When to move from cot to big bed?

[chrissiejames]

Does anyone have any advice about moving my toddler from his cot to a big bed? He is 18 months - is this too soon? We were thinking of buying a normal size single bed and attaching a rail to stop him from falling out. We have a 3 month old who we want to move out of the moses basket into the toddler's cot. But is it too soon for the toddler to progress to a proper bed? I was hoping we could avoid buying another cot or a cotbed.
Any advice would be great.
Thanks
Chrissie

[Yorkiegirl]

Message withdrawn

[Catbert]

I know there are many practical reasons for moving small toddlers into beds, but from all the children I know, all those moved before 2.5 were fine (good news) but parents "suffered" from toddler getting up and down during the evening and at nights, and it took patience and sometimes many trips backwards and forwards to get them to stay in bed.

Myself and four friends who left it a LOT longer than most (about 2.5 before the move) now find their children don't get out of bed until we come and get them in the mornings, and have never got out during the night either.

Possibly co-incidence, but I also think that it becomes so habitual by that stage for them to wait until they are "collected" in the morning, that it doesn't occur to them. Hence we have never had to stairgate the room, etc.

[chrissiejames]

Thanks to you both. I am new to this and hadn't realised there was a separate sleep section!

[scoot]

I have a one year old sleeping soundly and safley in a bed for the past four weeks! he was hurting himself in his cot, kept getting his legs trapped in the spindles. You might think this young but I made sure he could climb in and out of his bed safley and his room was child proof. he doesn't have a bed rail (don't like them), but I put his old cot mattress on the floor at the side incase he rolls out. which I am glad to say he hasn't. He now sleeps better in his bed and loves his room

[nailpolish]

we moved dd1 into a normal bed with a bed guard when she was 18 mths as we needed the cot for the new baby too. it was no probs at all, she loved it. buy him a really cool new bedcover and he will be delighted.

[Nemo1977]

hi my ds moved into his bed at 12mths with rail. He is now 17mths and doesnt have a rail on. We havent had any probs apart from after first week he realised he could get out so spent a week sitting in his room till he went to sleep. Ds sleeps from 7.30 till about 7am then u hear him get out the bed and run in for a cuddle. Although sometimes he does play in his room. One thing i do have is a gate on his door to keep the dog out while he is falling asleep rather than him in and of course gate over top of stairs as they can wander

[Nemo1977]

when i say about wandering i mean in the morning by the way. Luckily unless ds is ill he doesnt move

[wheresmyfroggy]

dd is 18 months and has been in her bed for about a month. She lovesit now [took a week to adjust. we have always shut her bedroom door at night so if she gets out in the morning or at night she just plays in her room til we go and get her.

[binkybetsy]

Dd was 17 mo when we converted the cotbed into the bed, with no rail on ( never occurred to use one ). We had to buy a new cot, but the cheapest one we could find, for Ds. She had to move to the bigger room too, as we needed the nursery for Ds. We redecorated the larger playroom for her gave her a new quiltcover etc and she loved it! This was 3 month before Ds arrived though. We then redecorated the nursery so it didn't look the same and so that she wouldn't recognise it as hers. Seemed to work! I do think that the gap between reusing the cot should be at least a month and even that should have different bedding than for your first child.
We now have a problem with my son moving from the cot to a bed at 15 mo, because he's so big (size of a 2.5yo).
Does anyone think this is maybe too early? We do have babydan rails for when we travel, maybe I could use those? He isn't trying to get out yet, though he could if he wanted to, it's just he's a bit too big for the cot!
Hmmm, what to do?

[bundle]

we did the bed move just before dd2 was born (dd1 was 2 yr 9 months), v glad didn't do it any earlier.

[tiffini]

i put my Ds in a bed as soon as he could get on and off the sofa by himself.

[scoot]

Put my ds in a bed at 11mnths as soon as he could get in and out of it. he was to big for his cot. kept trying to climb out and hurting himself on the spindles. best move I made.

[muminlondon]

interested to read Catbert's post - dd is 2.1 years and still in a cot but we want to leave it a little while longer so that she won't get in and out of bed and she doesn't seem to have worked out how to pole vault over the side. Not sure how to time it all with future potty training (any link between the two?).

[nailpolish]

disagree with catbert, i moved dd when she was 18 mths and she still shouts for us to go in until she gets up (shes 2.5 now)

she likes to keep a book under her pillow and she flicks through it til i go in

maybe shes just lazy and likes her bed! (i already dread in years to come having a stroppy teenager who wont get up for school)

[piffle]

We recentl moved dd (she is now 29 mths) she has been in toddler bed now for 2 mths, she adapted very well, she hs only just started getting herself out of bed in the afternoon nap stage and will sometimes knock on her door if she wakes in the morning, but she never gets out when upset or needing a cuddle, only when finished with sleep, but then I have a dd who adores sleeping and bedtime so she would do it anywhere I think.
My ds however now 11) detested his cot, climbing out at 10 mths ans was straight into a flor level futon next to me, he was fine as well.
it depends on the baby to be honest.

[Fimbo]

DD had a cot-bed which we didn't make into a bed until she was 2.5, but that was mainly because we had a major house move from Scotland to England and we moved into a much smaller rented property to beging with, so didn't want to unsettle her too much. She has never got out of bed without calling for me and even at 6.5 she still calls out to me if she needs the loo etc. But her little brother - he is a different story-think I will keep him in his cot until he's 16!!!!

[TokenBloke]

We moved dd out of cot at approx. 18months. She took 2 nights to work out that she could get out of bed, then soon got bored with this.

We decided against the safety bar - running on the theory that she could actually climb over this and fall considerably further than she would have without it.

She has roled out of bed once or twice in the early days but suffered more from shock than any injury. (We have a cot-bed sized bed which is only 9 inches or so off the floor, rather than a 'proper' single.)

[mummylonglegs]

Message deleted

[Evesmama]

after dd launched herself out of her cotbed yesterday!!!!! when i thought she was asleep, we decided its time to take the sides off!!, better to fall a few inches rather than somersault over the top again

[scoot]

Totally agree with you, - tokenbloke, don't like those bed rails either. tend to find the little ones will try to go over them, not round them and the drops alot further. I put my ds in a normal bed, but put his cot matress at the side during the night just in case he rolls out. During the day I just push it back under his bed out of sight. works a treat

[welshmum]

Dd moved into her new room and new 'big girl' bed at the weekend and she has been exemplary. No attempts to get out even though she's says that she likes her bed 'because she can get out of it'.
I think it might be because she's nearly 3 and is so used to waiting for one of us to go in and collect her. Bless her she waits until the bunny clock wakes up and then calls us. Don't know how long this will last (how long does anything last with kids???)

[Newbarnsleygirl]

I have been contemplating putting dd in to a bed (we have a cot bed). The only thing that concerns me with it is when she gets out of bed what if she pulls the drawers on top of her or something like that.
Does/did that concern anyone else?

[Newbarnsleygirl]

I have been contemplating putting dd in to a bed (we have a cot bed). The only thing that concerns me with it is when she gets out of bed what if she pulls the drawers on top of her or something like that.
Does/did that concern anyone else?

[MrsMiggins]

we moved DS into bed when 15 mths cos kept banging cot while asleep & waking himself up. He was in a grow bag so couldnt get out of bed. When he got older & learnt how to get out of growbag, he used to come to our door & peak in. If we pretended ot be asleep, he'd run back to his room & try again 5 mins later. When he was 2 1/2, we bought a bedside lamp that he could switch on himself. Told him if he woke up he could put the light on & play or read. Works a like a dream!! No more running across the landing - stays there until we go & get him - once that was 1 1/2 hrs (cos he woke at 6am on Sat) He was playing as good as gold

Unfortunately we now have DD (10 mths) who wakes at 6am.