What is the right age to move from cot to bed?

[Rach13]

I have recently moved my dd from cot to bed as I am expecting my second child in a couple of months. She seems very keen on it but we have not had a good night's sleep now in 4 weeks (previously very good). At first she was just waking up and asking for her lullaby light to be put on now she is actually getting out of bed in the night? I've asked her if she wants to go back into her cot she says no but I'm not sure. Any advice as I'm knackered?

[Moomin]

How old is she?

[Rach13]

Silly me! She is 2.5 yrs but she was 9 weeks prem so I don't know whether this still counts.

[Eulalia]

My ds is stil in his cot and he is 3 3/4! He seems very happy in there but his feet are nearly touching the bottom. Cots tend to be huge anyway so I wouldn't worry about rushing her out of it unless she is trying to climb out (something my ds has never done - seems to have a strong sense of danger).

Will you be putting the new baby into a carrycot for a few months? This will give you a bit more time to get dd used to her bed, or what about putting a rail up to keep her in bed and make it a bit more 'cot-like' in the meantime.

[pupuce]

Did you get her into a bed because you need the cot for number 2???
Can you not put her back into her cot and see how she sleeps??? She may be more ready in 1 month... or failing that get a cot bed and out her in it and baby in cot when he/she arrives...

[suedonim]

All mine were in cots until about 4. (Although they didn't have siblings coming along at that stage.) For the sake of a quiet night, I'd put her back into the cot and if it works, buy another, maybe second hand, for the new arrival. You can always resell it when she finally does go into a bed!

[Hughsie]

Reassuring for me - all this talk of staying in the cot - I very nearly moved ds1 to a bed when he had a bout of climbing out at 18months - he is now 2 and having just had a new baby I decided I'd prefer to leave ds1 in the cot where he is clearly happy. Have borrowed a cot for number 2 so I intend to leave ds1 in his cot for as long as possible - there is no harm in it is there?

[Crunchie]

Well I have to chip inthat I did the opposite! I moved the baby to be in with her big sister when she was about 21 months, within a week we bought her a bed!! It was as much for me as I adore those cute little extendable beds

However it was about 3 weeks of 'hy' before it all settled down. Even now (she's 25 months) I sometimes wish I could stop the maurading rampage, but she loves her little bed. I would perservere, she is just testing you, perhaps put the baby gate on her room, so she can get up, but not get to you. I had to do controlled crying for one night, but it worked.

[Cha]

I am interested in this thread because I have the issue coming up. My 2nd is due when no 1 will be 22 months. The baby will sleep in with us for a while (our bed / moses basket) but eventually the time will come. There are already bunk beds in dds bedroom (for stepson and her eventually) so she is used to seeing another bed. I am just worried that she will still be very little (2 and a bit) by the time baby 2 is ready to move into the cot. What do people think? Won't she fall out a lot? Should we get another cot???? Pushed for space as it is......

[GillW]

Cha -we moved ds into a bed at 14 months as he wouldn't actually stay in his cot at all, let alone actually go to sleep in it - it was straight out over the side. Six months later he still hasn't fallen out of bed. Admittedly we have the bed against a wall, it has both head and foot boards and a guard rail, and it's quite low anyway. I'm amazed at hearing that at 3 3/4 Eulalia's ds has never attempted to climb out. My ds is obviously destined for a career in mountaineering, as he had that particular manoeuvre sussed at not much over a year!

[Cha]

I think my dd would love to climb out but she sleeps in a grobag which rather limits any plans to escape!
What are these guard rails people talk about? We have Ikea bunk beds and the upstairs one has a guard but not the downstairs. Can you buy them? Or would a plank of wood do the job?

[Hughsie]

Cha

Having now got ds1 at 2 and 1 month I'm glad that we didn't go for the bed as we can do with every moment of sleep possible and at least when he wakes in the morning he stays there and doesn't come visiting. Ds2 is still in with us - when he goes to his own room I may contemplate the bed but I will delay as long as I can!

[GillW]

Cha - ds was in a grobag, but he could still climb out!

[suedonim]

GillW, would you believe - none of my four ever climbed out of their cot!! Maybe it's because none of them are physical or sporty. DD1's last report stated baldly "X seems to regard Physical Education as a social occasion." Oops!

[Libby65]

GillW my (almost) three year old ds is still in a cot and has never attempted to climb out of it either. Even when I leave the side down on the cot, he still won't try to get out - just lies there until I come to get him. It would just be a matter of putting one leg over the side and he'd be out, but he's never attempted it!! It either hasn't occurred to him or he's happy to stay there - strange isn't it.

[monkey]

Cha, I personally wouldn't get another cot. I don't think a 2 yr old is too small for an ordinary single bed. I moved ds out of his cot-bed into an ordinary single bed, with a travel guard, at 15 months because we wanted cot for no2. We didn't have a single problem - he never got out of his bed, & slept just as well.

We converted the cot-bed to the bed when ds2 was about 20 months - wanted to do it earlyish as it had gone so well with ds1. I'd heard lots of friends say they had problems changing from cot to bed - climbing out of bed etc - when they'd done it with their 2.5 - 3 yr olds, so I'm of the mind that a bit younger is maybe better, well at any rate it went totally smoothly with both of our 2, and believe me, they're are v. different personalities!

We're now expecting no. 3, so probably going to go & get bunk beds for 2 ds's & reclaim the cot bed for no. 3.

[mum2toby]

My ds is 22 months. There is a single bed in his room already (no where else to put it!). He has started to ask to sleep in there instead of his cot, so we just let him. We pack him in with cushions coz it's quite high.

We were going to get a junior bed, but have now decided to just get a lower adult single bed instead. It works out much cheaper coz we can use the matress we have already.

[suedonim]

Libby, your post reminded me that even when DS1 went into a bed he still didn't get out! It was a couple of months before he realised he had all this freedom at his disposal and he used to just sit in bed patiently waiting for us to say he could get up!!

[GeorginaA]

If there's anyone in the Croydon area who would like a free guard rail, we bought a Tomy one recently but it doesn't fit our style bed! As ds hasn't actually fallen out yet, we're looking for a good home for the rail as we don't want it just lying around taking up space! (ds is 23mths and just gone into a bed quite happily although we did have an unsettled first night - so much happier to play on his own in the morning now whereas in the cot he'd scream to be let out as soon as he woke)

[JanZ]

Dh and I had been really pleased that ds - 2 and 7 months - had shown no inclination to climb out of his cot. This meant that, as ds is good at playing by himself, and has a cot filled with toys, we were able to get lie ins on Saturday and Sunday mornings, as it would ds a while to get bored and throw all his toys out of his cot.

Anyway, on Saturday, ds did NOT want to go down for his afternoon nap. We use the travel cot for his weekend naps, and we heard a door closing elsewhere in the house, with the two of us in the same room and ds supposedly in his cot in our room. You've guessed it, he had climbed out of the cot. We then tried putting him down in his "normal" cot in his own room - same result.

Never mind, we thought. He'll not be able to climb out at night, because he sleeps in a sleeping bag.

He wasn't actually a 100% on Saturday - not helped by refusing to have his nap, so he eventually fell asleep on the couch and we put him to bed early.

Anyway, Sunday morning, around 8, I am taking ds's beaker of milk through to our room, prior to going and getting him up (our normal routine) when the door to his room opens and I hear "Mu-u-ummmm!" as he waddles through the door in his sleeping bag, clutching his head, which presumably he'd hit as he clambered out, hampered by the sleeping bag!

I went back into his room and all the toys were on the floor, so he must have woken early (according to dh, before 7) and had had plenty of time to get bored, throw the toys out and then decide to escape!

So, we now need to think of a bed for him! Nightmare, as we have in the past experimented (at his request) with putting him down in the "big" bed (ie ours) and he just won't settle - up and down all the time, coming back through to the living room.

Any advice on how we persuade him to stay put? We've never had stair gates (taught him stairs at an early age), but do we need to get him one for his room? Or do we resort to the "rope trick" from Toddler Taming?

[sb34]

Message withdrawn

[Hughsie]

It seems that peoples experiences vary so much - you may be best just to give it a try - some people seem to find that their children adapt to the bed without a problem - my view at the moment is - if it aint broke - dont fix it! but in your case I'd try the bed and see what happens - it is safe for him to leave his room alone? or will he be able to get into trouble if you didn't know he was up?

When ds1 when through his spate of climbing/falling out after a holiday disturbance at around 18 months we were able to lower the cot one more level (hadn't realised) and it solved the problem. A bed rail may keep him in just the same though. Is he able to understand that it is grown up to have a bed and this may make hm more inlclined to stay put?

Good luck

[Lil]

Eulalia, and all those with kids over 3 still in cots....how do you potty train them if they are trapped in their cots????

I took my ds out of his cot at 2.5 yrs. I put him on the mattress only, which helped him while he got the hang of NOT falling out of bed! He was fine after a few weeks of getting up at nightto play in his room (to be expected). This timed nicely with potty training, and he has a potty in his room if he wakes up in the night for a wee, or he gets up in the morning and needs to go to the toilet.

I know potty training wasn't the question but i am curious now

[mum2toby]

sb34 - Good point!! Thanks, I hadn't thought of that..... DOH!!

[bells2]

Our DS went into a normal single bed at 2 1/4 and slept a lot better for it. Lil, he has been dry at night since he was three and in that time (9 months) he has never once needed the potty during the night. I guess he just has a strong bladder.

[dcolagirl]

I put ds in a car bed (toddler bed from little tikes) at 16 months as dd was 2 months old then and I needed the cot. He was fine after 2 days of climbing out and wandering.

dd went into a cottage bed (little tikes again) last weekend and she is 15 months. She loves it and it is so low to the floor anyway that if she did fall out, she would probably stay asleep