Reasons to Move Your Toddler to a Full Sized Bed

Thank you Dorel Home Products for sponsoring this post. Regardless all thoughts and opinions are my own and I only recommend products I truly love.

I actually thought my friends were insane at first. The ones putting their little ones in bigger beds. It almost just seemed wrong. How could a kid go from sleeping in a crib every night to a big bed? They won’t know what to do! They’ll fall out! I just thought it seemed all kinds of crazy. But the toddler bed we had for Maddie Grace just wasn’t working. She wouldn’t sleep in it. We were lucky if we could get her to sleep in it for an hour or two every night. Several people suggested we try a bigger bed, so when we moved into our new house I did just that. We put the day bed from our guest room in her bed and put a full sized Dorel Home Products Mainstays mattress on it. And all of a sudden she started sleeping through the night – the whole night – in her own bed.

So why does she sleep better on it? Well there are a variety of factors — but here are all the reasons you should consider getting a full sized mattress for your toddler if you don’t already have one:

-Bedtime routine is easier. We’ve learned that reading books in bed with Maddie Grace is the best way to get her into sleepy mode to fall asleep. Anything smaller than a full is going to be hard to fit an adult and a toddler in. Much less two adults which is often what ours asks for. Ours also asks for snuggles and someone to lay down with her frequently as part of her bed time routine and this is the best way to make it work. Even if Tom often falls asleep laying down in it before she does…

-They are less likely to fall off. So we’ve learned that with a bigger bed Maddie Grace is actually much less likely to fall off than when we had her in the toddler bed. Somehow even with the rail she fell out of that thing. Especially if you move the bed to have one side against the wall, and your kid falls asleep somewhere in the middle, they actually have a little bit of room for turning around at night!

-Prettier Bedding. If there’s one thing I didn’t really want in Maddie Grace’s room it was the bedding that just looks like it’s made for little kids. I wanted something a little prettier for her new big girl room that she would still love. There aren’t a lot of options for smaller beds besides your typical character bedding – but in full size we found this comforter set that Maddie Grace picked out because it had all her favorite colors in it. I love it too!

-It will Last Longer. A bigger bed will last your child for longer than a smaller one will as eventually when they are older that’s what they’re going to want anyways. On top of that it is easier to reuse later down the road as a guest bed if you so please.

-Makes little ones feel like a “big kid”. Maddie Grace loves her bed and talks about it all the time. Why? Because it’s “a big bed like mommy’s!” Anything that makes her feel more like a big kid is a win in her book, and if it’s a win in her book than it’s a win in mine.

We wanted Maddie Grace, our little troublesome sleeper, to be getting the best sleep possible at night but also wanted something that fit within our budget. When we knew she needed a bigger bed option, we looked around and decided on a Dorel Home Products Mainstays mattress. The price was awesome, it’s super comfortable, and it conveniently shipped right to our front door in a box (but you can also pickup at Walmart). Another thing we loved is that all Dorel Home Products Mattresses are CertiPur – they contain certified flexible polyurethane foam made without ozone depleters, heavy metals, formaldehyde, or phtalates (go to www.centipur.us to learn more).

Have you moved your child to a bigger bed? What benefits did you see? Would love to hear your thoughts below!