When it comes to shopping for baby cribs, you need to think long term. If you make a wise purchase right now, you will never have to purchase another bed for your child until they are grown and out of the house. In fact, you may not have to purchase them another one even then!

A high quality convertible will grow with your child from infanthood to college, and then will turn into great guest accommodations. Some may just convert from crib to toddler bed, but the best savings are found with a full conversion into toddler bed, day bed, and eventually a full sized headboard and footboard.

These cribs are usually called either 4-in-1 cribs or Lifetime cribs. Some companies may use the word Stages as well.

If you are wondering what all of this might cost, it is more reasonable than you might think. There are some higher priced models selling around four to five hundred dollars, but there are also some great lower priced models that will last through the years.

The only catch you have to consider when making your purchase is whether the actual crib comes with the rail sets needed to make the conversions, or if you will have to buy that separately.

For toddler and day bed conversion you shouldn’t have to purchase a rail kit. It is usually a matter of removing the front side rail panel to create easy access to the mattress. Some require you to purchase a safety rail kit for the side to create the toddler bed, but there are many companies now including that in the original purchase.

The day bed is created by removing that small safety rail, so you can always choose not to purchase it and go with the day bed option from the start.

For a full sized bed, you will always have to purchase the rail separate. The trick is that some companies will want you to purchase a specific rail kit designed for that individual crib model. For the best systems, you should be able to purchase any full sized bed rail set to work with the headboard and/or footboard that is made from the crib.

Convertible baby cribs are an exceptional value in terms of time and money. They grow with your child from diapers to college so you never have to purchase another bed and never have to worry about finding something that fits the other bedroom furniture. Everything will always match!