cot to bed at 18 months... is it a big no no

[jollyfolly]

am at my witts end having tried every possible way of getting ds to a] sleep through and b] to sleep in his cot. am so exhausted it hurts!!!
A few people have suggested i try him in his own 'proper' bed', they say they did it for theirs at 18/19 months and it worked a treat. I have always been under the impression that you just dont do this until they are at least 2.
Anyone any experience?

Well, my dd1 went into a bed at 16 months because we needed the cot for dd2! And ds will be going into a bed at about 20 months in preparation for the arrival of dc4.

We certainly never had any problems with our dds from putting them into a bed, but we didn't have the cot problems either, so perhaps I'm not best placed to say. I have had friends, like you, who found moving to a bed was a good thing.

why is it they say they should be put in at 24 months... is it just a safety thing? i guess because yours were already sleeping well miaou, it made going into a bed easier..... good luck with dc4, when is the due date?

we have just put dd2 into her own bed at 19 months and we taught her to fall asleep on her own in that bed at the same time

she loves it but we do have to sit next to her bed on a chair whilst she falls asleep at the moment because I didn't want to do CC and she wouls have just got up and out of bed for hours if we tried rapid return and heavily pregnant at the mo I wasn't prepared to do that. I think it is possible to put an 18 month old into a bed but you may need to do rapid return or lie with them or sit with them but for us it was better than what was going on before

i had the same problem with DS1 and he went into a little cotbed at 12 months, very low to the ground with a bed guard. And a gate across his door. Had to be vigilant about putting toys away at night in case he got up. He did seem to prefer it to the cot (which we needed for DS2 a few weeks later anyway), although i still had to sit with him until he fell asleep, until he was about 2.6. Give it go, why not?

Jollyfolly

I put my ds in an Ikea small extendable bed from 18 months and he was much happier and slept much better as he was always bashing his arms and legs on the cot bars. They still sell them by the way!

Needless to say we had a few nights where he got up and stood at the top of the stairs but he soon got bored of it.

The good thing about the Ikea bed is that it is low to the ground and also doesn't feel any bigger than the cot.

I plan on doing the same thing with ds2 in six months time, so go on give it a go, what have you got to lose, if it all goes pear shape you can put him back in the cot and store the bed away for a couple more months.

As for sleeping through, we have just put ds2 (aged 1) in one of those low 1 tog sleeping bag things, which I was against at first but he is sleeping better as he too refuses to sleep under covers

and after 4 years of disrupted/disturbed sleep we have changed ds1 from a duvet to a blanket and he now sleeps soundly through the night so there is hope ahead, it just took me a long time to realise my ds just wanted to be well tucked in

Good luck! Beks

guess this means a trip to ikea on monday morning then!

Good luck jollyfolly Dc 4 due in July, a while off yet!

We moved ds into a bed at 16mths as he'd definitely outgrown his cot. We got a toddler bed from argos so it wasn't huge and had rails attached to it. It took a while for him to get over the novelty factor but it led to some much better sleeping etc so we're glad we did it.

Jolly, both of my dcs have moved into a bed at 14 months. Ds went into a toddler bed prior to dd's arrival but due to lack of space and wanting to get them used to sharing a room dd has just gone straight into a single bottom bunk. She's been fine although she does look really tiny in it!

My first child hated his cot, until at a year old i put one of my pillows in it for him and he slept in it all night!!!!!!

By 18 months all 3 of my children have been in their own beds.

I used to put a stair gate in their bedroom doorways so that they couldn't get into the bathroom or fall down stairs if they got up in the night.

1st dd hated cot, never slept in it, put her in a bed at 14 months never looked back, do it, changed my life

We put a big matress on the floor in both dds rooms - one at 15 mo and one at 20 mo - and got the bed in later.

So Jolly what did you decide? Hope whatever you're doing is working for you Beks

beksmum.... thanks 4 remembering me!!!!! we are going for an ikea bed.... when we can find a way of getting it home, still keeping my fingers crossed for a full nights sleep!