# 9 month old in a toddler bed



## boringscreenname (Sep 26, 2007)

My friend has a recently turned 9 month old daughter. The other day she posted pictures on her Myspace page, of a toddler bed she'd bought her DD for Christmas, complete with a satin bedspread and pillow.

It seems unsafe to me, but I'm not sure if I should say anything or just leave well enough alone, and chalk it up to a difference in parenting styles. WWYD?


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## paxye (Mar 31, 2005)

We don't own a crib and I taught my kids how to get down from our bed by that age (feet first and way higher than a toddler bed), so I don't see the problem...

It could also be that she got a good deal on it now and was trying it out but won't be using yet... you never know...


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## lifeguard (May 12, 2008)

Personally I wouldn't have trusted ds that young in any bed as he (still) doesn't get where the edge of a bed is. But each child is different.


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## elmh23 (Jul 1, 2004)

We moved my daughter in to a futon bed when she was 8 months old. She was able to get down very easily so it wasn't a big deal. The toddler bed is smaller than the futon we used, but it still wouldn't bother me.


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## DahliaRW (Apr 16, 2005)

And if she's anything like me, she'll buy stuff her kids will grow into for Christmas when they're young enough to not care. So maybe she bought it now, but won't be using it for a few months.


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## UberMama (Feb 27, 2007)

With my own kids, they weren't ready at that age. My twin boys HAD to be moved from cribs (they refused to cosleep past 2 months) to toddler beds at 16 months. THAT seemed early, but thankfully it worked out well for all of us.


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## Rico'sAlice (Mar 19, 2006)

DS has always slept with us. Like others posted he was able to safely get out of our big high bed around 8mo. (Feet first, sliding on belly) We took the side pillow off then too, and he hasn't fallen out or anything. He would have been fine bed safety-wise in a toddler bed at that age.

Also, by that age he was completely capable of climbing out of a crib, which would have been unsafe.

The imagine that the tricky part would have been having his room 110% babyproofed and had some sort of gate so that he wouldn't get into trouble if he woke up and got out of bed silently so I couldn't hear him on a monitor.


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## RiverSky (Jun 26, 2005)

My 8 month olds would never have been able to get in or out of a toddler bed safely, but I assume she is just preparing for the future, myself.


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## Drummer's Wife (Jun 5, 2005)

My DD was in a toddler bed at 8 mos. She was also walking - so she could het n and out of it easily. I don't think there was anything unsafe about it but it really depends on the kid and their gross motor skills at that point.


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## meg-momto2 (Apr 23, 2007)

both my kids we're in regular beds by 8-9 months. they're we both walking at that age as well. toddler beds are usually very low to the ground and have guards on the sides. i'd let it be. she may not be planning on using it for a while.


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## woodchick (Jan 5, 2007)

Are you concerned about the height of the bed or that she had the bedcovers and pillow on it?

For me, the height wouldn't be an issues depending on the skills of her kid. The pillow seems unnecessary, but maybe she made up the bed 'cute' for the photos and isn't planning on using it that way?


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## TiredX2 (Jan 7, 2002)

Both of my kids could get off of an adult sized bed safely at 9 months so that would not concern me at all.

I would be concerned that she is opening herself up for a world of hurt when she has a young toddler that she has to get *stay* in a toddler bed!


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## isign (Jan 17, 2008)

DS got his toddler bed for his first birthday (wooden frame his mattress sat in. It was handmade by my grandfather), and we started naps in there. DD was born just 2 months later, and needed his crib (she HATED co-sleeping and still does) so around 16 months we put him in the toddler bed at night. He's almost 27 months and still gets up in the middle of the night to come to our room. DD (will be 13 months)will be getting hers for Christmas, but we don't expect either of them to stay in there.

I had no issues getting DS to sleep in his, we nursed to sleep and when he self weaned we'd snuggle to sleep and we still do.


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## Sunflower223 (Feb 22, 2007)

I think it's a little too young, but all kids are different. My two year old still isn't totally aware of the edge of the bed. At that age my kids were not able to get out of bed by themselves at all, so that definately shows that all kids develop @ different speeds. Maybe your friend's baby is able to handle the toddler bed.


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## Blueone (Sep 12, 2009)

I was thinking of doing that for my son around 1 when we transition him. I was going to get one of those bed railings that they have at Toys R Us so that way he stays in and doesn't roll off. I don't think he likes his crib too much.


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## cschick (Aug 28, 2007)

Kids in my family tend to start climbing out of/over the railings of cribs about 9-10 months old. (We are all monkeys at heart.) I have to laugh when people mention say, using a pack'and'play with a kid over about 8 months old. As soon as the kid was able to pull himself up, he was able to do a header out of the pack'and'play. They have shorter sides.

It's a lot shorter fall from the mattress to the floor than the top of a crib railing/top of a pack'and'play to the floor. And the kid generally isn't going to a a full-out head-first fall off a toddler bed.


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## Drummer's Wife (Jun 5, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *cschick* 
Kids in my family tend to start climbing out of/over the railings of cribs about 9-10 months old. (We are all monkeys at heart.) I have to laugh when people mention say, using a pack'and'play with a kid over about 8 months old. As soon as the kid was able to pull himself up, he was able to do a header out of the pack'and'play. They have shorter sides.

It's a lot shorter fall from the mattress to the floor than the top of a crib railing/top of a pack'and'play to the floor. And the kid generally isn't going to a a full-out head-first fall off a toddler bed.


My kids are monkeys, too. Right around that age they are up and down on everything possible and a baby gate was a joke because they could scale it in seconds.

Then there are babies that aren't quite yet pulling up on things at that age - so it's all relative to their development.

My DD (who is 8 years now) - when she was a 9 month old I would have compared her gross motor skills with that of a 18 month old (well, except that walking was still a bit wobbly). Most people wouldn't think twice about the safety of an 18 month old in a toddler bed, which is why I was comfortable with it. A crib would have been more dangerous, for sure.


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## boringscreenname (Sep 26, 2007)

The thing I would be concerned about if it was my child, is how do you convince a 9 month old to stay in the bed all night? The rails don't extend all the way down the side of the bed, just a little bit, so a baby could easily crawl off the bed in the middle of the night and get into all sorts of potentially dangerous things.

My son also tosses and turns all night, I guarantee if he wasn't in a crib, he'd be falling out of a toddler bed on a nightly basis. He also has no concept of where the edge of a bed is.

To answer a couple questions, yes my friend said they are planning on using it now, and plan on using the pillow and blanket. She also mentioned that the baby wasn't sleeping well in her crib, and was staying awake for long periods of time at night, so I don't see how putting the baby in a toddler bed is going to solve the problem.


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## Drummer's Wife (Jun 5, 2005)

well, whether you transition at 9 mos or 18 mos or 3 yrs - you will still have the same issue with keeping them in bed, and out of trouble.

It's really not until like 5+ that kids have more common sense and a better understanding of dangers lurking - and I don't know anyone who keeps them in a crib that long, yk?

Child-proofing their room, using a baby gate (if it would keep them in) and of course keeping un-safe things such as knives, medications, chemicals, etc., out of reach in the rest of the house just as you would do as they got older and became independently mobile.

How it worked with my DD, (and the next two kids we moved to a toddler bed by their first b-day) was that when they woke in the AM before DH and I, they came right to our room. We lived in a small apartment, and had no stairs - so that helped, I'm sure.

Not sure where your friend's child is at developmentally or how her home is set up/baby-proofed - but there are plenty of people (namely Montessorians) who don't use cribs at all, and also may not co-sleep. Baby starts out in a floor bed, or a mattress on the floor - really, a toddler bed is not that high of a drop if they did fall. I recall putting a large pillow next to my DD's for the first few months just to ease my own fears.

About not sleeping well, it may not make anything better but it won't necessarily make it worse, either. I guess I just wouldn't be overly concerned about the safety of this LO by pics you saw on FB. I was okay with mine using a small pillow and blanket at that age - but obviously others wait until the 12 months mark or longer.

It could be that her LO was climbing or attempting to climb out of the crib - and in that case, a toddler bed is a ton safer.


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## Tizzy (Mar 16, 2007)

It sounds like a very non-concerning situation to me.
DS1 started having major sleep issues when he was 14-15months I think? So I converted his crib to a toddler bed and he instantly was okay with sleeping again. He gets that way with everything, all of a sudden something is a major issue to him, we advance him to the next step and it's fine i.e. highchair.

DS2 is 18 months and I still can't see him being okay with a toddler bed, but I think we'll take the side off the crib pretty soon just to get him headed in that direction.

Both my kids have had full-sized pillows from a VERY early age and will not sleep without one. Same with regular blankets. I also do not see it as a safety issue.


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## Twinklefae (Dec 13, 2006)

DS never owned a crib, and moved from our bed to his own futon at 11-ish months. He could get off an adult bed by 9 months.

As for keeping them out of trouble... you use a baby monitor and sleep lightly!


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## cedoreilly (May 21, 2005)

I moved my youngest to a regular bed (without the frame) at nine months because he refuse to sleep in his crib but would sleep without issue on our guest bed. Since he shared his room with his two brothers, the room had nothing already in it but clothes and beds anyways. I keep the door to the room closed and keep the monitor right next to my bed. I put a bedrail on the bed and some blankets at the end of the bed on the floor.


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## mrsfrenchy (Apr 14, 2008)

My DD was in a twin matress on the floor (a little different than a toddler bed, but still) when she was 9 months. She had a pillow and bedspread. To be honest (much to my moms dismay) she slept on top of the bedspread for quite sometime, we never un-made it. She didn't care to have any blankets anywhere near her. It's only now, at 17 months, that she insists on having blankets around her. She was absolutely fine with the pillow and had been playing with/hiding under them and then pulling them off of herself for a little while, so I knew it wouldn't be an issue.

I wouldn't issue judgement unless you actually see this kid in action with the bed. Every baby/toddler is different


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## waiting2bemommy (Dec 2, 2007)

I put my mattress on the floor when ds was about 7 months, and the next month bought him a flip out toddler couch which he started napping on and sometimes sleeping on at night (laid out right next to my mattress). At 9 months he got a little tikes racecar bed and loved it and by 10 months he was sleeping in it for the first part of the night and then coming into my room for the rest of the night. It was great. I can't recall him ever falling out of it asleep although he did fall out plenty when he was awake and clmibing all over it.









With this new baby I plan to do the same thing....go straight from sidecarred cosleeper to toddler bed. the whole crib thing is a waste of money IMO.


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## mrsfrenchy (Apr 14, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *boringscreenname* 
The thing I would be concerned about if it was my child, is how do you convince a 9 month old to stay in the bed all night? The rails don't extend all the way down the side of the bed, just a little bit, so a baby could easily crawl off the bed in the middle of the night and get into all sorts of potentially dangerous things.

My son also tosses and turns all night, I guarantee if he wasn't in a crib, he'd be falling out of a toddler bed on a nightly basis. He also has no concept of where the edge of a bed is.

To answer a couple questions, yes my friend said they are planning on using it now, and plan on using the pillow and blanket. She also mentioned that the baby wasn't sleeping well in her crib, and was staying awake for long periods of time at night, so I don't see how putting the baby in a toddler bed is going to solve the problem.

actually, this was exactly the reason we put DD in a big bed when she was 9 months. She had huge amounts of anxiety about going in the crib, would cry and scream, was really difficult to get asleep. That all stopped when she moved to a big bed. It was less confining to her, I think--like she wasn't trapped.

My DDs room is completely baby proofed. She could wake up and start playing with stuff, sure (hasn't happened in the 8 months out of her crib though), but its not the end of the world. Her door is closed and I'm always in there the second she wakes up.

She did fall out of the bed a couple of times. We put pillows on the floor around it to pad the fall (and like a PP said, falling out of a toddler bed is way shorter of a fall than out of a crib) and she often went back to sleep quickly. She learned where the edge of the bed was while sleeping after 3 weeks or so, I'd say.


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## cschick (Aug 28, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *boringscreenname* 
The thing I would be concerned about if it was my child, is how do you convince a 9 month old to stay in the bed all night? The rails don't extend all the way down the side of the bed, just a little bit, so a baby could easily crawl off the bed in the middle of the night and get into all sorts of potentially dangerous things.

What sorts of dangerous things are in a toddler's bedroom? This just wasn't really a concern of mine, because all that was in his bedroom was a heavy but low-slung dresser, a chair+side table, a closet, his bed, and a pile of stuffed animals.

The closet was locked shut, the dresser secured, and the electrical outlets covered. We had more trouble with him getting limbs stuck in between the crib slats than worry about him injuring himself once the slats were gone.


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## Tizzy (Mar 16, 2007)

Our kids bedroom is used only for sleeping. The worst thing they can do is play with the radio or take all the clothes out of the dresser. They learn very quickly that making a mess of the clothes isn't fun when they have to clean it up.

Otherwise the windows are secure, outlets are covered and closet is restricted.
We hear when they wake up and they spend very few awake moments in their room.


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## Super_mommy (Nov 13, 2009)

When you think they are ready then they are.


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## confustication (Mar 18, 2006)

We just got twin mattresses for the boys yesterday (we'll skip the toddler bed, and do mattresses on the floor, then raise them up.)

DS 1 is 17 months old and DS 2 is 2 1/2 months old. While DS 1 sleeps well in a crib, he's beginning to climb (He moved to sleeping in a crib at about 6 months old-







he just prefered his space. DS 2 will probably not leave my bed until we actively transition him when he is older- very different personality- he needs contact all night long. Honestly, while this is part of their 'Christmas' stuff (we're finally putting together their room- lol) I don't anticipate them both getting used any time soon. I think DS 1 will transition well, but DS 2 won't use his for a good year anyway. It's stuff they can grow into though, and it made more sense than getting a toddler bed, then switching one to the toddler bed, and one to the crib, then one to a real bed and the other to the toddler bed... and so on.... and when it's done, there WILL be pictures.


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## bobandjess99 (Aug 1, 2005)

My kids have slept in my adult bed from day one, complete with covers and pillows. I don't see it as an issue.


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