When&why did you change from cot to bed?

[Todhairquestion]

DD is coming up for two, I'm tempted to change her cot to a bed but only because we currently read a bed time story on the floor, and snuggling in bed with a story sounds much nicer.

Otherwise no issues with the cot, she goes in fine, sleeps fine, has never tried to climb out and still sleeps in a sleep sack and no pillow.

So should I absolutely not rock the boat and leave her where she is, or just a personal when we feel like it, change?

I got a cot bed for mine so she went in as a cot at 6m then at 1.5yrs I took one side of the rails off so it's still secure but she's getting better at being in and out and staying in bed. DD is 2 and a bit now so I'll probably get her a proper little bed a few months before her 3rd birthday ready for this baby I'm carrying to have the cot from 6m etc

Is there space for a big chair in her room?
We only took the side off the cot bed (and converted to toddler bed) when DS was 3 and wanting to go for a wee when he woke up. We took them off so he could get up himself and go to the bathroom.

We would have taken them off before if he'd started trying to climb in and out but he never did 🤷🏻‍♀️

My son was 22 months and climbed out of his cot quite proficiently so it was time for a bed. We’re about two weeks in and it’s going ok. He now climbs back in his cot just to mess about!!

2 years and 1 month - I moved house and wanted to chuck the cot and get her a bed. We never had any issues with her cot, she loved it. Slept in a cot at her dad's and Nana's til she was 3.

My 18 month old climbed out of the cot so i took the sides off. My other child had the sides on for much much longer

Thank you all, do they roll out a lot? Her cot converts so it will be low anyway, but she's quite a wiggler in her sleep.

We used a bed guard and still do.

DD was about 20 months when DS needed the cot . He sstarted climbing out at about 15 months so they slept in a bed together after that. No bed guards .

When we went from cot to cot bed my wriggler became a non wriggler and my non wriggler becaome a wriggler and wriggled round her bed quard!

Moved to a bed the day after she climbed out and appeared in the living room one evening! She was about 2.5yo. It took weeks to get her settled in the bed so personally I wouldn't be in any rush.

We usually do stories in our bed and then she goes to her bed after that.

DO NOT rock this boat. Keeping our toddler in the cot has been one of the best sleep decisions we've ever made.

It's a spacious cot bed but we still have both sides up as he's nearly three and it's only recently occurred to him that he could in theory climb over the side but I've watched him had a go and no way in hell could he manage to do it (and he realised this too, so gave up!) It means we've kept a proper bedtime, kept a naptime (which he needs!) when many others haven't been able to because their child just gets out of their bed and wanders around.

We have a kind of mini chaise longue in his room that we can do stories on. A beanbag or a big armchair would be a much better option than moving before you have to, imo!

I'm sure he'll sleep fine in a bed when it comes to it, but the older he is, the better he'll be able to understand "stay in bed until morning/we come to get you" and the less hassle we'll have.

Absolutely do not rock the boat! Children have zero impulse control and so it's likely your good sleeper will be up and down in and out of her bed once you remove those bars. I have a 3.5yo and will not be taking her out of her cot bed (with bars up) until she's 4.

If you do, madly, decide to move her, consider a mattress on the floor rather than a bed. We have a video monitor and at two our toddler would cover the entire surface area of the cot during the night in every conceivable position. I'm certain we would have been woken multiple times by him falling out of a bed and not being able to get back in. At nearly three, he's much stiller in his sleep and stays mostly on his back mostly pointing one way mostly at one end.

So I got carried away ordering cute bedding, come back and you all say don't do it!

I'll see how I feel when it's delivered, it can always be stored until we do change her

It totally can be! We bought a single bed when I was pregnant with #2 so DH could sleep in it while I was cosleeping and so we had it ready for #1. We bought a travel cot with proper mattress for #2, just to tide us over... and she's one and still in it and #1 is still in the big cot! So we've just had a single bed hanging out unused for nearly a year. Oh well! We'll use it eventually.

Ours was at 23 months. Stayed at my parents and knew she wouldn't settle in a travel cot anymore so put her in their toddler bed. And thought ah we might as well continue now! It's actually improved her sleep as she now goes to sleep on her own with me sat on the floor next to her, so she self settles when she stirs in the night. Amazingly when she wakes up she doesn't try and get out, she just lies there wriggling and talking to her toys. Really glad we did it.

We don't use a duvet yet though, she's in a sleeping bag with legs from JoJo.

My little one hasn’t rolled out his bed yet. He has a bed guard.

My little one naps 1-4pm and sleeps 7pm-7am, she's got no noisy toys or other furniture in her room so occasionally she'll wander around but it's rare. Then she gets back in bed or curls up with her blankets and duvet on the floor 🤣 perfectly normal and safe for her to do so

I changed my dd to a toddler bed at 18 months, she had a compact cot rather than a full size cot and she was looking a bit squished. Never had any issues with her. I dont even think she realised at first that she could actually get out. We out a baby gate on her bedroom door just in case as I didn't want her running around upstairs alone (or scareing the shit out of me by appearing by the side of my bed in the middle of the night!) I found it easier to do it earlier personally because she wasn't really aware of it so she wasn't fazed at all by the change. She does sleep in any bed, anywhere tho so maybe that's just her

Moved our son from his cotbed into bed at 22 months as I was pregnant and lifting him in and out was no longer an option for me.

He helped his daddy to modify his bed and we also stopped using sleeping bag at same time at that was it. Never gets out of bed and has never fallen out either. He calls us when he has finished napping or sleeping and we go and get him from his room. He's pretty compliant in that respect but an absolute maniac in every other. He's 32 months now and we've no regrets. :D

We moved DD just before she turned 2; there was nothing wrong with the cot but I always found it was better to make these changes when things were fine rather than in response to a problem as otherwise it caused more of a problem. She took to it no problem: didn’t get out and we put a rolled up single duvet on the floor so the two times she rolled out she didn’t even wake up

DD1 was well past 2 when she climbed out so we changed it then, DD2 was around 22 months. She hadn't climbed out yet but could climb in, and was starting to try to, so I thought why risk waiting until she manages. Also she was great at going to bed, would happily go down 'drowsy but awake', so like a pp said we thought it worth trying while she's really settled with bedtimes anyway. She's been great and has only rolled out once - we just lay some bug cushions/blanket on the floor. Or you could use a pool noodle under the sheet.

We changed to a cot bed when my dd was 26 months and potty training, in case she needed the toilet in the night. She has never gotten out of bed to go downstairs on her own or rolled out. She’s only ever gone to the toilet and then back to bed. I don’t think it’s ever occurred to her that she can do that 😂 She’s now 4 and just moved into her single bed as we need the cot ready for no. 2. She still doesn’t get up on her own. Just shouts us in the morning to take her for breakfast. She’s a bit lazy I think, she loves her sleep ha ha