From bags to bedding - how did you ease your toddler out of one and in to the other?

[neuroticlady]

21 month-old DS is sleeping well in his cot and sleeping bag, and while I am firmly of the 'if it aint broke don't fix it' brigade, he is bursting out of his bags lengthways and also starting to undo them and so I feel it probably is about time we introduced him to a pillow and duvet.

I have bought him one of those fleecy all-in one pajama things so that if he kicks off a duvet he won't freeze (winter definitely not an ideal time of year to try this, I know) but any other tips for making the transition? Am probably fussing but I worry about him smothering himself with a pillow - probably just got so used to seeing absolutely nothing in his cot from his baby days and all the SIDS advice.

Oh and I have a 4.5 month old baby and am up in the night with her so want to make this as painless as possible. Should I just hold off until baby is a bit older and winter is out of the way? Perhaps tell him to stop growing until the spring, like the plants?

Hi neuroticlady
If you do want to leave it a bit longer then a friend of mine turned the bag inside out to stop her son from breaking out. He couldn't manage to do the zip when it was inside out!

peanutpie that's just brilliant! Thank you!

DD was in a bag until she was about 3! In her mini-bed by then, and with duvet as well, but refused to give up her bag altogether. Then one day, just said " I don't want a bag tonight."

She's not a shorty, by any means, so think you must be able to get some longer bags. Jojomamanbebe maybe?

My DS moved to a big boys bed at 20 months old due to DS2 being born (and needing the cot soon). I put the bed in his room and let him get used to it for a while and would ask him every night where he wanted to sleep, in the bed (with duvet) or in the cot (with sleeping bag). He chose to read his stories in bed but sleep in the cot for a few weeks, then one night he decided to lie down in the bed with me and we lay for ages in the dark, chatting and me stroking his hair. He fell asleep and we never looked back! That's him been in it for about 3 months now and he loves it, he has only climbed out once but now just sits there waiting for us in the morning. We also showed him how to use a pillow and duvet by practicing pulling our duvet over us in our bed each morning. HTH!

My DD absolutely loved her bag but, like you, hers were getting to breaking point.

So, I took her out on a special shopping trip and she helped to choose her new bed linen (from a very small, pre-approved selection) and we made a big fuss of getting them washed and ready to go on her bed.

I called both her Nannies and chatted to them on the phone about it with her and she got really excited. It took a few nights to get used to - and she asked for her bag (which I'd washed and put in the loft so that I wouldn't be tempted to get them out) - but now she loves her bed.

Good luck when you do changeover

Thanks PCPlum. I got him a longer bag at an NCT nearly new sale and he undid it in about a second . But now that I have the inside-out tip...

dd is 2.3 - she never got on with sleeping bags but was very attached to trad cellular blankets.
when we moved her from cot to bed we started offering a duvet but still using blankets if she asked for them - took about 2 weeks to do the swap but she now loves her 'cosy duvet'.

Still no pillow though - we offered one as part of the 'big bed' deal but she chucked it overboard in disgust and sleeps flat on teh mattress like she did in the cot.

The only thing I will say is that buyign single bed sized duvets and covers is miles cheaper than buying cot- or cotbed-sized stuff, so the longer you leave it the better!

Lots of places do toddler grobags (jojo, mothercare, vertbaudet all worth checking, even Lidl have them in their 'specials' sometimes) if he is simply too big for the current ones.

We switched over to a quilt in the cot but didn't have a pillow (no idea why, just didn't think of it). DD was devoted to her bag so thought we would have a big fight but one day just had a discussion about how big girls had a quilt like Mummy and Daddy and she went to sleep under it like she'd been doing it all her life. I was amazed. When she moved into a bed we added the pillow but by then it wasn't an issue. Best of luck.

Ilikeyoursleeves - giving him a choice is a nice idea, though we have a cot-bed where eventually the rails will come off so not sure how that would work. Will give it some thought as it would be nice to introduce him to the idea but not to hurry him.

And cakeywakey I love the idea of DS helping to choose his own bedding and it becoming a special event.

Was it the duvet or the pillow that your DD found strange at first, or both?

mrsbadger - thanks for the tip about cotbed-sized bedding being more expensive. I had no idea. And I will look in mothercare this weekend for a longer bag (with padlocks...)

intravenous coffee - good to hear that it can be easy! When DS is next rolling around on our bed I might try covering him with the duvet and telling him it's what big boys use. You never know...

How about putting a nappy pin through the hole in the zip pull, then pinning across the top of the zip? Would that work?

Dunelm Mill has some inexpensive cotbed duvet covers blue bunnies or brown bears. It was the cheapest I could find - and like you I didn't want to spend to much on the stage between cot and bed.

Dd1 went from bag to duvet with no problem at all - she loves her duvet and I have to say has slept better with it as I think she is cosier. Even when it is really cold in her room she is warm under her duvet - and wears fewer layers.

Without wanting to hijack the thread , for those of you who've transitioned from bag to duvet, were any of your LOs wrigglers before they went into their duvets and if so, what happened once they had a duvet? Reason I ask is, my DD is 2.10 and still in a sleeping bag, and although she's looking forward to having her duvet, she's always been extremely "active" at night and ends up sleeping in all kinds of odd positions in her cot - upside down, side-to-side between the rails, etc etc! I've never had to worry about it as her sleeping bag has obviously always kept her warm, but with a duvet I can see her ending up half the night out of it .. I'm just worried she'll get cold, and don't want to be in and out of her room all night covering her back up again!

Hi Arianrhod, my DS can be a wriggler and I would often find him at the other end of the cot in the morning but he's been absolutely fine with a duvet. We showed him how to use it (when he would come in to our bed in the morning) so that might have helped. I check him every night before I go to bed to see if he needs tucked in, it's only occasionally that he does TBH. When it's very cold at night he is in heavier PJ's / fleecy sleepsuit so if he does get out of the duvet he's not freezing. He knows how to pull the duvet over him too and also on the mornings when I've found him lying out of the duvet he's been fine, not freezing or anything! He's just turned 2 and has been in the duvet for about 2 months, HTH.

I have just bought my son some of the 18-36 month sleeping bags. They have some on Amazon for £13.95 (slumbersac)! My ds is also a wriggler so I thought I would keep him in bags for as long as possible, also I have a theory that it may hinder his attempts to climb out of his cot, not sure if that will actually work though lol.

We used a nappy pin (to attach the zip to the sleeping bag) to stop DS1 undoing his - it worked.