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Behaviour/development

Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

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Original poster

Anyone's 4 or 5 year old still in a cot?

35 replies

nappyaddict · 09/03/2012 09:23

That's it really :)

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

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lesstalkmoreaction · 09/03/2012 09:25

No but they are 15 and 16 now but both of my older girls stayed in their cot till they were 4, they were quite happy but it was a continental size so not a tiny one. I used to leave the side down and put a stool for them to get in and out, they were fine

Devora · 09/03/2012 09:28

dd(1) was in her cotbed till the age of 4 - with the sides taken down, obviously.

Original poster

nappyaddict · 09/03/2012 09:35

Sorry I meant was/is anyone's 4 or 5 year old still in a cot with the sides up.

OP posts:

CaptainHetty · 09/03/2012 09:51

No, seems a bit unnecessary to me?

My children were moved into toddler/junior beds once they started being able to climb over and out, otherwise it gets a tad dangerous. All three were in small beds by 2.

ipanicked · 09/03/2012 20:26

Not yet but I can see my almost 3 year old in one for a while.. He won't let us take the side off the cot

olivo · 09/03/2012 21:04

I can see my 2 1/2 yo being in one for a while. She has never shown an inclination to climb out and is happy in hers - we're in no rush. Iwould move her before she went to school, if she's not already out ,so she would be just 4.

RandomMess · 09/03/2012 21:06

We unscrewed one side on ours.

Dn had to bribede out of hers at about 4.

Seona1973 · 09/03/2012 21:21

we moved ds to a bed at 2½ years but he was night trained by then and he needed to be able to get out of bed at night to get to the toilet

jubilee10 · 10/03/2012 16:24

My ds's all slept in cots until they were 4+. They were all in beds by 5. They were happy. Only ds1 climbed out so we left the side down.

KateShmate · 10/03/2012 16:28

My youngest DD's are 2.7, and will be in cots for a while - until they grow out of them.
A lot of people seem to want to rush into putting DC's into beds early, but until mine outgrow their cots - I don't see the point in moving them.
Having 3 2YO's in 'big girls beds' will be very cute... until they decide to get out!

welovesausagedogs · 10/03/2012 16:47

We moved both DS from cot to bed when he was 2 because this is when DD arrived so we needed to cot for the new baby. I think at age 4 or five they may be a little big for the cot, unless it is a cot-bed it isn't meant to carry the weight that a child of that age would be. I would look at getting your child a cot bed, we have a really good one from ikea that grows with your child, you can extend the bed/mattress as your child grows, until the bed is a full single.

BsshBossh · 10/03/2012 21:05

We moved our DD into a bed at 3.3 but only because her friends who came to play commented on why she was still in a cot. DD is a petite little thing and never ever attempted to get out her cot (she still actually doesn't get out of her bed - she calls for us). So I think we'd have been fine with her still being in a cot at 4, peer-pressure notwithstanding.

BoysAreLikeDogs · 10/03/2012 21:11

why do you want to know?

are you still researching stuff?

TheSecondComing · 10/03/2012 21:12

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

merrymonsters · 10/03/2012 22:01

Surely they need to be able to get up to go to the toilet. Clambering over the rails in the middle of the night doesn't sound like a good plan.

It sounds like a weird thing to do unless you really can't afford to buy them a new bed (in which case, try freecycle or ebay).

simpson · 10/03/2012 22:07

DD now 4 was 3.8 when she was moved out of her cot (well it was a cot bed but with the sides still up).

I had tried 6mths before and after 10 very sleepless nights with her making a dash for freedom and every opportunity I caved in and the sides went back up.

I told her when she was a big girl and would not run round the house in the night when everyone else was sleeping I would take them down again.

She has had the sides off for about 4mths now.

(She was not dry at night when sides were up so did not need to get to loo etc).

essexmumma · 10/03/2012 22:13

Looked at this thread, as beginning to think about DD moving into a bed from her cot when the new baby moves to her own room at 6 months approx. This will make DD 2.5.

However, how would 4/5 year olds in cots get to the toilet in the night if they needed too?! I mean if they needed to go quickly...

Hulababy · 10/03/2012 22:13

DD came out of hers around 18 months; she really didn't like the sides.

jetstar · 10/03/2012 22:26

This is an interesting thread! Our dd 2.6 is so far showing no inclination to leave her cot bed (sides up) she seems quite happy there. A lot of our other friends have already moved their dc into beds and so I have been feeling a bit of pressure to do the same, especially as we are due a little sister in June! But I don't really want to instigate any change unless we have to. It would suit me fine if she stayed in her cot bed til she was 4 (sides on or off). She's not interested in potty training yet either!

BoysWillGrow · 11/03/2012 10:44

My youngest ds (17 months) came out of his cot last month into a shorty bunk bed he shares with his 4 yo brother, we had no problems with the change either, he doesn't wander off or play with his toys. When it's bed time, it's bed time!

We did it as I'm due my 3rd child in July and we'll need the cot by the end of the year. I didn't want any jealously about him being kicked out of the cot for the baby, so made the change early.

olivo · 11/03/2012 21:00

many children are not night time trained by 4 (I speak from experience!) so I suppose it deosn;t matter whether they are still in a cot. My DD is still in a cot but dry most nights. She doesnt wee till she gets up.

Original poster

nappyaddict · 16/03/2012 10:27

jubilee Apart from DS1 did you keep both sides up? Had any of them turned 5 when they made the move to a bed or did they all move before they turned 5?

OP posts:

makemineagin · 19/03/2012 19:25

DD was 2.5 in a cotbed when she decided to fly! and broke her arm:0 DS was in a big bed at 2 because of this.

jubilee10 · 19/03/2012 19:53

Apart from ds1 we kept the sides up. The other two never tried to get out on their own. None of mine ever got up to the toilet in the night. Ds3 5.8 is still not consistently dry at night but the other two were.

They were all in beds by the time they were 5 (ds3 was in a cot bed so we took the sides off - he still has a Tomy mesh bed guard as did ds2) and were sensible enough to know to stay there.

sunnyday123 · 19/03/2012 20:13

dd in cot until 20 months - 4-5 seems very extreme! we put dd into a junior bed (same size as cot bed but no sides) until she was 3 and them moved her to a standard single bed. I think cots and cot beds are very uncomfortable once a child has some weight to them as the mattresses are thinner than a single bed - not sure they're meant for over 3?

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