Moving to Toddler's Bed - Good/Bad idea to have toys/books in the room within reach?

[Obiwan]

Hi, we are in the process of moving our 19 month-old to a different room with a mattress on the floor. We are making a big deal of moving her to a big girl room and are doing up the room with shelves to put her books and toys etc.

From your experience, is it ok to have books and toys in her room, or is it better to have as little distraction in her room as possible? Thanks!

[megan2008]

I moved my daughter into a toddler bed, room and new country at 2 years old (probably should have done it earlier but wanted to wait until the move) she never gets out of the bed until morning. She has toys and books all within reach but will sit in bed and ask for things unless it's in the morning. I never had an issue with her wanting to get out of bed or staying in bed. I personally do not mind her playing with toys or "reading" books in bed because she may not be tired and she's really not bothering anybody by playing quitely in bed. Every child is different though. Hope that helps.

[nicolejoy]

My daughter has both books and toys in her bed and will play with them as she falls asleep. In the morning it's always straight into our room to wake us up though!!

We had to buy a gate for the doorway to keep her in her bedroom though!! We open it up once she falls asleep.

[thanka2]

I think it depends on what type of child your daughter is and how you feel about those distractions. As long as there is nothing in there that she could hurt herself with (open light sockets, sharp objects, cords etc.) then it should be fine to have other things like books in there.

With my son we just drew boundaries for him about the things in his room. He has a bookshelf on his wall and he knows he isn't supposed to try to get books off of it (because he could really hurt himself) and he hasn't tried to.

We have some stuffed animals and books in my sons room as well as a stereo that is low enough that he can mess with it--but he actually has never tried to turn it on or anything. Sometimes he'll wake up from a nap and drag out all his books and "read" them but he knows he has to tidy up afterward.

[southside852]

yes, i think it depends too on what kind of child you have. we moved our son in to a real bed at 20 months. he has books in book bins, a few toys and stuffed animals. there are no floor lamps etc....we also have a gate up on his front door. if he gets out of bed at night, it's definitely not to play, but yell "mommy" by his gate!

[Biggie]

What's the rational behind using gates for toddlers room instead of just closing the door?
If you use a gate, does that mean you have to turn off tv and tip toe around the house all night?
We are moving to a new apt tomorrow and son will be in a big bed.
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[nicolejoy]

I like having the gate because it's easier to still hear/see them. We were originally just closing the door but a) my daughter can now open it so that's pointless, and b) we also found that sometimes when we wanted to check on her, we would disturb her. The gate allows us to check on her without making any noise and most of the time, even if she is awake, she doesn't notice us peeking around the corner. We still do what we normally do in the evening - talk normally and watch TV at the regular volume etc. But the gate really worked for us, MUCH better than closing the door.

[Obiwan]

Interesting thoughts guys (i mean girls :))! Some people tell me it's good to have as little distraction in the room as possible for fear the child will be so excited to play she doesn't want to sleep. My thought is she is probably not tired then. Otherwise, if we switch off the light, she should go to sleep. Well, let's see! When she wakes up in the morning, I think it woudl be great if she can just read and play on her own instead of yelling to get out of the room :)

On the gate, a sleep consultant told me to have that up, and keep the door ajar, but not closed. Reason being children, esp when they get older, they can get scared and feel abandoned if you shut the door on them (interesting thought isn't it, given that we already shut the door in her current room with the crib). But you need a gate cos at that age, they cannot control their impulse and will want to get out of the room so you need a gate to keep them in. What she says is that we should treat the entire room now as a crib ... :)