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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

Is it going to cause problems if we give DS cot to the new baby?

13 replies

Treesandbees · 12/02/2015 20:11

Our DS will be 2 when DC#2 will be born. He's currently in a cot bed and is showing no signs of climbing out and sleeps well on the whole. We want to move him into our back bedroom ahead of the baby so he's settled and its a lot quieter for when the new baby is here. But...here's my dilemma...the cheapest thing would be to move him in his existing cot and then when he's ready get him a toddler bed and the baby can go in his cot bed. I'm worried he won't want the new baby to have his cot. Is that going to be a problem? The other options are to buy another cot bed or to get him a toddler bed now but I don't think he's ready...

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Purpleflamingos · 12/02/2015 20:21

Dis had his cotbed in the new 'big boy bedroom with a single bed on the opposite wall. It didn't take him long to start sneaking into the (already made up with fireman and police pillow case and duvet cover) single bed on nights when he wanted to sleep in his room. Then we just treated it as normal and put him to bed in the single bed, one day the cotbed disappeared and for his birthday he got a tent in its place. Apart from the odd 'that used to be mine' and 'can I share for a few minutes' he never queried dd being moved from a crib in our room to his old cotbed in the nursery. We did keep partially co-sleeping though so he never felt pushed out.

CPtart · 12/02/2015 20:21

Both my DS went into a toddler bed with sides at 20 months, no problem.
You are overthinking it. He's two. Get him a toddler bed (male it a big deal, special bedding etc ) and put baby in cot bed. He's going to have to get used to a lot of new situations and maybe not all his own way when his sibling comes.

MagratsHair · 12/02/2015 20:24

I'd start using the toddler bed before baby arrives so its more about his transition to a big boys bed than about the new baby. A couple of weeks would do, store the cotbed somewhere out of sight and make it 100% about him and his new bed

addictedtosugar · 12/02/2015 20:46

But the cot bed already converts to a toddler bed - they are the same size usually.

We bought another cot bed for DS2, and DS1 kept the cotbed. Sides came down about a week before DS2 arrived, as he escaped! DS1 stayed in cotbed without sides til he moved into a cabin bed just before he turned 5. DS2 is still in the cotbed without sides aged 3.

Jaffakake · 12/02/2015 21:47

Ds2 is due in March. Ds1 (3.5) moved into a 'big boy bed' about a month ago. We took him shopping to buy it. He picked out a duvet set & cushion. We packed up the cot & put it out of sight. He helped me take the mattress to the tip.

Ds2 will first go into a crib, then will graduate to the cot, I imagine by the time he's 3 - 4 months old.

I know my ds us older, but I think you've just go to try to leave a bit if a gap to allow them to be comfy with the new state of affairs, rather than feel someone us taking their place. Alternatives for ds2 to help tide you over could be a travel cot or a cheap ikea one that you could sell on.

DesmondTututoo · 13/02/2015 13:01

DD2 (who hated the buggy, and rarely went in it) proclaimed when I was about 7 months pregnant "That baby better not use my buggy" leaving me very worried about her reaction.
When it came to it, she never blinked about ds using the buggy or anything else.

dietcokeandwine · 13/02/2015 18:35

Buy another cot bed for the baby OP.

Cot beds are the same size as toddler beds and DC can stay in cot bed (with sides off) till they're about 5 anyway.

Don't move him into a bed too early. There's only two reasons IMO for moving a child into a bed before the age of 3. One, they're climbing out and no longer safe in the cot. Two, if they're a poor sleeper and you feel they might sleep better in a bed. Neither of those scenarios apply to your DS, so don't risk ruining a perfectly good sleeper by pushing him out of the cot too early, regardless of the new sibling issue.

backtowork2015 · 13/02/2015 22:52

get a second cot definitely. we put dd into a bed at 2.5 so we could have her cot for ds, she was fine till he arrived then she was out of bed every time he woke at night, made the first 3 months more tiring than ever. would recommend to anyone to keep them in a cot till they absolutely have to move them. when there's a new baby is a really bad time to do it

MiaowTheCat · 13/02/2015 23:03

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

flipflopsonfifthavenue · 15/02/2015 18:26

We're in similar position. DS1 was 2.4yo when DS2 born 3 mo ago. DS1 was happy in his cot and we didn't want to kick him out of his cot for new baby. So he stayed where he is and we used a Moses and now crib for DS2.

However the crib is very narrow and it's a pain to put DS2 back in asleep as he tends to wake as I try to extract my arms so really we need to put him in the cot. We think enough time has passed now for DS1 not to feel like we're kicking him out and we've begun to talk to him re a big boy bed and he seems keen so guess we'll so that soon.

I may leave a few days between his going into big bed and putting DS2 in cot just to make sure DS1 settled and happy in bed.

I may be over thinking this all and mollycoddling my first born ;)

youbethemummylion · 15/02/2015 18:31

My DS was fine with the baby having his cot and him having a new big boy bed. Dont overthink it.

Eva50 · 16/02/2015 08:07

I have 22 months between ds's 1&2. We got another cot as ds1 was such a good sleeper and we didn't want to disturb him. I think that would be best for you especially as it's a cot bed. Ds3 slept in a cot bed, with the sides off, until he was 6.

ClaimedByMe · 16/02/2015 08:11

DD had a cot bed and she was still using at as a cot at 26 months when ds came along, shortly after he born she climbed out of it so we turned it into the bed then bought ds a basic cot, by the time ds was ready for the cot bed dd needed a single bed.

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