Any tips for easy move to big bed? How did you do it?

[MyNameIsInigoMontoya]

I think DS is getting towards being ready for a "proper" bed, and a duvet as he keeps taking off his grobag in the night and not being able to put it back on again! He is 2 and 7 months. So just wondering if you have any good advice for how to make it work smoothly?

In particular I am interested in what other people do about "containment" once they are in a big bed. Did you put a hook or gate on their door or elsewhere to stop them getting into mischief if they get up?

At the moment we have a stairgate, but don't use it much any more as he is pretty safe on stairs. But if he could get out of his room without us knowing, I wouldn't want him to be able to get downstairs. Also though I think we would want to keep him out of the bathroom without us, and to stop him going into where his baby sister sleeps and waking her (she is still in our room atm but will be moving to own room soon).

So I am thinking it might be easier to stop him leaving his room, than to secure all those places? I have no problem with him getting up and playing (quietly) in his room though, as it is all pretty childproof already.

Thanks for your tips!

hiya,
we got our ds a little tykes racing car bed (£25 at car boot sale!) and let him pick his duvet cover and a few accessories for his room.
we put a stairgate on his door,so he could get up and play with his toys but couldn't go anywhere else.

we never had any problems with him getting up through the night ( i do realise we were lucky with that!)
he loved his new bed.

DD1 moved into a junior bed at 18mths.

We let her choose her own duvet cover of which she wanted a Peppa pig one. She calls it her "peppa bed"

Containment- even before changing beds we used to shut her bedroom door at night. She went through a light sleeping phase and us going to bed used to wake her so we found this helped. Now she reminds us to shut the door!

To this day (2 on Sat!) she has NEVER got out of bed at night or even in the morning. Just lays there and chats to her teddies for a while before shouting "im awake!"
She is more than capable of getting in and out but chooses not to. We were expecting and happy for her to play with her toys in her room.

We had 3 nights of being slightly unsettled but that was it. It was almost like she stirred and realised it was more open and freaked out alittle.

Good luck

We just did and told him Ds 1 that he was a big boy now and that was it. Same with DS2.
With DS1 some one gave us some bed posts to stop them falling out of bed but we didn't bother after awhile.

It never occured to us to make a fuss or go out and spend money on a 'special' bed that they would out grow.

Thanks, some good tips there, keep'em coming!

I think we are just going to get him a normal single bed, so that we can use it for visitors too sometimes (by putting him on an airbed in our room). But I have already started talking about big-boy beds and duvets/pillows with him and he is starting to like climbing in our bed and "being mummy" so hopefully that will help!

We didn't have any difficulties with "containment" either. In fact, DS will lie in bed calling for me in the morning even though he's perfectly capable of getting up and coming in to us. He may be a little odd in that!

One thing I would say is that the duvet seemed the more problematic aspect of the change. He couldn't work out how to arrange it himself at first. We had one of those bed guard things and I think that helped keep the duvet in place.

We've just moved DS (2.5yrs) into bed - luckily we have cotbed so just taken sides off. Last weekend we first tried it, with a bed guard and stair gate at the door. He came to gate twice, was told to go back to bed and did and slept until 5.30 - much much earlier than he usually sleeps to.

The next say though was horrendous - I put him down for his usually lunchtime nap and he wouldn't stay in bed - I went through it all: putting him back to bed, then ignoring him, but had to act when I got upstairs and EVERYTHING not nailed down in his room was on the landing! Sides went back on which was fine. Until today! After his lunchtime nap I went to get him, only to find him behind the door. DH put him to bed tonight and he was soon over the cot sides.

So sides have come off again. We put him to bed at 7pm and as I write this at 21.57 he is STILL awake. Feel for MIL as she is having him at hers tomorrow night then for whole weekend in a couple of weeks! As long as he can't hurt himself or get out then I'm happy to leave him to his own devices. There's no toys in his room, apart from stuffed toys, so I'm hoping that he will wear himself out eventually and realise that its best to stay in bed!

He's had duvet in his cot for 12 months so is used to that - I took him shopping and he chose 2 new duvets - for a single duvet as I thought the end of the cot would come off - it didn't! So he's stuck with the old duvet cover until we move him into single bed!

Anyone else had a DC that didn't go smoothly into bed?!!!

we got the leksvik (?) toodler bed: very low for falling out of bed, a bit wider than cot beds so dc's can roll over with less chance of rolling out and the mattress sits in the bedfran=me so on a night just lift the mattress a bit and stuff the duvet (useful if use the cotbed duvet sidewards rather thabn the right way round for this) under the mattress to help pin them down tuck them in

DS didn't move into a bed until 3.3. Not a problem at all.

I put a stairgate across the door so he couldn't run riot around the house and it was fine.

I'd wait til he's closer to 3 if he's not climbing out of the cot then there really is no rush. My ds moved into a bed 2 weeks before his 3rd birthday and we had plenty of time to talk to him about it and prepare him for what it'll be like and what we expect etc. Made it very fun for him, painted his whole room and made it less of a baby nursery, more of a 'big boy' room. He loved helping chose colours and picking bed covers. We got a regular sized single bed but got a tomy bed rail for it. Not once has he even got out of his bed, never mind out of the room. We have a stair gate at the top of the stairs but no need for one on his door. He loves it and you can reason and explain so much more the longer you wait. It's your choice though, only you know when your child is ready!

Well we have now ordered a bed! Just a normal adult single, not too high so I think we will just put a spare duvet or something on the floor for the first few days in case of falls. Haven't got a duvet, cover etc yet but I think we will try to let him help choose those to "sell" him the idea of a bed.

I would be happy to leave him longer, but we will soon need to move DD to a cot (she is in a sort of crib now but once she can sit the sides will be too low for safety). So if we can move him soon, she can have his old cot; otherwise we would need to get another cot just for a few months. So this seemed to make sense as he will need the bed eventually anyway. Also, as he has started to unzip or remove his grobags all the time, I think he needs a duvet soon (which is hopefully easier to put back on), or he will get cold once the Autumn comes!

I think we will either put a hook or gate on the door, or it may be OK just closing it as I'm not sure he can work our (rattly old) handles yet. At the moment we leave his door open so we can hear him if he shouts, but then if he really shouts he is quite loud anyway so we should still hear him.

Thanks all!

Just a little update!

DS's bed came during the week, and Saturday morning he "helped" DH build it, which was very exciting! His new aeroplane bedding hasn't arrived yet, but after building the bed he was so excited he naturally wanted to sleep in it straight away, so I made it up with our plain white guest bedding. We hadn't put a gate or anything on the door yet but agreed we would later if we found we needed to.

So, last night we tucked him into the new bed and left (shutting the upstairs stairgate)... only for him to come out of his room over and over again wanting daddy/his comforter (even though it was right there)/putting back in bed or whatever. Ended up having to tell him if he kept getting out he would have to go into his cot - then he came out again so did put him in his cot, expecting him to protest, but he said he wanted to go back in the cot. Oh well. So he fell asleep in the cot in the end...

Today though he was keen to go in the "big" bed again, so we tried it again. Had to return him to bed a couple of times after flimsy excuses ("wanted to talk to daddy"... "just checking daddy is there...") and then it all went quiet. So we peeked in to see him curled up right in the corner of the bed, by the wall, just in his pyjamas with his duvet and pillow all tossed in a heap on the floor! Aaahhh... So hopefully he is taking to it now. Still we will have to see what happens if he wakes in the night, or tomorrow morning; I won't be surprised if we get a little visitor in the middle of the night... but we can always put a hook on the door if he starts getting up too much.