What age do you stop using a travel cot for holidays?

[Dinoswearunderpants]

My DS will be 3 in April and we travel fairly regularly but I'm wondering at what point should we stop using the travel cot.

He's in a toddler bed at home but will be going into a single bed with bed guard this weekend.

I bought these inflatable bed guards which you put under the sheet (think like a pool noodle) to stop him rolling to use when he does sleep in a bed (not used them yet).

We're used to using the Snoozeshade to black the cot out so also means we can sit in the room with the light on but that won't be possible if in a bed.

Curious to know your experiences please.

My daughter was in a big bed at 18 months because she was a little ninja and climbed her cot early.

So she's been in a standard bed with a rail when we stay away from home since then

My Dd went straight from a cot to a single bed, so as soon as she was in a bed we got rid of the travel cot. At that age we did mainly self catering holidays in cottages so being in the same room wasn’t an issue.

This depends on the child and on you - my eldest was two when he switched to a bed at home and immediately went into a bed on holidays too, he was easy going and we never had any issues at all. My youngest is a completely different child and stayed in the travel cot until she outgrew it, despite being in a regular bed at home for years at that point. She just couldn't settle aaay from home.

Basically each trip we would weigh up the hassle of taking the travel cot vs the hassle of not having it and make a call as to which suited us better. No 'right' answer.

Never used one. Always put babies in bed with me/us.

We've never taken a travel cot. He's been in a normal bed from 18 months and we just do the same when we're away. Much easier. Also don't bother with bed guards, I think he's only ever fallen out twice. We do take the baby monitor though. He's three in May.

If he is likely to attempt to climb out it would topple over.
He'd be better using one of those inflatable ready beds if he isn't in an actual bed.

From 2.5 we would move a mattress to the floor in hotel rooms or air BnBs, bit of a pain but easily done. Other option is a toddler air bed as there’s built in sides

21 months was the last time DS used a travel cot. He uses a single bed.

4 - it still worked for us until then so I didn’t feel like changing

DS flipped his travel cot when he was 22 months. So then.

It's hard to know what's right. I think he'd be totally happy to remain in a cot, and we can then cover so it works well for us. I think we might continue like this at least for the next trip.

We took down the rails of our cotbed when DD turned 2 and never bothered with guards, I think she fell out 2 times and we had a big duvet (king size folded into a single) in front of it for a week.

We then stayed in a cottage a couple of month later and just used one of the single beds there for her, same thing, several pillows on the floor but never needed.

We obviously made sure the room was safe.

It made travelling so much easier. But we never slept in the same room with her so light wasn't an issue.