Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

Flip

Original poster

Toddler bed or double bed?

20 replies

blebbleb · 22/01/2023 21:03

My 2 and a half year old has been asking for a big boy bed recently as he's currently still in a cot. He's big so more the size of a 3-4 year old. Can anyone recommend a good bed? Hoping I can just go straight to a single bed, is this what most parents do?

OP posts:

Original poster

blebbleb · 22/01/2023 21:04

Sorry I meant single not double bed!

OP posts:

TeddyBeans · 22/01/2023 21:05

You can pop him straight into a single bed. My 4 year old has moved to a single bed in the last couple of months

TheArtfulScreamer1 · 22/01/2023 21:08

Honestly if you've room for a double I'd get a double or a 4 foot single. We've a double for my 3 year old and it's a god send for the nights when she's ill, can't sleep, has had a nightmare or all the other various reasons toddlers can't sleep as one of us can just hop in with her.

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about these subjects:

2 year olds Home improvement

primeoflife · 22/01/2023 21:10

Both mine went into a single bed as we had two single beds from my grandparent's house that had never been used!

I think toddler beds are a waste of money if you have room for a single bed in the room.

AuntieEntity · 22/01/2023 21:14

My 4 year old had a toddler bed and honestly, it was a waste of money. When I got rid of it I went straight to a double bed. It means that when DD does sleep in it which is not bloody often cos she's always in my bed! she has loads of room, and I can also jump in if needs be (if she's poorly or whatever).

Attictroll · 22/01/2023 21:14

Toddler bed total waste of money ...ds went to a single. Just buy one with good storage and maybe get a collapsing bed guard.... we had something like this https://www.amazon.co.uk/Safety-1st-Portable-Compact-Children/dp/B0187EEUL0/ref=asc dff_B0187EEUL0/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=210075408123&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=3511275710539900474&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9045873&hvtargid=pla-295874845853&psc=1&th=1&psc=1

itsgettingweird · 22/01/2023 21:14

Ds and I lived in a 1 bed flat from when he was 13 months until 26 months.

2 months in he figured out how to climb out of his cot 🙄

I put him in one of the singles in the room and carried on sleeping in the double sofa bed in the lounge.

About a week later I realised that was mad and pushed the singles together and we both slept really well like that.

When we moved to a 2 bed I got him a day bed so it could be made a double if needed and it was a godsend.

So straight to single or double if you have room is perfect imo and ime!

mynameiscalypso · 22/01/2023 21:19

We had a cot that converted but then moved to a single bed at about 3 (when my DH broke the cot bed...). It's definitely easier having an adult size bed, even if it's a single, than a toddler bed as I've climbed in with him once or twice recently and it's much more comfy than the nights I tried to sleep in his cot bed! The only thing I noticed when buying single beds is that even children's single beds are higher off the ground than toddler beds so falling out is more of a bang. We put the old cotbed mattress on the floor next to the single bed for the first few weeks until he learnt to stay in the bed.

KangarooKenny · 22/01/2023 21:20

We went straight to single beds, with a roll out bar.

wakeysleepy · 22/01/2023 21:23

Agree with @TheArtfulScreamer1

We have a double bed for my 2 year old DD which she's been sleeping on since she was 9 months! We've only recently put the mattress up onto the frame, otherwise it was on the floor.

For the nights she's ill or is teething it's so handy for hubby or myself to sleep with her.

Blanketpolicy · 22/01/2023 21:24

We did a single bed suitable for kids (full size but lower height) for ds to give him more floor space in his room for playing/a rug with a car track and later space for friends sleeping over.

If he was unwell he would come into our super king bed which had plenty of room for the 3 of us, or he would be in our bed and one of us would sleep in his bed.

Laiste · 22/01/2023 21:27

Like pp, we went cot to full double bed when DD stated climbing out of the cot.

We got a low double, futon style, with memory foam mattress. Top of mattress is only about a foot and a half off the floor. When she was v little we had it pushed up against a wall one side and on the free side we put pillows on the floor and put a rolled up blanket under the fitted sheet as an 'edge' in case she rolled out. She never did.

It's so great when they are ill or you have to get up to them in the night. You can lay with them for as long as you want. She's 8 now and still in the same bed - no reason at all to change going forward - so it saves money.

girlmumma23 · 22/01/2023 21:33

We started with a cotbed, moved her into the bed part of it around 18 months but she moved about a lot and kept hitting the wall waking herself up so we switched to a single and she's slept through most nights since, it's been a god send if she's been ill too it means one of us can climb in beside her or she can come in with one of us and either me or DH can sleep in her single bed.

Oopswediditagain2023 · 22/01/2023 21:48

TheArtfulScreamer1 · 22/01/2023 21:08

Seconding this! We got a 4ft - best thing we ever did! Also means that we've got a proper "spare bed" too, so when me and her had covid a few years ago we isolated in my room and DP had a proper bed to sleep in rather than a sofa.

stormelf · 22/01/2023 21:53

My 5yr old and 3yr old are both in an IKEA extendable bed. They are same width as a single but start off as a toddler bed length and then extend to a medium size and then into a full single. Both are still in their toddler size configuration and the 5yr old still has a couple years left before I need to extend it. As they are wider than a normal toddler bed I've not had an issue sleeping in with them if they are poorly or can't sleep

DueyCheatemAndHow · 22/01/2023 21:57

We went for a small double. It's great... all his cuddly toys fit on, and we can get in next to him if he's ill and we do every night to read him a story. Toddler DD is only 2 so a way off needing a bed yet but we will do the same for her. We kept a toddler sized duvet for a while but now he has a light double. That's the only downside - the laundry

mondaytosunday · 22/01/2023 22:09

Yes we went for a single bed with a removable guard.

Original poster

blebbleb · 22/01/2023 22:43

Thanks everyone, he has a big room so I'll probably go for a large single with a removable guard. We don't sleep in with him so I'm sure a large single would last him.

OP posts:

AlwaysLatte · 22/01/2023 22:56

We recently put a double bed in our 14 year old's room and will do the same for the 12 year old shortly. Part of me does wish we hadn't wasted money on a toddler bed and single bed, and just gone for the double in the first place. We could have saved the money on four beds... More space for cuddles and stories too!

StrawberryMuffins · 22/01/2023 23:07

Single but we went for one that's fairly low to the ground.

Bedguards are a mixed blessing - if the child takes to tipping or jumping over it they have further to fall. My mum showed me how to roll a blanket up lengthways and put it under the fitted sheet along th edge of th bed. It gave just a soft lip that was enough to keep them in when asleep. I imagine most kids don't take to doing kamikaze leaps over their bedguards though!

Flip