Duvet in the cot

[User334567]

I posted on another mums group about using a thin cover less duvet in my child’s cot bed (21 months) and also cot pillow. I got told it’s really unsafe as they can’t kick them off as easy/get tangled up. Trouble is I can’t use sleep sacks as the size for there age is too small and the next larger size is to big. So does anyone know if this is true is it really that unsafe ? What about it I tucked one side right under the mattress ?

Your child is nearly 2. They will be fine. Both my ds had a cot duvet not long after 1 a very thin pillow too. That was in a cot with bars and all. They survived.

@swashbucklecheer

Thank you , I got a really hard time on the mums group saying it’s really unsafe.

They are both fine from age 1

Does the bigger size sleeping bag not have poppers under the arms to make it fit? I used bags right up until the max size they went up to and then my daughter went into a bed with child's duvet at 22 months and was fine.

I tucked one side and the bottom of the duvet under the mattress which helped as DS wriggles a lot.

As long as the tog doesn't exceed 4.5tog and it is a cot sized cover then it's OK

In what way is the bigger sleeping bag too big? As long as her head doesn't fit through the opening it should be fine to use

Why not take the side(s) off the cot?
But yes, both duvets (with a cover) and a pillow are suitable from 12 months.

Duvets are fine at that age, but personally mine stayed in sleeping bags until age 3 (adjustable with poppers as PP said) because they kept wriggling out from the duvets and waking up because they were cold!

We used a cot duvet and baby pillow for both from around 18 months. They're not safe for babies under 12 months, but at nearly two your dc will be fine.

Cot duvets are even smaller than a cot bed version, and they’re very light and fluffy so there’s no feasible way for them to get tangled. I moved to proper bedding once the dc were walking really confidently as I was worried about them tripping over the sleeping bag and banging their head on the cot bars.

It also made the transition into a toddler bed easy as I just used the same bedding so it wasn’t too much of a change!

[quote User334567]@swashbucklecheer

Thank you , I got a really hard time on the mums group saying it’s really unsafe.[/quote]
Ignore them.

Some people like to find flaws in other people’s parenting to reassure themselves that they’re doing it “right”.

I just used cellular blankets with mine until in a bed

I didn’t want to take the sides off the cot untill I have too as I’ve heard they can just get up all through the night.

The sleep sack I got doesn’t have poppers and is age 3-6 yrs the neck does seem big but doesn’t go over his head, the arm holes are huge too. He is on the 99th centile & the 18-36 months ones are tiny and don’t fit.

It is a cot bed sized cover & he is in a large cot bed . it does seem bigger than the cot I guess one side of it would hang out without the side on but il just tuck it under then, thank you.

The best piece of advice I was given with my new baby was to leave the Facebook mum groups I'd joined. Honestly, they were toxic. And we think MN is full of vipers! Full of judgement, oneupmanship, competitiveness and preaching

It is safe after a year but you know your child... my son has recently moved to one at 13 months as his room is cold. We watched him a lot on the monitor the first night and he was totally capable of moving around and pulling it back where he needed to and he loves the pillow

Ignore and go with your gut

@User334567

I didn’t want to take the sides off the cot untill I have too as I’ve heard they can just get up all through the night.

The sleep sack I got doesn’t have poppers and is age 3-6 yrs the neck does seem big but doesn’t go over his head, the arm holes are huge too. He is on the 99th centile & the 18-36 months ones are tiny and don’t fit.

It is a cot bed sized cover & he is in a large cot bed . it does seem bigger than the cot I guess one side of it would hang out without the side on but il just tuck it under then, thank you.

We still have the sides of the cot up as he's younger but we tuck the bottom of the quilt under the mattress at the bottom only. When we tuck the sides in too, it made it difficult for him to pull the duvet off if he wanted to. But tucking it at the bottom prevents it being pulled too high over his face (although if he did, he's still capable of pulling it off)

Blimey. At 18 months, both of mine were in beds with pillows and duvets. Both are fine from 12 months (assuming the child is NT and not physically disabled of course).

Yes agree with pps ignore those weirdos!

I never bought a cot bed duvet just used a low tog single duvet bed and tucked it right under at the bottom so it only came up as far as needed. Then I tucked in the sides once they were in.

To be clear not because I thought it was dangerous but so they didn't kick it off the bed, get cold and wake up!

At 21 months they are 100% able to kick off a duvet. I watched my child do it at 17 months when she grew out of her grow bag and moved to her toddler bed.

Although, you can get sleeping bags for 2-3. I bought one for my DD because she decided sleeping on the floor as opposed to her bed was the new trend. I think I got mine on amazon.

Also watching a toddler tuck themselves into bed is 100% one of the cutest things I’ve ever seen

You can get sleeping bags for older children, they are so bloody expensive though!

It's fine. My nearly two and a half year old has been in her cot with a duvet and pillow for ages, probably nearly a year. It's a cot sized duvet so not massive, it's 4 tog so not too thick and she's more than capable of managing it. Little cot bed pillow too, nothing huge.

You could always take the sides off the cot if you're worried - I haven't because the longer I can keep my child happily contained, the better

I love how people make up 'safety' rules to judge other mums, nowhere does it say they can't have an appropriate size/weight duvet in a cot at nearly two years old. A small baby, yes ok but not a toddler 🙄

I'm not at the duvet stage yet but have been using jojo sleep snuggler and it's been great!

For my lanky wriggly DC1 I sewed some stitches in the armholes of the sleeping bags so they were the right size. Individual stitches so I could undo 1 at a time as DC grew.

Thank you for posting this! I've been debating whether or not to use a cot bed duvet in DS's cot with the bars still on. He's just over 2. I didn't get much in response from my mums' FB group so it's good to hear people's opinions on here.

I'm going to try it for naptime today and see what happens!

As others have said, they're fine from a year. The bigger issue you're going to have is keeping them under the duvet.

I think you'd be better off looking at a different brand of sleeping bags though tbh, unless your child isn't much of a wriggler. The supermarkets do 18-24 months, I'm sure some do 2-3 years as well. Even in the same size, different males will differ in size so you'll find one that's suitable.

Did you know that Jojo do sleeping bags 18m to 4 years which are much longer than the 18-36m ones . I've just found this out as my 21 month old had her toes touching the end of the 18 to 36 months sleeping bag and I wasn't sure what to do!