To keep my 3.5yr old in a cot?

[portolife]

Talking about sleeping arrangements to some friends recently and one of them was astounded that my 3.5yr old is still in a cot, she's very small for her age and totally happy in there, doesn't climb out etc. Moving her into a big bed just isn't something I've felt bothered enough to do yet! But my friend made me feel a bit weird about it to be honest!

And it was no bother when we went away, we just had him in the travel cot. He's tiny.

Dd3 was in a cot until she was 3 plus and she was tall. She just loved it. We discovered the old toddler bed in the loft that her sisters had used and she decided she wanted to sleep in that.

My ds is three in August and we just changed his cotbed into a bed (with bedguard too) and he loves it. I would probably make the change soon. I think they love to feel independent at this age.

You move her to a nice bed when you’re ready. It’s something you can do this summer if you wish. Ikea does nice, kid-sized beds (you can get a second-hand Ikea toddler bed on eBay and buy the mattress new). I think these beds are great. Not too big or overwhelming. And usually a child can sleep in them until age 7.

People are bizarre. It’s fine. She’s happy, she’s safe. You’re all sleeping. I hate this thing of insisting one moves children in to the “next stage” urgently. I’ve found it much easier to wait until they are very ready, it makes for a much smoother transition. I’ve done everything much later with DCs 2 and 3 compared to my 1st: toilet training, weaning.

I moved my now nearly 4 year old just after he was 3.5 as the cot was now 4th hand and has splintered when I moved it. he could easily have stayed in it. The others moved a bit earlier as we needed the cot for the next one.

She’s never tried to climb out? Wow. Mine did at 1.5 years. I would care but people will find it strange. Do what works for you.

We are just about to move our 3yo into a bed as he's getting a bit big for the cot. If he still fitted I wouldn't worry about it yet. I'd do it before school though.

‘Unusual’ I guess, but if she’s comfortable and everyone is getting a good nights sleep no harm done.

My 3 year old is still in his cot. It works for us. He's happy. That's all that matters.

Just so not a big deal, she's fine you're fine, a complete non issue.

I get the "if it ain't broke don't fix it" but...how long is she going to stay in there?

I'm sure she'd be out by secondary school!

We didn’t move our daughter until about 3.5. That’s when she started climbing out. We bought her a bed, it was fine. In fact she stayed in it which our friends who moved their children earlier had issues with. We moved her a year ago. Nursery tell us how independent and ready for school she is, so she hasn’t been affected by it. I don’t understand the rush to the next stage thing either.

All my friends who moved their kids to beds at a young age (18 months etc) seem to just spend forever returning them to bed!

Would it not be that the kids who went into a bed at an earlier age are the ones who kept escaping from a cot and so would have always needed to be returned to bed regardless of what they were sleeping in?

Mine was in one until about 3, cot bed. Didn’t ever try to escape etc
She then had a bedguard on it and the bedguard was well secured by the drop under the mattress, she then had a cabin bed that had sides

Point of my tale is that she couldn’t sleep in a side-less bed without falling out in her deep sleep phase until she was about 9 😂
It was a ruddy nightmare on holiday