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Parenting

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Original poster

First night in a toddler bed tonight!!

26 replies

Writerwannabe83 · 30/05/2016 19:47

And I'm dreading it!!!

I have spent ages readjusting his bedroom to remove all possible risks, moving all wires, hiding all plug sockets, removing things with sharp corners etc but I'm so nervous about it all. I can't cope with the thought of him having the freedom to roam his room at will and get up to mischief

There's a stair gate across his door so at least he's contained but I feel very uneasy about it all.

I have visions of him pulling everything out of his wardrobe and drawers, throwing his books everywhere, climbing on things etc and basically doing anything except go to sleep.

I've moved the position of the video baby monitor to try and get a good panoramic view of his room so I can see what mischief he's up to but it's not made much difference to my levels of nervousness.

Is it going to be as bad as I envisage?

He's 2y 2m and a little monkey!

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PinkParsnips · 30/05/2016 19:55

My DD was about the same age when we took the side off her cotbed and honestly we've never had a minutes bother!
The first few mornings she got up quite early and played with her toys - just make sure you remove any noisy toys/books!! but now the novelty has worn off she doesn't even do that anymore. In fact I wish she would get up and play with toys because now she just lays in bed shouting " mummy come here now " from 5.30am until I go in!
Oh and make sure you remember to move all creams etc out of reach each night - we did have a vaseline incident!
Good luck!

Joneseygirl77 · 30/05/2016 20:22

OP following with interest. DD is nearly 2.2 and I'm starting to think about converting her cot into a bed. Interested to hear how your DS gets on with the transition.

Original poster

Writerwannabe83 · 30/05/2016 20:55

When I left the room he had a complete meltdown! He stood at the stair gate and cried, and cried, screamed and cried some more

I went in to him and lay him in the bed and lay with him for about 15 minutes and in that time he really calmed down, was cuddling me and yawning and it was obvious he was tired. I gave him a kiss and explained mommy had to go back downstairs but that he could stay in his big boy bed and go to sleep. He said yes, gave me a kiss and then I left.

That was about 5-10 minutes ago now and I haven't heard a peep.

I'm sure things will take another turn for the worse at some point though...

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ThePowerOfCake · 30/05/2016 21:04

DD was brilliant for the first few nights. I'm not sure she'd realised that she could just get out of bed! We had a few weeks of her emptying her wardrobe and bookshelves for half an hour before bed every night. Now she seems to have settled into a routine of taking random things into bed with her, playing with them briefly then going to sleep of her own accord. I generally have to pop in about 10-15 minutes after bed time to remove things that are stopping her from getting comfortable.

Our friends' daughter has never really got out of bed at all until the morning so you might be lucky!

Original poster

Writerwannabe83 · 30/05/2016 21:09

And did/do you have a stair gate across the doorway?

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PinkParsnips · 30/05/2016 21:13

That sounds like it went really well for the first night if he's fallen asleep!

We have a staircase on the door. I know some people frown on it but it just feels safer to me due to our landing layout.

Chinks123 · 30/05/2016 21:19

I was absolutely dreading this but bit the bullet when she turned 2 and I'm so glad I did. The first night there was a tiny of tears and she got out of bed twice. Then nothing....it's been 6 months now and she goes to bed perfectly. (Something has to go wrong soon surely ) she has always been a great sleeper though.

Sometimes I hear her chattering in her bed to her teddies before she falls asleep, and some mornings she wakes up and plays with her toys but mostly just runs to the safety gate and shouts "morning mummy I want to get out now" as long as there's nothing dangerous/creams/pens etc they can't cause too much damage.

Chinks123 · 30/05/2016 21:20

She has her bedroom door closed and then a safety gate behind it so she can open the door and see out if she needs to shout us but can't get out.

SnoozeButtonAbuser · 30/05/2016 21:30

I saw this topic on Active Threads and thought 'Ooh, I wonder why she's sleeping in the toddler bed tonight' haha, I need some sleep as usual. Sounds like it went well anyway, 10 minutes in with him and he's off, well done, so far!

IamChipmunk · 30/05/2016 21:31

Am interested to hear how you get on.
DS is almost two and we almost swapped his cot to bed tonight but chickened out at the last minute!!
I'm 32 weeks pg with DC2 so we will hav to bite the bullet in the next 6 months cos will need the cot once baby leaves our room.

DS ends up in all directions in the cot, I can't see how he is going to lie under a quilt in a bed in the right place!!

Original poster

Writerwannabe83 · 30/05/2016 21:34

He normally sleeps in a sleeping bag so I was also worried about the blankets so tonight I put an extra layer on him and some socks so that if he threw his bedclothes off he'd still be warm enough.

He threw both his blankets off within minutes of me leaving the room

OP posts:

Original poster

Writerwannabe83 · 30/05/2016 21:35

snooze - the toddler bed was actually really comfy and when I was in there with him I could easily have fallen to sleep

OP posts:

BathshebaDarkstone · 30/05/2016 21:40

We had to put DS in the bottom bunk at age 2, his cot fell apart at the same time as DD's bed.

The first night was utter hell, he kept DD up until 10! DD was 6 and it was a school night. Not ideal.

Once the novelty wore off he was fine.

Is he in there on his own? He may settle easier than mine. Lots of

foxessocks · 30/05/2016 21:42

We're thinking of taking the sides of my dds cot bed soon too she's 2 years 3mo. The thing is her cot bed is huge and she is tiny. She also absolutely loves her sleeping bags. She sleeps so well at the moment. So we're sort of...if it's not broken don't fix it! However I appreciate she won't be in her cot bed age 16 so we will have to do this at some point...

So I'm reading with interest! Op it does sound likes it has gone well so far. My friends little boy has never once got out of his bed, she thinks he doesn't actually realise he can!

Original poster

Writerwannabe83 · 30/05/2016 21:49

He is in there on his own.

We weren't planning on putting him in a bed for another 3 months or so yet but last week he broke his cot so we were left with little choice..

I know he's going to freak out if he stirs in the night because in his sleepy haze he'll no doubt wake up expecting to be in his sleeping bag and cot and so will scream when he realises that's not the case

OP posts:

Cantstopsmiling37 · 30/05/2016 23:00

My DD moved into single bed 2yrs ago just before she turned 2, she loved it and slept well in it. We just had our stair gate at the top of the stairs, we could lock the bathroom door from outside, but she never wandered out in the night (just early morning to see if it was waking up time - so we bought a gro clock!)
DS is same age as your DS now and we're putting them into bunk beds on Friday - I'm expecting it to be a very different experience! We'll see.
Let us know how the night goes!

Original poster

Writerwannabe83 · 31/05/2016 06:08

We didn't hear a single peep from him until he woke up at 6.10am

He hasn't slept through or slept in this late in weeks and weeks and weeks

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Growingbeanno2 · 31/05/2016 06:23

Yeay great news.

We put lo in his combed/junior bed at 2years 3mnths as we were going in holiday were he'd be in aged so wanted to get the measure of how he'd be. He got it straight away. A little disrupted after the first week but usually at nap times and he now sleeps better than ever really

We do have a gro clock because he was shouting for us ridiculously early but that's worked really well.

A dear friend of mine had such issues she went back to cot after 2mnths out taking 2hrs each night for lo to sleep and then him wandering each night!

Glad it went well!

Cantstopsmiling37 · 31/05/2016 08:08

Yeah! Good result. Hope our move goes as well on Friday.

Original poster

Writerwannabe83 · 31/05/2016 13:11

We are now trial ling his first nap in his bed....

I lay with him for five minutes, said night night, then left the room and he hasn't got upset at all and is still under his blankets

OP posts:

swelchphr · 31/05/2016 13:40

Glad to hear that it went smoothly last night! I remember transitioning my son (who's not 3) when he was about your son's age and it went surprisingly well. Even over a year later, it hasn't been a problem. I hope your good luck continues.

Original poster

Writerwannabe83 · 31/05/2016 15:32

He slept soundly for 2.5 hours

OP posts:

Joneseygirl77 · 31/05/2016 19:33

OP can I ask did you just do it all in one go? By that I mean ditching the sleeping bag and introducing pillows/duvets and the bed in one go? I'm wondering if I should just go for it or do a pillow/duvet first? My DD moves around her cot loads at the mo and she's a front sleeper so not sure how we're going to fare with a pillow!

Original poster

Writerwannabe83 · 31/05/2016 20:35

My DS had a pillow in cot for about three months before we moved him. It wasn't for any particular reason though, we just felt he should have one, don't know why

But looking back, he very, very rarely used it as he is a front sleeper too, always has been.

Oddly enough though, when he would come into bed with me he would always grab one of my pillows and sleep on it.

Also, when he used to be in his sleeping bag in his cot we would sometimes put a blanket over him and he HATED it, he'd go a bit crazy and throw it over the side of the cot. However, when he's in bed with me he always wants the duvet over him.

He must associate pillows and duvets to being in a bed as he had no problem staying on his pillow last night and he was proper snuggled up under his duvet for his nap today.

OP posts:

Joneseygirl77 · 31/05/2016 20:50

That's interesting. Might just try it all in one go then as I've got nothing to lose!

Glad all has gone well- you've given me hope for the future!

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