Considering moving 18mth old to big bed?

[DomesticGoddess31]

My DD has never been a good sleeper. We have had maybe the odd 5 days here and there when she has slept through but on the whole she wakes up at least once and is often hard to settle. She has recently been poorly and cutting her bottom molars so we have had a hell of a few weeks. She seems to have come through it now but is still waking in the night and screaming her pretty little head off until we give in due to sheer exhaustion and bring her in our bed. We would like to crack her sleep once and for all as its really effecting family life.

Last night I heard her bang the side of her cot about 20 mins before she started shouting for us. She does fidget alot in bed and often ends up bunched up in the very top corner. I'm wondering if she's waking herself up by crashing into the sides of her cot.

We have a big girl bed set up for her (as we were expecting no. 2 in April but sadly not to be) so we could try that, maybe she'd be more comfortable with more space????

Would this be a huuuuge mistake or has anyone done this and it paid off????

Ds1 moved into a big bed about that age because he was climbing out of the cot. The bed had a gap at the foot between the bed guard and the base so it was a lot safer for him climbing in and out from the lower height.

If you feel it's the right time then go for it, keep the cot set up for a couple of weeks just in case.

I am really very sorry for your loss

Thanks Aspiemum :)

Did your DS have a duvet straight away or did you keep him in a sleeping bag if you used one?

My ds went into a junior bed at 13 months. He was really big and so was waking himself on the sides of the cot.

I have no idea what the current advice is as my ds is now nearly 10, but from my experience I'd say 18 months would be fine.

Mine were both in big bed by 18months. DD1 at 14 months to free up cot for her baby sister. DD2 at 10 months when we finally realised she slept better in a bed than a cot.

I kept them in their sleeping bags to start with and moved to a duvet around the age of 2. Both of them coped with the move no problem and much better than any of my friends who have made the change with 2 year olds.

Thanks all, we're going to give it a go this week and leave the cot as it is as suggested. Please please let this fix everything !

Hope it all goes well. I didn't use sleeping bags for the older dc's (tbh I hadn't come across them when they were little) so ds just had a quilt.
I use sleeping bags for the twins though so imagine they will keep using them until about 2 but may have to rethink if they're getting in and out of bed like ds did though - would be a bit like the sack race on sports day would it not?! on second thoughts that sounds amusing so might keep them in sleeping bags

We never got (19mo) DD to sleep in her cot, so she now sleeps in a normal bed in the spare room with a guard rail. We taught her how to get out safely, and recently she's been able to climb up safely too. The room and the hallway outside are babyproofed, so if she gets up then she can't get up to mischief.

She rolls about all over the place though while asleep, so I can see why she doesn't like the cot! Although, she still wakes regularly, but at least with her in a proper bed one of us can just stumble next door and co-sleep with her when she wakes!

Good luck :)