My first child happily slept in her crib until she was almost 3. The only reason we moved her to a normal bed was because her baby brother arrived. We did not even think about baby pillows and blankets. She wore a sleep sack and was snug and happy. She could not swing her legs over the rail, while wearing the sleep sack. She was so happy in the crib, I dont think she would have even if she was not wearing one. When we moved her to her bed, there was no drama. After getting her used to the big bed with a few naps, we transitioned her to nighttime too. It was a full size bed in a beautiful wooden frame. She had two pillows and a big comforter. We did not bother with one of those little baby pillows. We went straight to normal pillows.
My son decided not to follow the crib path his sister did. He learned how to unzip his sleep sack shortly after his first birthday. Swinging his leg up on the rail became a regular exercise. He was happy to just do that exercise for months and months. Until one night, when he climbed out of the crib entirely and walked to greet me at the door. We did not waste any time setting up his crib mattress on the floor.
Moving him to a bed presented all these obstacles that we did not have to deal with when we moved our daughter to a bed. It was a rough transition, because he was so young. He was a couple months shy of his second birthday. So he would not hurt himself, we had to take a lot of things out of his room. We also put a gate on the door, which was the best advice we received. He was so stubborn that for the first couple days, he would fall asleep sitting in the middle of the wood floor of his room. After a very LONG week, he was back in his routine.
When we finally got him comfortable in his new bed routine, the advice from well meaning people starting coming in. "Oh, he is not old enough to be sleeping in a big bed." "He could get into trouble, since he does not know better. "He is too young for a big blanket and pillow." Say What? He can not use a pillow? How is he going to be comfortable? What about a baby pillow? So I hopped online to check out the age recommendations. Indeed, it is NOT recommended that you give children under the age of 2 any pillows or heavy blankets. Once a child is 2 or they move to a big bed, you can introduce them then.
Since my son was not yet 2, I decided to follow the advice and start with one of those baby pillows. It was so small, like an airline pillow, and I hardly saw the point. It got lost in the full size bed and my son did not seem to know it was really a pillow to put his head on. My son did not seem to need pillows or bedding; it was just my need to make it look like a normal bed that kept bugging me. We finally put pillows and a comforter on his bed after about a month. He loved sitting up with the pillows and snuggling like he did in our bed. He was happy to not have that little tiny baby pillow for his head too. More articles Directory | Nursing pillow | Infant pillow | Monogrammed baby pillows | Link |