Experience please - shall we bother with a toddler bed or go straight to a single?

[ButtercupWafflehead]

DS has been in the (large) cot for ages and is perfectly happy there (just 3 )

But we would like him to progress so he can get out to the toilet on his own when that time comes.

We have room for a full-size single but are planning to move house next year so don't know.

Also have another DC on the way so will need a bit more space, but all the junior beds we have found go up to age 5 which means we will have a cot, junior bed and then will need to buy a bigger one in 2 years anyway.

Any thoughts, wise ones?

Thanks in advance!

Mine went straight from moses basket to a futon on the floor - so no cot at all! I can't see the purpose of a toddler bed except to make more money for furniture manufacturers.

I'd go straight to single with a bed guard. No point in buying another bed, matress etc that won't last. And you can lie down on a single bed to read to him too

I've done both (simply because for dd1 someone gave us a single bed and we were too tight to pass it up & someone offered to pay for one for dd2 and we saw a lovely extendable 'toddler bed' in Ikea) and I can honestly say it made no difference to how well they settled, but mine were about 2 when we changed them to a bed so I don't know if that makes any difference?

I'd just go straight to a full size single now and save yourself the money.

We were given a lovely cotbed which dd2 is still in. It's a bed now but I can see it won't last for more than a couple of years (length-wise)

With dd1 we just went straight to a single.

The junior beds/cot beds look very cute, admitedly, but I think they are a bit of a gimmic.

Mine all went from cot to normal sized single bed, tend to agree that toddler beds are another way to make money, unless you're short on space I suppose!

Thanks everyone, I really appreciate the response because thought I might be missing something with respect to why everyone buys the mini ones.

Off to shop!

Guessing it depends how old they are too. My DD is 11mths and I dont think it will be long before shes trying to escape from it! It which case we may go for a toddler bed as a single bed would just swamp her.

As DS is 3 id say Single bed to save you the money in a few years time anyway.

We had to have a junior one as at the time we couldn't fit a full size single in the room. At almost 4, DS could do with getting out of it, so they don't fit in the junior ones for long!

Toddler beds are a complete waste of money - buy a proper single