Moving from a cot to a big girl bed

[TwoTeaTessie]

I'm thinking of moving my 22 month old from her cot to a single bed. My son moved at roughly the same age though that was traumatic and poorly managed (we moved house and he moved bed) So hoping for a smoother transition this time round.

The single bed has always been in her room and we have story in it as part of our bedtime routine so it's already part of our life. But do I just suddenly dismantle her cot and go with it?

Just wondering about other peoples experiences.

does she need to move just yet? DS never went into a big bed until he was 2½ years old

Hi, i moved ds into a bed at 18 months as we needed the cot. I put the bed up in his room first and he started showing interest in it and started saying 'bed' so one night we just let him get in it, read him a story and said goodnight and left the room same as we would do if he was in the cot. He slept fine in it and has ever since so making as little a deal out of it as poss worked for us

I want to move her as we could really do with the space in her room, she doesn't seemed fazed by it and has fallen asleep in it once or twice but then I've moved her to a cot. I might get a bed guard and bite the bullet. Thanks everyone

Another question if I may. What about pillows and duvets? currently she only sleeps in her sleep sack? Does this need to change?

Ask her one night when you are reading her story if she would like to sleep in bed.

We used a quilt and very flat pillow for both our children who moved bed around 18 months (both tall and climbers).

Would not make a big issue of it tbh and my view is we can overthink these things sometimes IYSWIM.

Be led by her.

Hi Op my dd went into bed (cot sides down) at around same time and I also wondered about pillows etc. I had an inflatable (dream tubes) which was fab stopped her falling out and she stayed in Gro bags til about 2 ( great for limiting escaping) at 2 she had a first pillow and duvet....hope she enjoys her 'Big girl' bed x

I would leave her with what she is used to for now so that it stays familiar for her in her new bed. My dd is 18 months and has slept on a single mattress on the floor since 1year. She refuses any blanket type thing so just sleeps in a padded sleep suit.

I left ds in his grobag, no pillow just like in the cot and he is fine with it. He gets out of bed and walks around in it in the morning. I would move to duvets next summer so they get used to them when its not too cold!

We had bed guards to give an illusion of a cot, and it stopped our dd's falling out too. Dd2 is 2.4 now and doesn't need the bed guard anymore. They both have duvets, and pillows and we let them help us choose one.

DS will stay in his gro bags until he grows out of them, but when he is ready we have the gro bedding. Pillowcase zips to the sheet so can't pull over face, and the duvet zips to sheet so can't uncover.

That bedding sounds like a cool plan, where did you find it?

www.gro-store.co.uk/grobag-duvets-and-bedding.html - they sell them here but they are pricey

I got mine discounted on Achica. Every so often they have Gro products on sale and I always get my sleep bags etc from there.

I will check it out thank you ladies

We're switching 3yo dd to single bed as she doesn't seem too comfy In her toddler bed. And also as we need her bed for 17mo!

I wouldn't use bed guards personally, Kids can get trapped in them I gather.
DD (moved around 20 mo from the cot) has generally been fine with just a rolled up towel under the fitted sheet. She fell out of a single bed on hols a few times and it did no damage (didn't even wake her up on one occasion), thus I feel the risk is low to begin with.
We put her under sheet and blanket so she can be tucked in, so for her the switch from grobag came at the same time.

Well tonight is the first night. Cot came down, bed guard on. She went down without a muff. Lets see what happens.