what age is a child likely to need a 'grown-up' sized bed? Five? Eight? Twelve? sorry for cluelessness...

[jumbly]

Sorry for the daft, uninformed question but we've finally got round to trying to sort out some half-decent furniture for our DS's room - which is absolutely tiny, so we're trying to figure out quite what we'll ever be able to fit in it. He's in a cotbed at present, and a 'real' single bed is a very long way off, I know, but I've no idea what sort of age an average boy is likely to need to move up out of a cot bed to a 'normal' sized one (of which the standard size seems to be about a metre wide, two metres long)...

My Friend's DS is 7 and has a very small room. He is still in a junior bed and is quite happy with it. It gives him a lot more room in his bedroom for toys etc.

mine went into full size beds from the cot ( about 2 yrs)

I've just bought DD's first big bed, she's almost 7. She was in a junior bed before and would have been perfectly fine in that for some time still, at least another year I'd think. but we moved house and she got a bigger room so I treated her

I thought they outgrew cotbed size around 5 - or at least that's the marketing garb. Ds in toddler bed also because he has a teensy bedroom. If we got a full size single bed, there wouldn't be room for much else! Will worry about that problem in a few years...

if as Walnut says they outgrow the cotbed around 5yrs old - if I was you I'd hang on as long as is physically possible (in terms of your DS's size) and then buy a midsleeper with storage space underneath - then you'll economise on space.

my twin boys needed to move to normal size at 5, they really were getting too long for the cotbed size. You can get midsleepers which are smaller than an adult single but bigger than a cotbed.

my ds is still in his cot bed at 3.5 yrs but the info with it says upto approx age 5 but im keeping him in it as long as poss!!

Ikea apparently sell beds that adjust from toddler to single length size that have a small mattress with additional mattress sections to add on to make the length you want so you could maybe look at something like that as a full length single wouldnt be necessary till teenage age i wouldnt think ?

My DD is 19 months and has been in a normal bed for about 6 weeks.

As soon as they can climb out of their cot. I thought about a mid-sized bed for mine but ended up getting them both Ikea hemnes beds which are brilliant. Ds(4)grew like a weed this year & needs the bigger bed.

straight out of cot into single bed for mine

that's all really helpful - many thanks - now I just bet he ends up long and lanky like his dad!

Both mine were in full sized beds at 2 years old. More to do with moving rooms to make way for new baby and with DS when we moved house than thinking they had to be moved at a certain age!

DS1 moved straight into a standard single from his cot - but that was because we had a single bed and didn't want to have to buy another bed.

Stick with it as long as you can, DS's best friend is still in his cot bed aged 4 and looks like he will get another year out of it!

both mine were in proper full size beds at 18mnths when they grew out of the cot

i didnt see the need to fork out ofr a junior bed then a single bed

waste of money IMO

my dd2 has a small room and we got a midriser bed so she still has floor space underneath

Mine went into full sized beds at once, but DS2 (4.5) would be fine in a smaller one still.

DS1 who is 8.5 takes up the full length (virtually) of his full length bed if that helps! He is tall tho.

Recently had to put my 6 yr old into a cot-bed sized bed at Xmas and she was def. too big for it - okay for a couple of nights but not as an everyday thing (she is slightly taller than average). So I would think the 5 year old guidelines on the cotbeds are about right.

Also hate to warn you but one of our cotbeds fell apart (literally) when DS was about 4 years old. They (DS's) get heavy and start climbing around/jumping on them etc once they are converted into beds. So wouldnt rely on them lasting longer than 5 years myself. Or maybe we bought a bad brand.

Obviously if another little one comes along they can move out earlier as many have said - lots move at about 2 yrs old for this reason!

Cripes Maisy, don't say that - I climb into ds's toddler bed with him for bedtime story and milk... probably collapse one day.

I think ds is growing too big for his child's bed - smaller than a full-sized single - at 4.5. He's quite tall, though.

Hi Walnutshell, actually when I think back on it, I used to climb into their beds - can recall some painfully cramped awful night's sleep there actually when I was trying to comfort them (bad sleepers - luckily that's in the past). And I am no lightweight so I probably contributed to the bed's ultimate collapse! Amazing it lasted as long as it did.