Bed Size for a Toddler

My son is about 2 3/4 and he has been sleeping on a full size bed since he was 2. We have a todder bed but he likes to roll so he's sideways on the mattress while he is asleep so he actually fell out of the toddler bed. We have the full size mattress on the floor with the box springs then the mattress and he loves the big bed. He can sleep side ways on it and he's fine. So I don't think there really is any problem with the big bed.

I would just keep the full-size bed and get a rail to prevent falling off the bed. I started in a full size bed when I was 20 months old and my sister started in a queen, because that is what was available. My daughter is 18 months and we are getting her a twin bed with a trundle bed so she will have a place for her cousins or friends to sleep. If I could fit a full-size bed in her room I would have done that instead.

I, personally, have never slept full-time in a twin-size bed. I was in a queen size bed from the crib because that's all my parents had. Never had a problem! I agree - I think the child would rarely have a chance to fall out of bed. If you've got the room, might as well use what you have. I would still get a bedrail, which can easily be found online.

i wouldnt worry, we had gotten a full size bed for free from my parents and used it for my 2 year old..she was totally fine..and since its a little larger than a twin, i wasnt as worried about her falling off! she didnt have a side guard and never fell off!

S.,
Hello! Wow, I think if your sweet heart is or was sleeping on a Futon then she shouldn't have a problem sleeping on a twin or a full.....if you think she might roll out then you can put up the gaurds on the side of the bed. If she hasn't ever rolled off the Futon then no worries! Good luck!

My grandson (two years old) just "graduated" from a crib to a twin size bed and is doing fantastic. I think if you have too big a bed it may be too much of a transition. My daughter is a very smart and great Mother to her four children and with our youngest (the two year old) she placed the guards on both sides of the bed and he did not have any issues. Nana

Cassandra does have a point with being able to fit two people in the bed on a temporary basis. I find myself almost falling out of my son's bed during story time. The only downside I could see about larger bed is that you have floor play space in her room. If her room is rather small, buy the smaller bed. If it is a good sized room, use the bigger bed.

I have my 2 yr old in a full size bed. I think it gives him more room to roll around. The bed is against the wall on two sides. The other two sides I put up pillows; he has never fallen off. They do have little “gates” you connect to the mattress so he won’t fall off as well. We use that on his toddler bed depending on which room he is sleeping in that night. We have other kids that are at our home part time which causes the sleeping arrangements to vary.

We were in the same situation as you, except that we just wanted to get the futon off the floor a bit. So we actually bought a very low bed frame, put a mattress underneath it, and now my 2.5 year old is the only little girl I know sleeping in a queen size bed. I actually think it's fabulous, because there's room for us to go in and sleep with her sometimes, snuggle at bedtime, etc. She has plenty of room to stretch out in all directions, which she does. I say go for the bigger bed. I personally think our conceptions of what's 'appropriate' are very societally conditioned. Do give some thought to making it a safe, comfy place with lovies, etc. Our daughter had some mosquito bites that swelled up, so we got some mosquito netting that hangs from the ceiling on the recommendation of our doctor. This mosquito netting became her "fairy bed," and actually helped define the space on a large bed. Good luck!

Both of my children moved from the crib to a full size bed with no problem. The only thing was when we went to themed rooms it was harder to find the comforters.

We bought a full-size bed for our two-year-old when it was time to put our infant in the crib he was using. He has slept better ever since he moved to the bigger bed with the better mattress. The only concern I believe some parents may have is with the child falling out of bed. We thought of bed rails, but our child has had no problems with falling out of bed and can climb in and out of the bed fine. (We have a small stool next to the bed). One note though--the full-size takes up more floor space, so less room for other furniture or any toy storage or the toys themselves.

Dear S., i have used full size , queen size and twin with the 3 of my children .
nothing happened to them expect falling down from the twin size .
so safe your money and just use the full size you have at least she will have the space to move without falling down .
my 4 years old hate her twin size matters so we end up getting her the full size and she is more happy at night .

Good luck anyway !

Cheers
A.

We moved our son straight from the crib to a full size mattress at 22 months old. We had no choice we had the mattress already in the guest room and didn't have the money to buy another so we used the full size and it has worked just fine, our son is now 5. We haven't had any problems with him sleeping in a larger bed. That has been our experience, I haven't heard of any issues or consequences about moving children to a larger bed.

Save yourself the money and use the full size bed. Every child is different so until there's a problem with her sleeping in the full bed...If a problem occurs at first, it may not be the size of the bed that is the true issue but that there's been change. So give it a try before you spend your money.

Only positive things for using a larger mattress - her chances of falling out of the bed are practically zero.

Just use what you have. When my oldest grew out of her toddler bed, we put her in our guest bed, which is queen-sized. She positively luxuriates in it - sprawls all over the place. The only downside is that they don't really make Disney-themed sheets and comforters for larger beds, which breaks my daughter's heart (but I can't say I'm all that sad about it personally =).

Personally I would opt to save money. My daughter got a twin size bed wen she was 2. It was a space issue. I would have got her a full if her room was larger. Its not a deal breaker, but most of the cute sheet sets come in twin size. Just make sure she has a good gaurd on the side of it. There are some at Toys-R-Us and Target that slide between the mattress and box spring, and flip up and down.

I would think a full-size bed would be fine. The only concern, of course, would be her falling out. That issue would be the same no matter what the size of the bed. Just get some removable railings and you'll be fine. :)

Hi S.,

I don't see anything wrong with going to the full size mattress. We are going to to that with our son instead of the toddler bed. If you are concerned about her falling out, just buy two of those bed guards and put it underneath the mattress on both sides. She should be just fine. :)

Molly

Our daughter has been on a full-size mattress since we converted her toddler bed-once crib. We bought a conversion crib for that purpose & the toddler bed was just too small because she is a wild sleeper. The full size was/is perfect because she has all the room she needs and can use it for as long as she lives with us. SO it isn't just saving you money now, it's saving you money for the next 16+ years. It also allows us to comfortably lay in her bed with her to calm her down after a bad dream so she doesn't come sleep with us all the time. As far as I can see, it's been very positive & no negatives.

When my daughter outgrew her crib, we used a hand me down toddler bed from my niece, but when she turned 3 1/2, her grandparents gave her a full size bed. It seemed enormous at first, but we've gotten used to it now. It takes up a lot of space in her room, but allows us to comfortably hang out in her room to read books at night time. We have her be up against two walls (in the corner), and then installed a guard rail on the open side. We haven't had any issues at all with it and we've had it for almost a year now. Oh, one issue was that it was difficult to find kid bedding for a full size bed, but we recently found a tinkerbell set that she loves.

My thought is the bigger the better, less likey for the little one to roll off the bed. One suggestion though is that at this age I would simply put the mattress on the ground without the bed frame. If she has been sleeping on the futon, she is probably fine, but even still a futon is a bit lower than a regular bed with a box and all that.

My son is 4.5 and has been in a full size bed since he was 16 months. He has always loved his bed. We put the boxspring and mattess on the floor so it would be easier for him to get in and out of. We did use a rail when we first started out, but he no longer needs it. He wouldn't have needed it at all except that he preferred to sleep at the edge of the bed instead of the middle, so he fell out that first night. It is also nice having the bigger bed to lay with her if she has a bad dream or is sick instead of bringing her into your bed and starting a bad habit. I would just strongly suggest you get a waterproof mattress pad if you don't already have one. You never know when they are going to have an accident or vomit in their bed, so best to have that extra layer of protection. Good luck in whatever you decide to do.

Hi Suzi, All I can say is "the bigger, the better" (ha ha) I have 2 boys, 11 months and 4 years.. and My 4 yr old has fallen off his twin a coulple times, but as he gotten older he has stopped rolling around so much. There has been several times that I Have wanted to take a nap with him, and having a bigger bed would have been so much easier, especially since I don't want my boys to get in any habit of sleeping with mommy and daddy in their big bed... The only disadvantage to a bigger bed is it would take up more room in her room and if you have guests over, where would they sleep?
I would just keep the twin close to the floor so if your baby girl only has two feet to fall if she tosses and turns... I would just use the full until she's older. But you can find really reasonable twin mattresses all over the place if you go with that decision. Try Craigs list, you can brand new stuff alot of times there for cheap... or try IKEA... good quality, less money.. anyway, hope that helped a little.
I'm a mother of 2 boys, married (not very happy with the husband lately) and I work full time. Take care.
Annaleisa

Hi S.,
My son has been in a full size matress since we took him out of the crib. We tried the toddler bed and he fell out a couple of times. The full size mattress has been nice, no falls and it makes it nice for us when we read him books at night or need to snuggle with him because he had a nightmare, etc. Save yourself some money...Good luck!

Hi S.,

I don't see anything wrong with using the full size matress. She may even sleep better because it's so comfy and big, and just think....it should last for a LONG time for her :o)

It will be eaiser when she has a bad night, you'll be more comfy, too :o)

N.

Hi I would skip the twin size bed. When my twins were ready to sleep out of the crib, we bought a twin for my daughter and had my son sleep on our old queen sized bed. The twin sized bed was too narrow and my daughter ended up sleeping on the floor. My son loved the queen, he would sleep in the corner and we would put pillows on the edge so that he wouldn't roll off.

Now that the kids are 5, they both have full sized beds in their rooms. We gave the twin sized bed away, it was hardly used.
K.