Rear/Front facing
 

FWIW, our ped strongly advised against using bed rails when the kid moves to a standard size bed. He said he'd never seen a serious injury from a child rolling off a standard-height bed in the middle of the night, but the medical literature is replete with instances of kids getting trapped between the bed rails and the mattress (or the mattress and the wall, against which the bed was thoughtfully placed to prevent falling) and thereafter suffocating.

And I personally know someone whose grandson died when, at age two, he rolled between the bed and the wall.

Don't put the bed against the wall, and don't use a bed rail.

Rear/Front facing
 

I have no doubt that your driving is beyond reproach, much like mine. I have been rear-ended 3x in the last 2 years because I am just lucky like that: my 2002 vehicle is on replacement bumper #3.

I can assure you that even if rear ended, after the initial bump, one's head tends to lurch toward the front of the hit car quite quickly because it is pushed in the direction the other car was going. If you are going forward and hit something slower, one's head continues going in the direction your car was going (is this not Newton's 2nd law or something?). Anyway, this is the logic behind the rear-facing carseat as far as I can figure it. Now, if you are stopped and hit head-on from the front, the rear-facing baby is toast, but until they invent some sort of plastic-travel- bubble for babies, that's just a risk you take.

Cribs and Toddler Beds
 

I've started looking at cribs and have noticed that many are convertible into toddler beds. Since I only plan for now on having the one, I'd like to get as much use out of the crib I buy as I can. Are there safety issues with the convertible cribs? Has anybody here bought one?

Rear/Front facing
 

Eww. scary. This one has rails built in, but the mattress fits down sort of under them, so there's no place to be squashed. I will take a closer look before installing the baby in the bed, however.

Rear/Front facing
 

My mom says that my sister was the easiest of us to potty train because she wanted the pretty underwear and had to swear that she wouldn't get them dirty. Vanity has advantages.

And this may explain why she's reluctant to pee on pretty things, including her bed and the boys in her bed.

a little boy with a man crush
 

2

We're talking pre-school here, and she's upset at being "mocked" by four year olds? Let's send fringie over and show her what mocking is all about.

Cribs and Toddler Beds
 

The convertible cribs are fine, but many do require the additional purchase of rails - usually another $100. Plus, there is the added hope on the part of the maker that you will buy all the outrageously priced and poorly made pieces to go with it - drawers, convertible changing table, etc. You can buy better made "big kid furniture" pieces for about the same price if you want to get a matching set later. I'd get a cheap crib (they are all up to current safety stds.) and blow the wad later on a nice set the kid can use through their teens. Also, you do not "need" any item besides the crib - the other stuff is cute, but unnecessary. If you have a dresser or other furniture item of the appropriate height, you can add a changing pad and tada - changing table.

Cribs and Toddler Beds
 

We've got two of them. Haven't had to convert them yet, but I couldn't stomach buying these expensive cribs that only did one thing. They're actually pretty nice furniture, and hopefully we'll get 10+ years out of them. Not sure what I'm going to do with all the leftover pieces though. Damn, I never think ahead.

Cribs and Toddler Beds
 

Good advice, the prices I've seen are ridiculous. Granted, I was leafing through a PB catalog while buying a leather chair recently, and was pretty wowed by how pretty the nurseries were, but sheesh, my own bedroom furniture isn't that nice.

Luckily, I'm getting a changing table for free and will simply buy a crib to match. The crib would be free, too, but it's 10 years old, so I'm passing.

I'm more inclined to blow a wad now on a super-comfortable chair and ottoman for the nursery that I can use in the family room or guest room later.

Cribs and Toddler Beds
 

With the second kid, we bought them a matching desk, which we use as the changing table. 1st kid--Public School, 2nd kid--Stanford.

Cribs and Toddler Beds
 

You either have midget children, or plan on keeping your wife pregnant for a long time.

Cribs and Toddler Beds
 

It was our experience while shopping that anything that converted from one thing to another performed neither job very well, especially from an aesthetic standpoint. We went directly from crib to twin. Twin-sized sheets have all sorts of thematic shit that kids between 2 and 5 are interested in. Race cars and ponies and such. I don't know as much about crib-sized sheets. Caveat --- we knew we were planning to have at least two, so we were going to be living with the crib qua crib for seven or so years.

I strongly recommend Baby Bargains and Toddler Bargains for all consumer product decisions. Cuts through a lot of the bullshit about strollers, cribs, etc. Make sure you have the most recent edition --- they update annually. Based on their rec, we went with a Ragazzi crib and changing table, since it was described as heirloom quality if you can afford it, and at the time we could.

Other bit of advice --- if you haven't gotten a stroller/travel system yet, don't buy the fancy European brands if either you or your SO is over 5'10". The European strollers are built for statistically smaller people, and there's no agony like a long walk where you're stooped and kicking the rear wheels of your kid's stroller.

Cribs and Toddler Beds
 

Warning: a "super comfortable chair" isn't what babies are looking for. Gliders are ugly as fuck but there's no beating them when you've got a fussy infant at 3 a.m. Gives you the movement s/he needs with no effort on your part, miles ahead of a rocker, especially in a carpeted room. Very good for nursing. Of course, some infants insist that you stand and bounce while holding them at 3 a.m., so YMMV.

Did I mention they're as ugly as fuck?

ETA: Dutalier is the Ragazzi of gliders. Ah, shit, I'm the patentparanyc of baby furniture.

Cribs and Toddler Beds
 

Thanks for bursting my bubble. Let's talk about pooping on the delivery table next!

Rear/Front facing
 

On the FB, I would have had to tie in a reference to Dan Savage's column this week:

" [M]y boyfriend just suggested, in the kindest way, that he wants me to wear diapers for him. Diapers, Dan. Diapers. I want to be a GGG gal but realistically, how do I suck up my inner monologue that says this is absolutely ridiculous? And how can I continue to respect my statuesque boyfriend, especially without psychoanalyzing his need to baby me like this?"