Advice please?

[NSP]

Hello

Id love some advice please.

Firstly, my 20.5month old son is nearly climbing out
of his cotbed. I want to avoid a sitaution where he
falls out and hurts himself. So any tips? I have
thought about removing the sides of the cot so it
becomes a bed, but the only issue is that will he go
to sleep when we put him to bed or will he start
opening the draws in his room and playing? As it is
still bright outside when he goes to sleep, i thought
it would be best to remove the sides off the bed about
winter time so that its pitch black when we put him to
bed. However, theres a while to go before it hits winter. Theres no wherelse for me to put his toys but
everything is in draws.

Secondly, i also have a 5.5wk old baby and was
wondering 2 things:

1. how much milk does he need to have and how often.
   he's in a routine and has 3.5oz every 3 hours between
   6am and 6pm, then every 2 hours until 10pm, then a
   middle of the night feed.

2. during the day, is it best to put him to sleep
   downstiars in the noise, or upstairs in peace and
   quiet after he's had his awake time? Its just that
   when i put him downstiars he doesnt seem to settle
   much and has broken sleep, but upstairs he sleeps
   well. I aim to have 1 hour awake time after feeding,
   then 2 hours asleep. but have realised that if hes had
   broken sleep during the day, then night times hes very
   cranky and finds it hard to settle. What is more
   important - teaching a baby to sleep through noise, or
   allowing them to have a full 2hour sleep between feeds
   during the day in quietness, as sleep is essential for
   their development???

All advice and tips is much appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

We ahve doen the move to the bed recently, and my dd did really well. I lifted her into the bed, and didn't encourage her to get out. In the morning i lifted her out, and i think it took her about three days to realise she could get out, because she didn't need to. We had a good routine going anyway of bath, book, bed and this just carried on. the one thing i would recommend is getting a blackout blind for the window as dd did start waking earlier. We also have a stairgate on her doorway because it's at the top of the stairs and she'd have to come down a step and up another to get to my room.

Not sure about the feeding it seems ages since i've been down that road, but i suggest the baby gets used to sleeping wiht some noises as it's difficult to keep the place silent all the time. I would have thought it's advantageous for him to be sleeping upstairs especially if he's likely to be napping for the next year at least, do you want him at 18months going to bed for a sleep, or crashing in the lounge?? See what suits you best. Good luck, hope to have given you some ideas.

Life is full and busy in your house!

When we moved from a cot to cotbed, we removed the sides of their cot and then put a stairgate on their bedroom door. The first night they were so excited they got in no problems. After that they messed around. Just move bedtime forward 1/2 an hour and then sit near the gate on the landing with a good book and a cup of tea. Don't intereact except to say 'It's bed time, go to sleep'. Lasts about three nights and then they are fine. I've done it three times and they were all younger than yours!

I strongly go for as much noise as possible with babies - I can go into my kids rooms and put away clothes at 10pm and they don't stir. (Now 8,7 & 3 yrs.) What about keeping 5.5 downstairs for the morning and letting him have a quiet sleep in the afternoon, as this is the nap he is likely to hang onto?

Changing to bed - no experience yet, gonna do it in a couple of weeks! Worried too about dd getting up & playing about but I'm so determined to have my evenings free that she'll learn quickly not to, if she does!

Feeding - no idea, sorry.
Sleeping - I wished later on than dd had got used to sleeping in noise, because throughout babyhood any tiny noise would wake her up and have me in tears. But like you, I could not imagine getting through the inital bit of getting baby used to it so silence it was! (Though I eventually discovered the trick of leaving a radio on very quietly in her room, that seemed to prevent any noises outside her room waking her up.)

Thank you everyone.
Good point loupy lou about whether we want elder son to crash out in lounge or go sleep upstairs. Also, i have decided to take slapheadsrock idea about keeping baby downstairs in morning and afternoon let him have a proper sleep upstiars. Currently,our 20.5month old sleeps in his cot in the afternoon, and this will tie in nicely.
Thanks everyone!