Tell me about your 2.5 yr old.

[Clare123]

Does your lo....sleep in big bed, use a high chair, have bottles or dummies, use a grobag and use a pushchair??

I know there is no average as far as kids are concerned, but I am interested as my LO seems so different to his cousin - and I was wondering what was more common.

At 2.5, DD
Slept in bed with duvet
Sits in tripp trapp at home, booster if poss when out
No dummy (stopped at 8 months) but still bedtime bottle
Doesn't go in pushchair
Wears PJ's

DD2 not there yet but with my older 2;

DS, single bed, in pjs as stopped grobag when moved into bed, dropped dummy at 18mths, dropped bedtime bottle at 2, still used pushchair and used any old chair. In night nappies until he was 4.

DD1, single bed, in pjs, still had dummy until 3, dropped bedtime bottle at 14mths, stopped using pushchair around this time and used any chair with booster to eat. She was dry day and night by 23mths.

Same parents, very different children. DD2 very different again!

My ds is 2.5. He is my 4th so I'm quite laid back. He's in a toddler bed, sits at a booster seat, drinks normally from open cups but has bottles on demand (!) - normally asks twice a day! He has a dummy at bedtime or if he is poorly or tired. He sleeps in fleecy pjs or those big fleecy sleepsuits due to a cold cold room.

You are probably right that its to do with the child too. I have just spent the christmas with a relative and their 2.5 seems so much younger than mine - they often insinuate that we have made our little one grow up too quick. Where as, probably I think they are the opposite. When I asked do you still use babygros - I meant during the day, not at night!

ds2 is far more baby-like than ds1 was at his age. ds2 is only 10 months but is nothing at all like ds1 was.
There isn't anything wrong with encouraging independence as long as it's done gently IMO. For example, I am already giving ds2 1 milk feed a day from a spouted beaker to gradually get him off bottles completely.
You just have to find a balance in what you're happy with and what's right for your child.
I used to compare ds1 to other children. He is ahead in some things (like being toilet trained I'm now thinking about doing nights as he's been dry for just over a week) but behind in other things which he is catching up with, he now says 7, 8, 9 and D, E

DD is 2.4yrs, she:

Sleeps in a full sized bed with a duvet

Doesn't have a dummy (never has)

Doesn't have a bottle (she self weaned from night time breast feed at exactly 2 yrs old)

Doesn't use a high chair (she's refused to for several months)

Sometimes still uses a buggy - it depends where we are and how fast I want to get things done!

DD - exactly 2.5!

now out of grobag due to night anti-bed pooping projct (she had fixated on it as her poopy place)

still in cot though will be going into open bed when her room has a radiator.

no bottles/dummy ever, uses cup with handles.

pushchair for town, walks for dog walks (more a matter of convenience than aything)

has a low chair and table for meals.

By 2.5, DS1 was in a big bed with a duvet (had been using grobags since birth). He still had a dummy for nap/bedtimes only but no bottles. We still used the pushchair - mainly because he was (and still is) a 'bolter' so it was the only safe way to go for a walk/shopping. He is now 3.6 and we still occasionally use the pushchair for the same reason!! Didn't potty train him until he was 3.1 as he clearly wasn't ready.

However, DS2 was due when DS1 was 2.4 so I did push him to 'grow up' as I wanted him to have lost the connection with bottles/cot etc before DS2 arrived. I think we moved him to a duvet/bed at 2.2 and then lost his bottles of milk about a month later.

Your relative probably seems baby like because they are still babies in so many ways at this age. It's nothing to do with a child being more advanced or ahead or a lack of independence.

Sounds like you're doing the classic thing (you and the relative) of comparing your child to another when there's nothing to be gained from it. There's the most ridiculous variation in what's normal at this age that difference should be celebrated for what it is, not used to make insinuations and comparisons.

Oops forgot about the highchair - DS1 had been in a booster chair at the table since he was about 1, could feed himself properly with a spoon at the same age. When he turned 2, he point blank refused to sit on the booster chair so has been on a normal chair ever since.....cue lots of getting up and down from the table ever since

DD is 2.3.

She sleeps in a toddler bed with a duvet and no guard (although she usually ends up in bed with me).
Uses normal cups for all drinks except milk which she insists comes from bottles and won't drink otherwise.
She decided she didn't want dummy at three months.
She radiates heat so has been in pj's since 6 months.
We only use the pushchair if we're on long shops or at the zoo, etc.
She's not potty trained - day one went very well but then she realised potty interrupted playing and has been a bit sporadic ever since!

sleep in big bed - no but she will do soon. Just as soon as we get around to it.

use a high chair - no but thats just a personal thing to her. She always seemed to view going in the highchair as some short of punishment, whereas DS was still using it at 3.

have bottles or dummies - no, but she never has.

use a grobag - yes, will be getting her a duvet when she goes into her toddler bed.

and use a pushchair - sometimes. We took it to Thomasland last Tuesday. We were there for 5 hours an she only went in it for about 15 mins. She slept for 13 hours that night!

forgot to say, she is 2.4.

My now 2.9 year dd had grobags until 6 months she did not like them at all, a very wriggly thing. She still has a buggy for long walks and shopping centre.

ds2 (22mo):

Still in a cot, but only just (trying to climb out now but can't quite do it yet).
Forced into grobags against his will. Tries to get out of them and so rips them. I'll ditch those the moment he moves into a bed.

Won't go in the pushchair any more.

Won't use a high chair any more.

Ditched bottles at 12mo.

Has ditched dummies himself recently.

DS is 2.2
Still in a cot. He's shown no sign of ever climbing out so I don't see the point of taking the sides off yet (it's a cotbed) He's in a Grobag but the largest size and he'll outgrow it soon so then he'll have a duvet.

He uses a booster seat at the table and has done for a couple of months. There was no problem the the highchair, it was just mahoosive so getting rid of it freed up loads of space.

Still has a nightime bottle. He rarely drinks milk out of a cup but downs 9oz out of a bottle. It's clearly still a source of comfort for him.

Still uses dummies too (but only for sleeping). Will ditch those when he's old enough to understand the dummy fairy.

Uses a pushchair when he wants to. We usually leave the house with him walking and he hops in when he wants to. I don't drive so we walk a lot and I think we'll be using the buggy for a while yet. We don't use it for short trips though.

While I want to encourage his development, I don't really believe in forcing things just because he's the "right" age.

DS is 2.4
Sleeps in cotbed, with a grobag, although has recently started stripping completely and peeing on the bed..
Has a triptrapp highchair for meals at home, strapped in to prevent him climbing onto table.
No dummy ever, No bottles since 1
Pushchairs for long walks, reins for short unsafe walks, he has a tendancy to sprint off in the opposite direction, or in front of traffic
Not potty trained, not remotely interested "NO POTTY" etc

Dd is 2.5

She wears pj's but only because it's easier if she needs a wee (I prefer snuggly babygros)

She sleeps in big bed with a light-weight duvet and a blanket (although that's more for comfort than warmth)

She uses an ordinary chair. I sold the highchair ages ago and bought a booster, which she now tells me that she's too grown up for

She's never had bottles (was exc bf then straight to cup)

She has a dummy when she's tired although we're trying (rather unsuccessfully, I must add) to phase it out.

She absolutely Will Not use a pushchair. If I need to use one for long walks etc, I have to bribe her to go in it or forcefully place her in it. She is exceptionally strong minded.

She is my third daughter and I can honestly say that they've all done things very differently and to very different timescales.
My eldest was by far the more baby-like at this age

ds2 (now 2.8, but nothings really changed for the last couple of months):
sleep in big bed occasionally - but prefers to co-sleep if he can get away with it!
Won't use a high chair any more
Has never had bottles or dummies
Never used a grobag
Walks increasingly - sometimes us a pushchair if I've either got a lot to carry, need to restrain him, or think he's liable to fall asleep.
Sort of potty trained - ok in a familiar environment where he knows where to takae himself off to, but not good at asking if he's somewhere unfamiliar.