Am I crazy to put 10mo in toddler bed?

[HugoTheHippo]

DD is a cot refuser, and after months of trying different ways to get her to settle we gave up and put her on a single mattress on the floor. It's really worked and her sleep is so much better.

But I do have a few concerns about her sleeping on the floor - I worry about dust and condensation on the mattress. Plus we have a guest coming at the end of July and we need the mattress back for our guest bed!

So, I'm thinking of biting the bullet and getting her a low toddler bed. We would put her old cot mattress on the floor next to it incase she rolled or climbed out, and I was thinking of getting a bed guard that goes under the mattress on one side (although she may hate this as much as she did the cot).

I can't think of a better solution, but there is a niggly bit of me thinking that toddler beds are, well, for toddlers and she's too young. She's very active, crawling, pulling herself up and trying to walk, so would she just constantly be falling out?

Anyone overcome a similar problem?

Hi I do think its much to young for a bed she could hurt her self . But I can't think of a better solution as well ask your Hv might be helpful

I think it's fine - she won't hurt herself climbing out of a low bed. As long as her room is safe and secure.
I had mine in bed with me as babies then straight into a low single bed at about 1ish. Dd fell out once (onto a pillow, didn't even wake up). and DS not fallen out at all so far (he's 15 months) .

Mine climbed out of his cot and did a head dive onto the floor at 8months. He was a massive climber and seemed to take it as a challenge. He went straight into a toddler bed as I figured it was better to fall 5inches onto carpet rather than several feet!
He's now 6 and he's only fallen out of bed and hurt himself once. That was a regular bed, we were on holiday, he was 4 and there was no lasting damage.
The problem with the toddler bed was that at 10 months he was adept at walking and he would escape at night. We combatted this with a stair gate on his bedroom door - he mastered climbing that in weeks but at least it slowed his progress & I heard him leaving. I swear I should have fitted him with a bell!

Ds is 12 months and also a cot refuser. at least you have yours on a mattress, ds is in our bed!
No point speaking to HV, I mentioned it to mine at ds 1 year review last week and got told to put him in cot & leave him to cry. Helpful !
I thought about taking bars of our cot and converting to cot bed but not convinced if will help ds.

My DD has been on a mattress on the floor since she was 10 months (now 19 months) as she hated the cot. I have not noticed any issues with dust or condensation (my Mum worried about that). I was considering getting her a bed, but she has started to get quite wiggly in her sleep and has rolled off the mattress 3 times in a week, so I wouldn't like her any higher. If I were you I would just buy another mattress.

What about a bed with a foam bumper to stop them falling out?

DS has been sleeping like this - effectively - since he was standing, so I guess the same age. We co sleep and he has a side car cot that is basically a cot bed with one side off. Once he could stand we dropped the cot level and removed our bed frame so our mattress and his cot bed were still flush against each other. I baby proofed the room and put a stair gate across the door. He's basically free to roam about but sleeps through. If your daughter has been used to a single mattress there's not a huge amount of difference in terms of whether she'll roll off or not. Go with what works and gets you all sleep!

Thanks for the replies. Yes, we baby-proofed her room as soon as we started putting her on the mattress and she has a safety gate across her door. Sometimes in the morning we go in and she's playing on the floor - it's very sweet! I suppose I'm more worried about her climbing out and falling than rolling out. We will definitely get a bed guard or bumper.

Can you make a sort of apple pie bed with sheets and get a bed guard and bung a load of pillows on the floor just in case?
My mum is dictating this over my shoulder as from 9 months my sister flatly refused to go in a cot and she did this.

It will be fine and most toddler beds are very low with side guards

Our DD has been sleeping on a single mattress on the floor for the first part of the night in a baby proof room since she was 10-11 months (now 15 month - we co sleep from about 11pm). It was a concious choice as it is a common montessori tool to use a floor bed. We have never owned or used a cot. I think single mattress is much better than a toddler bed as there is no issues with a hard frame to worry about, it's bigger for them to move about it and you can lie down comfortably with baby as necessary. We put a rolled up duvet next to the mattress initially to ensure a soft landing if DD rolled out but she never has even once come anywhere close. People use floor beds like this from birth to encourage freedom and independence in young babies rather than enclosing them and it has really worked well with DD.

I too toyed with this idea. DS also a cot refuser! We didn't in te end, we used bed guards on our bed- 2 down my side and 1 on DH side (centred in middle of bed). Our problem was DS wouldn't settle anywhere except our bed, but could also crawl off - hence the bed guards. He was fine. A couple of nights he stirred, woke up, and we found him kneeling at the bed guards looking for us- but he hasn't actually got out (was 11mo at that point). We then taught him how to get out of bed safely once he was walking (to turn around and come down backwards) and again he has been fine.

I think you would be fine with a toddler bed, Bed guard and stair gate on door! Hope it all goes well- I feel your pain

Is dust and condensation really a concern? We co sleep with mattress on the floor and I've never thought about dust or condensation. Our cleaner puts the mattress on its side every 2 weeks, hovers under and around it, turns the mattress... No more work than hoovering under a bed, and seems to work, keeps rolling and toddling dcs safe and low in case they roll out (which they do, the eldest in particular)

I thought DD was just a crap sleeper. Slept through the first night out of her cot. Wish we'd done it much sooner!

Dream tubes are a great alternative to bed guards ... They are not as cot like. My ds went in a toddler bed at 15 months & was fine

dd has been in a toddler bed from 11mo since I got a high bed and was worried about her falling out and was climbing out of her cot which she hated. My theory was at least she had less distance to fall if she did as we co-slept most nights.

She does sleep much better in it although gets up most nights throughout the night to climb in with me. I think she likes the fact she can get out of it rather than feeling trapped in a cot. Has fallen out once as she doesn't like the bed guard up either.

My youngest went in a toddler bed at 10 months.

He was a fidget and would end up lying head to toe across the width of his cot, with his feet through the bars and dangling down from the knee. Then he would turn, hurt his legs that were trapped in the bars and wake everyone up.

The toddler bed was brilliant, he was much more settled in that.

Personally I just wouldn't feel comfortable leaving my 10/11/12/13 etc month baby free to roam, on their own, for a stretch of many many hours.

If they sleep in a different room to you, I would urge you persist with the cot.

Plus, when they are older and nap fighting, having a cot is very useful. As they fight it but then because they have no where to go, they often just flake. No way would that happen if it weren't for the cot bars.

Thanks for all the suggestions! Glad to hear I'm not the only one doing this crazy floor sleeping thing. DD cried until she was sick when we tried to put her down in the cot (happened repeatedly) and started to get anxious and upset and bedtime which just didn't seem right to us, so we went with a plan B. I think we might get the toddler bed - then we can always just put that mattress on the floor for a while until she is a bit bigger, before adding the frame later.

I was worried about roaming around but it just doesn't happen. DS never crawled across our bed and onto the floor when the bed was in a frame and the co-sleeping cot on high, and when he started standing - around 11 months - and we dropped the cot and removed the bed frame and put the mattress on the floor, he's just never got off the bed and roamed around either.

Someone told me I was wrong to co-sleep because babies need to feel contained, but it's never been an issue. He just doesn't get out of bed when he wakes even though he plays in the room in the daytime and there's toys. I think it has to be an individual thing. Yeah sure, there's benefits to having a baby contained in a cot - but if they're not liking it, the alternative of an open bed won't not work.

One of my friends has put her 11mo in abed. She has a bed guard but getsin with her to settle her which she says is much easier.

I did from 10 months - was brilliant! Much easier to settle and DD didn't realise she could get out of bed until she was 3!

Miaow - that's what we've done - locks on cupboards and drawers low enough for her to reach, safety gate on door, cladding on radiator pipes, attached her bookshelf to the wall and there is a small box of 'safe' toys for her to play with. We always have the monitor on when she's in there, but it's had the side effect of creating a safe space for her to play if I need to pop in the shower or unpack the shopping, etc.

I think she will try and climb out of a bed, which does make me a bit nervous, so I suppose I just have to make sure she has a soft landing.