Cot to bed...

[vhall]

Hi there,

My boy is almost 22 months old and I am planning to move him from his cot to a bed, this terrifies me! Does anyone have any top tips to make the move as smooth as possible? Also, safety gate or no safety gate on his bedroom door?

Thanks in advance! :) x

If it terrifies you, why don't you leave it a bit longer? Is there another child coming along?

We kept dd1 in her growbag to start with, which also limited her ability to get out of bed. She also had a brand new duvet and pillow, completed in Peppa Pig, and we took to reading her story with her tucked in bed.

Safety gate on door and at top of stairs just in case - but then I am a little crazy cautious

We got an Ikea bed with a rail around 3 sides and a gap at the bottom of one side so she has to scoot down the bed to get out and can't fall out.

We moved her over at 18 months as had dd2 on the way and needed the cot! Lots of praise about being a big girl and we have never had any problems really. I do let her keep a book in bed with her and her cuddlies.

shall watch this thread for tips, my ds is almost 22 months too and the bedtime has become a bit of a battle of wills lately. dreading having to put him in a bed? k will leave it a bit i think.

No, I don't have another one on the way, I just feel like I 'should' be thinking about it? Tbh he sleeps really well in his cot, we put him down awake at 7 and leave him and he is asleep within 10 mins. And he sleeps through til 6ish where he has a drink of milk, a nappy change and more often than not he goes back down til between 7-8am. It terrifies me because he is so good at sleeping and his routine is good, I'm worried that this will disrupt him, he will be able to get out of bed and this will distract him from going to sleep! I could leave it longer i suppose, but I've got to bite the bullet some time.

I was wondering about the safety gate as I didn't know if I thought it was cruel locking him in his bedroom! Lol we have one at the top of the stairs already :)

Thanks for all your tips guys :) x

If it ain't broke don't fix it, mine were in a cot until past three & were fine with that, the transition to a 'proper' bed was very smooth, no need to hurry things.

You shouldn't do anything, if things are fine as they are, leave it a little longer.

OP don't change anything now, that sleep routine is one I can only dream of for my LO who is the same age. It obviously works so leave it be until until he's climbing out of the cot. Why rush otherwise?

DS was nearly 3 when he went into a bed. He slept really well and wasn't interested in climbing out so we left him for as long as possible.

Even in the cot there was a gate on his room so that didn't change.

When we were going to move him I used a duvet in the cot for a while instead of a sleeping bag so that he got used to it. It was a sad day when the Gro Bags went!

It's not a competition though, do it in your own time.

ds was 2 1/2 when he went into a bed - keep them contained as long as you can! We didnt have a gate on the door, just one at the top of the stairs.

we had to move the dc at 18m because they started to climb over the sides which just is too dangerous.
took a couple of nights with rapid return but they have settled in open beds (toddler bed + cot with side removed very quickly.
with open beds we also removed tge grobag (to avoid accidents). we had a gate but that was only so that the older child could play in peace...