When to move on from cot

[breatheslowly]

DD is 17 months. She currently sleeps in a grow bag in a cot. The mattress is at its lowest level. When I went in today she had unzipped the grow bag. I think it is only a matter of time before she tries to climb out of the cot and I don't really want to hear a thud followed by crying one morning. When did you move on from a cot if there wasn't another baby or any other practical reason to move on? And what is the next step? Is a toddler bed a waste given that we have a single bed already? I think DD may be too little to be trusted to be able to get out of bed and toddle into us in the morning. I also am not sure if her sleep would be disrupted by a move.

we moved dd into a single bed when she started climbing over the cot rails, followed by the 'thud' 'cry'. She was about 18 months I think.

What we did was to have the bed against the wall with the long side and prop a towel/body pillow or whatever you have under the outer edge of the mattrass that way she couldn't roll out off bed. Not sure whether that contradicted any 'how your child should lie in bed' mantras but it worked for us ;) She's now 10 so she survived it ;)

My DD liked the security of the cot and was happy to sleep in it til she was 3. She could pop the side down and jump in and out easily, but the rails on all sides stopped her falling out and she would snuggle into the same corner each night. She has a toddler bed now, but doesn't fall out - which is lucky,I thought she would.

If she sleeps happily in it then I'd wait. As JPJ says there's no need for them to go into a bed if they're fine in a cot and not all babies are climbers (there are also major differences in height of cot rail and some of them are unclimbable!).

I think you will know when/if she is going to try climbing out - as ple above have said, not all of them do - in which case you think again about it. My DD stayed in her cot until she was nearly 3 as it suited all of us and was never a prob, changed eventually as she was too heavy to lift in and out, but we never had climbing issues, tho she also used to unzip herself out of her sleeping bag.

If you are planning on going straight to a bed then you could always compromise with the mattress on the floor to start, as it does seem a long way down! Or tuck a single duvet in sideways on (like an envelope) to stop falling.

We kept DS in a cot until he turned 3 as we didn't have a pressing reason to move him and we liked the fact that he couldn't get out! He never tried to climb out though. One thing we did do was change his grobag for a cot duvet and pillow at around 2.5 so that he could get used to a duvet before putting him in a bed. I'd really recommend this. He didn't like this at first but got used to it. By the time we moved him to a bed (full size single) he was more than happy and loved it straightaway. We have a bed guard on it so that probably made the transition easier and gives us peace of mind about him falling out.

I agree about transitioning them from a grobag to a child duvet. My two were so used to grobags they would curl up into a ball in the bed (after the duvet had fallen off) and I had to go in many times a night to re-cover them.

I didn't realise that some children aren't climbers. Thanks for the advice, we will leave her for the moment and assume she isn't a climber. Since we have a spare bed we can just move her the moment we realise she is a climber (if that moment ever comes).

Both of mine were moved into a bed the day after they first climbed out of their cots. They had been taking their gro-bags off and standing up way before that, but once they'd figured out how to escape, we bit the bullet.

My DS never had a cot, he was in his bed from 10 months but it does have edges a bit like bed rails and was next to a futon bed that he could roll out onto, he had the bed in his own room from about 18 months.

dd1 was in her cot till 2.5 then she moved straight to a single bed with cot mattress on floor incase she rolled out which she has a few times.
she never climbed out of cot and had duvet/pillow from 12 months as has dd2.

DD is now 23mo and has taken to climbing everything in sight, so we pre-empted the cot climbing and moved her into a single bed two weeks ago. If she hadn't suddenly turned into Spiderman we'd have left her be until the summer (baby due in April so wouldn't want to move her soon after the baby arrived)

Anyway, so far, so good. We've got a stairgate on DD's door so she can get up and play in her room in the morning, but she can't wander around upstairs and attempt to scale the bookcase or washing airers.

If you're worried your DD may try to climb out, what about putting a folded duvet on the floor next to her cot so that if she does, then it's a pretty soft landing?

my dd is 3.1 and we only moved her from cot to toddler bed about 3 weeks ago - she never tried to climb out of her cot (did occasionally swing her leg up to the bar); she is not tall for her age and the cot was fine. Arrival of dd2 prompted the move - we talked to her about it a good bit first and then she was keen. She seems to sleep better in the bed - more space, and a single duvet (on toddler bed) doesn't fall off. She hasn't fallen out, or got up other than to get her potty to do a wee . No need to move her unless there's a reason to do so if she is happy in her cot.

Flisspaps - you are a genius! I think we might have a spare duvet we could put down there.

Dc1 has been in an ordinary single bed for 3-4 months. She has foam things down both sides to stop her rolling out. When do you think it might be safe to do away with those? They've been very effective but changing the bedclothes is an enormous faff...

breatheslowly I have told my husband that I am a genius.

His response?

We moved DS out of his cot and into a single bed at 2yrs 4 months, this was because he was outgrowing his gro bags and he also seemed ready to sleep in a bed. Do it when your child's ready, generally by age 3 children have outgrown their cots.

By the way, using a duvet as well as a grobag in a cot, or moving from one to the other while in a cot, is absolutely no guarantee that they won't wake up cold curled up in a ball and yell for you to come and put their duvet back on three times a night! We ended up using a double duvet cover on DD's single duvet so I could tuck the sides in to a degree that even she couldn't pull it out!

Only you can decide that.

There is however, growing evidence that babies should not be put in a cot at all. But sleep close to the mother before moving onto a low single bed.

Mine I had one move from sleeping with mother to single bed when she hit three and my current I'm thinking of doing it when she's two.

As far as I remember the oldest only fell out of a bed once.

We coslept until 6 months when DD started turning around and kicking me. We won't be going back there as DD sleeps fine in her cot.

Straight from cot and bag to single bed. He no longer had space in the cot, but had never tried to undo bag or climb out. Under a single duvet with a mattress on the floor for a soft landing. We moved him at 2 - new bedroom was his birthday present from us.