When did your child outgrow their cot?

[wishIwasonholiday10]

How old was your child when they outgrew their cot, especially if you had the smaller size that takes a 120 x60cm mattress? My DD is only 18 months but already looking quite big in it and moves around a lot at night, sometimes getting stuck sideways and waking up a lot during the night. I wonder if she would like a bigger bed but I don’t think she’s anywhere near ready to move into a normal bed yet. The cot is supposed to last up to age 4 (wouldn’t expect to use it that long of course!) but I don’t see it lasting much longer.

When she could dive out of it, about 9 months…

Mine moved to a small double at floor level around 10 months old. Was safer and he liked the freedom to move!

DD was nearly 4 but I think it was the larger size, and we had long taken the sides off so we were using it as a cot bed.

DS has been in a single bed with a guard since 18 months old, he’d escaped the cot so the bars had come off when he was 15 months but we were rejigging the bedrooms after an extension and there was a single bed going spare so it made sense to give him that and ditch the cot.

There's no way it's too big for her yet. They just get into lots of funny positions. Still in cot at 2.5 for our 90th percentile height daughter and plenty of room yet. If she isn't climbing out I definitely wouldn't change it. Lots of advice says if you can make it to 3 before doing the bed transition it's a lot easier.

DS has been in a single bed with a guard since 10mo. And for a bit before that you could just tell he felt constricted

Also there’s no way 18 months is too young for a bed assuming bed guard or floorbed, baby proofed room and stairgate on the door to stop wandering, but equally it’s unlikely she’s actually too big for the cot.

Really it’s just personal preference and whatever gets everyone the most sleep! I definitely subscribe to if it ain’t broke so if she hasn’t yet climbed was doing an uninterrupted 12 hours in the cot I think you’d be insane to change anything but if sleep isn’t great at the moment then I reckon you don’t have anything to lose by trying a bed.

One of mine was in a bed by then as they were hoisting themselves over the side of the cot and crashing onto the floor. Slept in a double bed with their sibling . I didn't think about bed guards . They very occasionally fell out ; no injuries.

DS1 climbed out aged 2
DS2 cimbed out at 18 months.

Both were then in a toddler bed (cot converted).
DS2 was in it until 4.5 (we knew we were moving country while he was still 3, so he stayed in a bit longer than we would have left him if not having to sell the entire house contents. He then got a double at the next house, and looked very tiny!)

Both mine moved to single bed with bedgard at around a year. But they were terrible sleepers who needed cuddling to sleep, and were getting to heavy to carefully lower in while asleep. In a single be I could lie with them and slip out once they were sleeping.

DD is 5.5 years and is still in her cot bed with a bed guard. We're getting our money's worth!

Thanks all for the advice! I guess we will keep the cot for a bit longer. My DD is nowhere near being able to climb out as she is quite late with her gross motor skills. My main concern about a bigger bed is that she wouldn’t be able to get in and out yet. Even with a floor bed I don’t think she could get back in on her own as she can only bum shuffle (can’t crawl or climb or even go from lying to sitting by herself). Her sleep is quite poor at the moment compared to what it used to be and she moves around a lot at night but I may be clutching at straws looking for a solution. She is quite tall for her age, 9th percentile for height.

We have the a 140 cm cot bed but switched her to a bed at 2 with a fold up side. At 2.5 we got rid of the side. She has been fine in terms of getting in and out. She is 3.5 now but just gone into 18 month old clothes!

Clothes sizes can give you a rough idea for when they might grow out of it - 1.5-2 y is upto 92cm, 2-3 y is up to 99cm and 3-4 Is up to 104cm. If it's 120 cm plus pillow and not wanting to be touching the bottom of the bed probably around the time outgrow aged 3-4 clothes will be the time they will be close to outgrowing the cot. You can use the clothes as a rough to measure of where they are on height chart we have fairly good correlation between my daughters height recorded at the paediatrician and when she grows in and out of sizes

10 months when we found her in her twin sisters cot, fast asleep. She’d shimmied over the bars and across the gap.

My advice is keep them in the cot as long as you can! My 3 yo is still in and my oldest was in a cot until almost 4 (fortunately neither are climbers!). Once they got to about 18 months, I put padded breathable bumpers on the side to avoid limbs poking out or bumps. Made a big difference.

Dd1 climbed out at 16 months, dd2 climbed out at 15 months, pair of monkeys!! We switched to a toddler bed though to get honest they mostly slept with us anyway even when they supposedly had a cot