Oh God, ds1 just fell out of his cot...

[elena2]

He's a really tall lad for his age (20 months), and even though we bought one of the biggest cot beds we could find, this morning we heard him chattering, then he went quiet, and the next minute we heard a big crash. We went flying in to find him picking himself up off the floor, apparently unhurt thank God.

Obviously this means I can't let him spend another night in his cot as it is, we'll have to change it into a bed, but how do we get him to stay in it?!
He is a very energetic toddler, as most are, and we usually go through his bedtime routine and then tuck him in his cot, kiss him goodnight and shut the door. We hear him moving about and chattering for a bit before he falls asleep.

Has anyone else put their child in a bed at this age, and if so, how do you settle them and get them to stay in it?
Any tips most appreciated, TIA.

Elena xx

I shall tell you tonight! My DS is 22 months and the bed arrives today!! He is getting a single bed with bed guard but will still be in his grobag which should (!) stop initial escapes. Look forward to hearing from others experiences!

they may not suss they can get out for a while

Elena believe it or not this could be a one off, he may not try it again. However in the meantime while you decide whether to move him or not, take out all the toys he could use as "stepping stones" IYKWIM and put plenty of pillows and cushions around the floor of the cot so that if he does escape again he won't hurt himself.
I wouldn't jump into the idea of a bed just yet but wait and see a little longer.
Is the cot you have one that transforms into a bed ??

I agree with the others. This could be a one off. Definately remove things that he can use to climb up on. He might not be so eager to do it again anyway after his last experience

Angelmother, yes, it's a cot bed.

TBH, (this makes me feel horribly guilty), I've caught him with his leg over the side when I've gone in in the mornings for about a week, and I think it's like a new thing he's learned he can do now. Once he's learned how to do something, he usually ' practices' it all the time.

The cushions and stuff sound like an idea, but I just have paranoid visions of him falling awkwardly and landing on his head or breaking an arm or leg.
I think I'd rather not risk it again because of this.

BTW, he doesn't have any toys or anything in his cot that he could use as a steppping stone, I've always thought a bed is for sleeping in and he is so active, anything like that would have just kept him awake playing!

If you decide to take the sides off to make it a bed, it is a good idea to put a stairgate across the bedroom door so that he cannot get out of the room. I did that with all my children until they were old enough to be trusted not to go raking about the house when I was asleep.

Elena, my DS did exactly the same at 20 months, and like you, i couldn't sleep another night thinking that next time he might do real damage, and by the sound of your DS, he will try it again!

We put DS in a bed that night. We let him 'help' buildit, got him a new duvet cover (he would go absolutely berserk in a grobag by that stage), and made him feel very proud of new bed. i then made sure he was REALLY tired before putting him to bed, and broke all the sleep rules by staying with him until he was asleep. This was to avoid letting him ever get the idea that he MIGHT get out of bed once in it.

True, this then developed into a situation where I spent half the evening lying next to him while he kept himself awake to enjoy my company, and I then cracked that by leaving him, and systematically, calmly putting him straight back in every time he ventured out on to the landing, and NEVER letting him think there was any interesting life in the house after his bedtime. i usually tell him even now when I say night night that I am going to put my jim jams on.

Funnily enough, the lack of bars as restraint actually takes away his urge to escape!

Good luck.

Thanks everyone, fingers crossed for tonight!!!

When i read this i thought 'must be the weather for it'my dd who is on just 1 managed to through herself out of her cot on tuesday night and i am now having the same dilema whether to just put her into a bed but she's such a baby!!!

that should have been throw

Ds2 (2 in 2 weeks) has been able to climb out of his cot for months. But not when he's wearing a grobag...heehee. I suppose we should dig that bedguard out of the loft.

I put both of mine into a bed by this stage. Neither slept well in a cot as they pushed against the sides and it hurt their heads so we just used the travel cot. But because the mattress was thinner I think by the time they got to this age it was uncomfy. They both started waking again anyway so we tried a bed. Never really had any problems. Left an old duvet on the floor in case of tumbles and used a bed guard. DS went through a tricky stage about 18 mths and we had to stay with him till he fell asleep but never had any problems with DD at all.

We have a stairgate at the top of the stairs so they couldn't go down if they woke up but they usually just came straight through to us.

TBH the best thing we did was to teach them how to climb back in. That way even if they get out you won't come in to find them asleep on the floor. We used one of th stools for the loo until they were tall enough to climb up properly. They both love their big bed and I actually prefer to have them come to me in the morning rather than shouting to us from the cot.

My dd was 2.5 before we moved her to a bed, as she never tried to climb out.
We put a stir gate across her bedroom door and left her door open .
For the first couple of mths she actualky slept on her duvet on the floor next to the gate
Despite having a lovely pink bed.
Eventually she decided the bed was comfier and problem solved.
Even now at 3.5 we still use the stair gate to prevent night time walkabout.

Update: DS gone to sleep first night in bed. Just peaked in and he is wedged up the top like he did in his cot. The rest of the bed looks huge though with him stuck at the top. I think he will stay in the Grobag for a while as a duvet would be a bit of a shock!

futurity ah so cute, is he excited.
fingers crossed for tonite

He was very excited! Spent the whole of the afternoon jumping up and down on the bed and playing on it but once in Grobag knew, I think, that it was for sleeping on! Wonder how I go from Grobag to duvet?

is right futurity cant you put duvet ( a light tog one) over gro bag

I hate to disillusion you all - but it IS possible to climb out of a cot even in a grobag. We had to switch DS to a bed at 14 months as he could happily climb out (in his grow bag) and slither down the sides so that he could go walkabout - sack race style!

As if that wasn't enough we had to give up on the grobag and the stairgates too when he decided that if he could climb over the cot sides he could climb over the stairgates too. I had visions of him using the grobag as a tobogganto go careering down the stairs....

thats a good idea...might try that when he is used to bed (and nights are colder)

EEK! Now I am scared!!

Well, when dh got home we all went upstairs together and made the cot into a bed. Ds1 was very excited when it was all made up, he climbed up on it and started bouncing on it straightaway, shouting with laughter! I had visions of him doing this at 6 in the morning!
We put the gate on his doorway, then went through his bedtime routine, dh tucked him in as usual and we didn't hear a peep out of him!
We thought this was too good to be true, and sure enough, when I looked in on him before bed, he woke up as I opened the door and began crying hysterically. I tried to settle him, but to no avail, every time I tried to leave the room he started crying again, following me to the door and opening it. So Daddy had a go, and he went straight off again.
Not a sound until 7am this morning when he opened his door and stood at the gate whingeing!
I'd left some of his quiet toys out for him when he woke, but he didn't want to know. Was a bit gutted when I had to get up at 7 as I'd only gone back to bed at 6.30am after feeding ds2, who'd gone down like a dream afterwards, and is still asleep now!
DS1 normally sleeps till at least 8.30am, so I think my lie-ins might have gone awol, at least till he settles and gets used to his new bed.

I have to admit I was a bit tearful last night, my baby going in a 'big-boy's bed'! They grow up so quickly...

elena - we had a very similar experience to you. We had tried ds in a bed a while back, but he was hysterical about it, and so we put him back in the cot (this was about 2 months before dd was born, so I didn't want to traumatise him!). Then about 3 weeks ago there was a big crash, and he was out of the cot, saying 'Bang Leg' so we managed to persuade him it was the cot's fault! So now if he sees the cot he says 'Cot Bang Leg'. And he went into the bed with no problem. BUT - like you, he was getting up at 8 or 8:30, whereas now it is more like 7.

Hope this continues to go well for you! We were really relieved when it happened with ds because dd is about to go into the cot out of her crib, so we needed it vacating!

DS also woke early...5.45! He was sat up having a scream (in a "where am I?" type way!) so we laid him down and told him to go back to sleep and left him and he did..until 7. Normally wakes nearer to 7.30 so could of been worse I suppose. We figure that it will take him a while to get the confidence to lie down safely like he did in the cot. Next job...day time nap today! He normally stirs during it as it is so i expect today will be no different.