We just transitioned my dd who is 2 years and 3 months to a toddler bed. I was looking at it and it doesn't seem she can be in it much longer as she only has about maybe 12 inches or so left at the foot of the bed. How long do you usually use a toddler bed? Until she is about 3? I also don't want to spend a lot of $$ buying bedding if she will only have it for about 6 more months.

That sounds about right to me - precisely why we went straight to a twin bed; Caroline was literally outgrowing her crib, lengthwise, and since it uses the crib mattress in a toddler frame that wouldn't have helped our size issue!

We already had a Toddler bed so we used it. I didn't buy any new bedding for it because it used the crib mattress and I used the crib sheet and then just some of her blankets I already had. I transitioned Alyssa at Age 3. She was doing fine in the toddler bed but my son had bunk beds (double on bottom, twin on top) and wanted them taken down so I gave DD the twin bed. She loves her big girl bed now and did great moving to it!

Jayne