I have been wondering about when a toddler is ready to use a pillow and where to find a pillow sized for a little head. Does anyone have any info or guidelines for pillow use?

Places to find them?

Ikea has small pillows. we also tried travel size pillows, but they are too high, you'll have to open it up and get some fluff out, then it's just right. Or you can sew one. Craft stores or Walmart sell fluff. Just fill a small pillowcase with it, and you're done.

We put a twin mattress on the floor...

After the crib, we moved our toddler son into an enormous full-sized bed and introduced a pillow then as a part of his bedding. The bed was hilariously enormous for him at first--and was meant to double as guest accommodations--but turned out to be perfect for him. He never fell out, and now as a 5-year-old loves to sprawl out with books for pre-bedtime cozy time. At first he moved off of his pillow in sleep, which was fine, and began using it more as he got used to it.

houzz.com is a great forum to get more ideas and ask more pillow and non-pillow questions about children's (and adults') spaces
http://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/586/list/Sharing-Spaces--Integrating-Children-s-Spaces-into-Your-Own-

I'm still co-sleeping with my 2 years DD, however since I'm re-decorating the house, I've also made her room, including an adult bed (with protections) so when she wish to go there she can... even that co-sleeping is great :)

Rachel, Ikea has very thin, lightweight standard-sized pillows designed for stomach sleepers. These work really well for my three-year-old.

We have very large boys. Really. Very. Tall. My 20mo is just too big for his crib. We recently went on vacation and he slept on a bottom bunk with a bed rail the entire week. He never fell out and by the end of the week knew the drill. I knew then that he was ready to get out of his crib. With both boys (our oldest is now 4) we transitioned to the crib matress on the floor before getting the twin bed. This way we could wait a little while before getting the bed we needed (and currently need) while still using all the sheets and bedding our sons were use to. It really made the transition quick and easy. It took less than 3 days for both boys to get use to it and stay on it with out playing with toys and trying to leave their room.

In the way of a pillow both boys got a travel sized pillow from Target with a homemade case first, then a regular pillow when we got (will get) the twin bed. The travel pillow seemed big at first, but squished down quickly.

We put a full sized mattress on the floor of my daughters room. She loves having the space, I love having space to lay next to her, and if she falls off, she's only a few inches from the floor.

We recently moved our 2 year old son into the full bed that had previously been the guest bed because we have a new baby on the way. We've just put pillows on the one side of the bed that he could fall out of (the other is against the wall) and he's already learned to stay in the middle of the bed, which is not hard since it's so big for him. He also started sleeping with a regular pillow when he moved to the big bed.

I think I put a pillow in the crib (small travel pillow - sewed my own case) around 2 years old..
When our little boy was somewhere around 2.5, I could tell he'd be trying to climb out of the crib any day. I lowered the one side, and got a stepstool (like a short stool - one step), pulled it up to the side and showed him how to get in/out by himself. He got it right away and loved the independence and was really good about staying in his bed. I didn't have to worry about him rolling out at night since he still had 4 sides. And we never had to pick him up to get him in/out anymore and that saved our backs. He is almost 4 and just went to a twin bed about 2 weeks ago.

at 18 months my DD's crib was transitioned into a toddler bed. Now at 3.5 we are redoing her room and she will be sleeping in a twin bed.

as for Pillows, my daughter has a full size one that is very thin but firm, she loves it! but we also have a travel pillow from Natura http://www.naturaworld.com/

We took the side off the crib - she slept like that for a week before we put up the IKEA Hemnes daybed for her. She LOVES the daybed. Right now it's a twin, but it trundles out to accomodate a larger mattress later on. It's funny, she fell out of the side-less crib twice, but not out of the high twin bed. (She has to use a step stool to get up onto the bed right now) She has a couple of thin pillows - she uses them most nights, but other nights she tosses them on the floor and wads up a security blanket and uses that as a pillow.

re: Pillows

All the information says that pillows and duvets are not safe before the age of 12 months. We introduced pillows and duvets to our children between 12 and 18 months -- probably at around 15 or 16 months.

Our daughter had a small PBKids toddler pillow, but the feathers kept poking through, which is a choking hazard, so we switched her to a regular pillow at age 2 -- a fairly firm feather one.

Our son, who is over 2, is a pure hedonist, and insists on sleeping on soft fluffy Eurosquare pillows -- he uses them as a partial feather bed, as they are quite large.

my sons been co-sleeping for 22 months and we now have another baby on the way. for his 2 year birthday we decided that we would ask our family members to pitch in to get him this West Elm bed frame and a twin mattress to replace the crib never slept in. hopefully, we will have a lil luck getting him to sleep in it. hes been use to sheets, a comforter, and a pillow since the very beginning. perhaps the comforts of our bed in his own room will help him transition.

By all means, make the crib a toddler bed if it does that. Just know that your child will grow out of it faster than they grew out of the crib. With my 1st child, we moved her to a twin bed (mattress, no box spring, so it wasn't too high) at 18 months. My 2nd shared a room with 1st and we weren't sure there was space for another twin, so he stayed in a crib till 30 months. Then we took off the side making it a toddler bed, broke down and got another twin when he turned 3. Don't waste $ on buying a toddler bed, it's really not useful for very long.

our son's crib converts to a toddler bed. once he outgrows that he will get an adult twin or full bed.

as for pillows, we started putting a pillow in at 18 months. he just turned 2 and has yet to sleep on it. every morning we walk into his room to find the small pillow on the floor! he would rather use his ugly doll as a pillow.

We have 15-month-old twin girls. They have been co-sleeping with us their whole lives, but we've never liked the idea of having them nap in our bed (high off the ground, no rails, etc.). They shared a crib in their room during naps but have just completely outgrown it. We've done away with the crib and now have a futon on a low frame (maybe 12" off the ground) in their room and it works WONDERFULLY. It's low enough that they can climb on and off of it, but high enough so that they know it is, unequivocally, the bed. We're going to move them in there at night, as well, in a few weeks.

Don't waste $ on buying a toddler bed, it's really not useful for very long.

Eh. But I want to waste money on a toddler bed in the shape of a race car! I'll be stimulating the economy.

we transitioned to a full sized bed after the 2nd bday.

we just ditched the crib that was barely used with our first daughter who is now 4.5. she slept in her converted crib/toddler bed for a while for part of the night but mostly co-slept. we bought a twin bed when she was 3 and she likes that, but now that #2 is here and co-sleeping, we're all one big happy family again.

sooo, we got rid of the crib in our room and bought a second hand argington petra toddler bed for $200 to make use of the crib mattress. our 4.5 year old will sleep in the toddler bed in our room instead of in our bed. when the little one is ready, we'll move it into the girls bedroom. at least i know i can use it until she's over four...

My 2.5 YO daughter has been sleeping for 8 weeks on the same antique Jenny Lind bed I had as a child. It is a bit wider than a twin, but not as long, and somewhat high off the floor. We do not use a bed rail, as I have seen data on many injuries and deaths from bed rails, but much fewer from falls from beds. We did the same with my son, now 7, and had no problems. She LOVES her "big girl" bed.

Where's the data on injuries and deaths from bed rails? Just wondering. I'm in talks with my 2-year-old about switching him to a twin bed.

I started using a pillow around a year because my son had a cold; then he didn't want to sleep without it so he still has it. It's just a regular old bed pillow.

Well, with our first daughter she slept in a crib until she turned 2.5 since by that time the second daughter was ready to move out of the co-sleeper and into the crib. We started off with a twin bed with rails, but she was a crazy sleeper. She would roll all the way down to the foot of the bed and fall off there as she slept. We would be downstairs and hear a thud. Not good. We fixed our problem by taking out the bed frame and just having a box spring and mattress on the floor with no rails. She stopped falling out since she could sense when her feet stared to touch the floor and wake up and get back in bed. Then the crib broke one day with our 12 month old inside it (it completely collapsed due to a recall we were unaware of) and she moved in with her sister to the twin bed. Now they are almost 5 and 3, but they still share the same bed. We keep talking about getting another bed, but they do not seem very receptive to the idea. Plus, when we go to check on them before we go to sleep, they are so sweet sleeping next to each other. I know they won't always want to be close, so I treasure the time they do.

We are just going through this now. We decided to transition to a twin bed (mattress and box spring only) set on the floor. The crib is still in the room, and we've had a couple of nights where our 2.5 year old has ended up there, but overall he is doing great getting used to his "big boy" bed. I got a small "travel pillow" at Target for him and he uses it some of the time I probably would have had him stay in the crib longer but I am expecting baby #2 in a month, so I began the transition now.