How do you know if your toddler is ready for a bed?

[sarahloula]

My dd has just turned two and sleeps for eleven hours every night in her sleeping bag in her cot. How will I know when she is ready for a toddler bed and a duvet? I'm thinking summer holidays when I am not at work so if we have disturbed sleeps it won't matter as much. Or should I keep her in her cot as long as she is still happy and slepping okay?

Ooh watching with interest as we have a free toddler bed on offer but don't know when to use it.

My DS has just gone into his big boy bed at 2.5. He has a new baby sister and she will need the cot in 4 months time! He only had a basic cot and he was just too big for it, he could still stretch out but just looked huge and kept banging his head on the bars. He never climbed out or anything. We really decided when he was emotionally ready and understood the concept of climbing into bed and staying there. We had no teething problems and he has never fallen out in the 6 weeks he has been using it. The only thing is early morning he wakes up but goes back to sleep but has fallen asleep on the floor behind the door! Our door handles are really high up though, I don't know what he would be like if he could open the door!

I've been wondering about this too.. dd is 2.4yrs and as you say OP it's all fine at the moment in her cot, part of me thinks if it's not broken don't worry. Friends have had their kids in cots till at least 3 as it just worked for them in space etc.

DS has just learned to climb out at 21 months so we've taken the side off (cotbed) and added a bed guard. It's been kind of a rough few nights as he's old enough to realise he can get out but not really old enough to understand any explanation, so it's climb out - back in bed - yell - climb out...

I wish he was in the cot for a while longer but it wasn't safe any more.

DS slept beautifully in his cot, 11/12 hours a night, didn't call to be got up until 8am/9am at weekends. Now in big bed and we spend 1 to 2 hours chasing him around the flat every night, and then he potters into my room at 6am every day gleefully announcing 'It is morning time mummy, and I dunna poo'.

So unless your DD is climbing out of bed, you have number 2 on the way, or there is some other pressing reason to change, I would stick to cot for as long as possible