Toddler bed - any advice/thoughts?

[lottytheladybird]

My 2.5 year old DS has been climbing out of his cot and sitting on the rails! Time to get him into a bed!

Since we want to move him into a bed asap, I don't have much time to shop around. What are your thoughts on a good sturdy toddler bed? What have you bought?

Lastly, any advice on making the transition as easy as possible both DS & us?

Thank you!

Waste of money. Just get a normal bed.

Mine went into a normal bed with a bed guard. I was worried about it, I should not have been, it went down a storm (especially with a duvet cover with CARS! on it). In, fact, I think DS sleeps better in it.
A piece of advice I was given was to get rid of the cot asap so the child does not want to go into it rather than the bed.

Malm single bed from ikea. Good as its low down. It also has a 3 inch wide surround so less likely to roll off straight onto the floor.

But, it is long. Ds looks tiny in it and he's not tiny!

Also second a cars duvet cover

I bought a standard single bed. It's relatively low to the floor. My Ds absolutely loves it. Poster above is right about duvets. I got one covered in stars and he spends forever oohing and aahing over them.

Toddler bed seemed like such a waste of money for bed and mattress.

Defo get an ordinary single bed and spend the £150 odd you have saved on a needless toddler bed on something more exciting!

We had cotbed which was good as did no 2. You've done we'll - my toddler jumped out his cot at 2! Ds was in cotbed with guard and then moved onto ikea tent bed which can be kept low,down and then becomes a higher bed with a den underneath.

I got a bed from Mothercare. White wood. It's not a toddler bed but is slightly smaller than a regular bed. 2ft 6 and I think slightly shorter than normal (needed as dd only has a small bedroom). It's low to the floor which was great as she fell out quite a few times in the early days! I really like it. We use a regular single duvet but needed to find 2ft6 sheets which I found new on EBay but not many in shops.

we have toddler beds for the dc because we were in a small flat and just didn't have the space. ikea ones can be really cheap and their bedding is colourful cotton.

We had a cot bed which aided the transition when dd1 started to climb out at 18m! We then bought her a double bed as large room. She's never fallen out. Putting her to bed has been a pleasure ever since (well mostly!) as story time is cosy and easy to lie next to her and snuggle for 5mins. Only downside is you can't any nice kids bedding for a double so have to be creative!

I fancy buying a toddler bed rather than a single as when ds is older I want to get him one of those bunk bed thingies where they sleep up top and have a desk/storage underneath. So for me, buying a single bed wouldn't actually save money as I'd want to ditch it in a few years anyway. At the mo, ds is in his cotbed but dc2 is now on the way...

So, I will be following this thread with interest.

We have an Ikea Kritter toddler bed. Wasn't very expensive and DS1 loves it. It's really low and has a removable side bar thing to stop him falling out. Due to arrival of DS2, DS1 was in a bed before he was 2, so I didn't want to put him in a single bed straight away cos he would have been swamped by it! The Ikea ones are good, not very expensive and you can buy different quality matresses to fit your budget.

Thank you for all of your comments! We've decided to go with a Baby Weaver toddler bed, which I ordered from Kiddicare yesterday and came today!

Sanjifair - we're thinking of getting one of those bed desk set ups, too, once the kiddies are older.

Tazmo - your toddler bed sounds fun!