pillows down near the bed. I'm just wondering if this is just a far out idea for a one year old. When the new baby comes, I would love for ds to be slightly more independent when it comes to sleep so other people can put him to bed while we're away at the hospital....he will be about 16 months then. Is this a dream or can it be my reality!?!?!

Does anyone have any experience with this type of situation?


----------



## ledzepplon (Jun 28, 2004)

You could try a twin or toddler bed in your room. As long as the mattress is close to the floor and the room is "childproof," that seems reasonable.

My dd now sleeps half the time in her toddler bed, as our baby is a bedhog and dd is a thrasher. So dd falls asleep in our bed, and when we go to sleep, we move her to the toddler bed at the foot of ours. She usually crawls back into bed with us in the early morning hours, but it's nice to have some extra space.


----------



## LukeDuke (Mar 22, 2005)

We switched DS to a regular twin bed at 18 months. He would get out and do his own thing, but the whole upstairs was childproofed so it would'nt matter if he fell asleep somewhere else (floor, hallway) until he got used to his bed. I loved it, wished I had switched him sooner, heck, I wish we never had a crib! He co-slept until 9 mos. old, slept by himself, then came back into our bed at 2 yrs and is still there at 3+ yrs.


----------



## 4Marmalade (May 4, 2004)

When my ds was about 13 months we put him in a double-sized futon bed in a completely child-proofed room. I nursed him to sleep there and when he woke up to nurse again I slept the rest of the night with him. Worked great for us.


----------



## angelpie545 (Feb 23, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Mama to one*
When my ds was about 13 months we put him in a double-sized futon bed in a completely child-proofed room. I nursed him to sleep there and when he woke up to nurse again I slept the rest of the night with him. Worked great for us.

This sounds like a really good idea, as well as the twin bed idea.


----------



## EnviroBecca (Jun 5, 2002)

EnviroBaby always has slept on a "big boy" bed, a full-size mattress on the box spring. Although I co-sleep with him, we sleep in HIS bed; the master bedroom is the adult hangout space and where EnviroDaddy sleeps most of the time. I began leaving EnviroBaby alone on his bed once he became willing to sleep without having another person nearby, around 5 months. I just nurse him on the bed and then get up. At first, I had pillows along the outer edges of the bed (one side and the foot are against the wall) and a yoga mat on the floor to cushion his fall in case he got over the pillows. He soon developed a sense of where the edge of the bed is--it was quite alarming when he learned to sit up and would sit right at the very edge of the bed, but he knew what he was doing and hardly ever fell!--and by about 10 months we were able to put away the safeguards.


----------



## Grace and Granola (Oct 15, 2005)

Thanks mamas! This is all very reassuring. I know "regular" people are going to think I'm crazy for putting my one year old in a bed, but we need to do something. I have spent too many nights lately sleeping with him in the recliner and it is taking its toll. I would love to have him sleep in my room on his own bed, but he is just such a light sleeper. When I had his crib in my room, he would sleep great for 4 hours until I came into the room to sleep myself, and then he was up every hour!!

You all are the best!


----------



## elmh23 (Jul 1, 2004)

My dd started starting off the night in the queen futon at 8 months. Then I'd go in with her. Now at 21 months, she sleeps in a queen bed (mattress and boxsprings on the floor) and comes into my room if she wakes in the middle of the night.


----------



## Tonia80 (Jun 10, 2006)

My youngest has been sleeping in a twin sized bed (often starting the night out with hsi 3 year odl brother) since he turned one. He sleeps straight through the night on hsi own. it is his brothers that usuyally end up in my bed, though he is there about half the time. But yep, he sleep sin a plain old big boy bed at 16 months old. It is low to the floor so no worries though he has never rolled out as he has always co slept so he is used to beds.
My first born hated his crib and was sleeping on a m,attress on the floor by 11 months and our middle son never had a crib and slept on a mat on the floor before he was one too.


----------



## maxam (Sep 17, 2006)

I'm so glad this topic came up in here. My 16 month old just can't cosleep with us any more--he'll nurse every 45 minutes, and I end up being a real witch from sleep deprivation the next day! We were thinking of putting a twin mattress on the floor in his brother's room, possibly with a guardrail to give him a bit of a boundry. I just wasn't sure if this was "cool" to do at 16 months--safety-wise. I agree, there are many people who will think we are nuts--including most of our family members! But if it works, and it's safe, we'll give it a try!

I did want to ask others if there is a certain age that it is safe to cosleep with siblings. My 4 year old coslept until 2, and still ends up in our bed sometime in the middle of the night most nights. Both boys love to snuggle. Is it safe to let them snuggle together?
Thanks for any thoughts!!


----------



## BethSLP (Mar 27, 2005)

I'm a little confused about why the move to a bed on the floor vs. a crib if he's already sleeping in the crib. is it because you can lay on the bed and nurse them to sleep (avoiding the need to transfer him)?

XOXO
B


----------



## bass chick (Sep 7, 2005)

We moved DS1 into a twin "bed" in his own room somewhere around 18 months. He and I are both very light sleepers and we both toss around, so he was always waking me up and I was always waking him - sounds like a similar situation as the OP. His bed was actually just a mattress on the floor. He took to it instantly! He loved it. He never got out of "bed" on his own, he always called for me, except for one night where at 2 am he was at the side of my bed saying, "I need to nurse." It freaked me out.
Moving him into a real bed, with a headboard and bed rail and everything was a difficult transition for him. I'm not sure why since it was the same mattress, just a foot or so higher off the ground, and same room. It took him about 6 weeks where he wasn't waking up every hour and needing cuddles.
Anyways, I loved when he was moved to his own mattress because I could settle him by nursing him back to sleep and then crawl back into my own bed. You can't do that in a crib.


----------



## North_Of_60 (May 30, 2006)

We're also putting a twin mattress on the floor in DD's room. Everyone thinks we're nuts, too. She starts out in bed with us, but we usually end up moving her because she is such a light sleeper, and then she comes back in the morning. For some reason, this is just what works. From about midnight to 4 or 5 she just doesn't sleep well with us. I have no idea why.

She has a crib now, but I HATE it. I think it's like a little baby prison. Plus, lifting her over the rail and setting her down is a PIA. I'd also like a place to nurse her to sleep for her naps during that day, and her room is blacked out, so it should work out well.

I also plan on "baby proofing" her room, not that there is much in there (mostly covering plugs, etc). I was also thinking of getting an Angel Care Monitor. They were designed to detect a lack of moment for crib sleeping babies in the hopes of preventing SIDS. I figure this way if she got out of bed in the middle of the night and I didn't hear it on the monitor, it would set off the alarm.

I honestly hope this is just a phase, because it's so much easier to not have to get out of bed at all, but I understand your concerns. We'll see, I won't know if it'll work until I try it. I wish I could put the mattress in our room, but our room (which is HUGE) is being used as a storage area at the moment for some of our stuff that is still packed (until we decide where we're moving to) so it's NOT safe for a baby on the floor.


----------



## Grace and Granola (Oct 15, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *BethSLP* 
I'm a little confused about why the move to a bed on the floor vs. a crib if he's already sleeping in the crib. is it because you can lay on the bed and nurse them to sleep (avoiding the need to transfer him)?

XOXO
B

My problem is that the way I get ds to sleep is that I bottlenurse him in a recliner and 99% of the time he does not fall asleep on the bottle. So, for between 10 and 50 minutes, he will toss and turn ON ME until he falls asleep. Being 20 weeks pregnant, it makes me very nervous and frustrated that he might be hurting the new baby while he does gymnastics all over me! I can't just put him in his crib because he freaks and screams.

Update.....We've moved MY queen bed into the nursery! So far so good. If he's tired enough, he'll conk right out with the bottle in the bed. If not, he tumbles around on the bed instead of on me until he's ready to sleep. Most of the time, he snuggles up in the crook of my arm to fall asleep...which is SO sweet! He is still waking up a couple times in the night, but I hope once he's used to the bed he'll do better with night wakings. For now, we're all happy....except I'm sleeping in a twin bed for now until we get a new queen bed!

Thank you for all of your helpful replies!


----------

