quick straw poll - when did you move your DC to a toddler bed and how did it go?

[flipflopson5thavenue]

just that really.

DS2 is 2.2mo and the last couple nights has been INCONSOLABLE at bedtime. Started on Monday night, I turned light off, said good night and he started HOWLING and it lasted a good hour or so. Said he wanted me to sing/rock/pat him to sleep (all things I haven't done in MONTHS) and he came up with ENDLESS demands regarding the positioning of duvets/blanket/soft toys etc. Was very out of character, no idea what has sparked it.

Last night in desperation (after DS2 was talking about "the wall being stuck" between sobs) DP put a mattress on the floor and asked if he wanted to sleep there, and DS2 said yes, so DP made an impromptu big-boy bed on the floor. DS2 was asleep in minutes. (DS1 who is 4.5yo then of course also wanted to sleep on the floor, so DP had to move his mattress onto the floor... was like a sleep over party! :))

great, we thought - maybe he's ready for a bed! we'll give it a few nights of doing it this way, then we'll build the bed we've already got for him at the weekend!

BUT - we tried to move him back to his cot when we went to bed around 930pm (can't remember why we thought this would have been a good idea - I think we were worried he'd roll off the mattress as he still shifts about loads) AND HE WOKE!!!!!!!!!! he was then awake until 1am as we tried every variation possible to get him back to sleep. On the floor, in our bed, back in his cot. EVENTUALLY he crashed out in his cot. Was so frustrating and exhausting for everyone.

We feel it's fairly obvious he's probably not ready for a big boy yet, but equally, he's going to be pretty pissed off tonight if he doesn't get his big boy bed again...

Part of me feels that we've started something we have to finish now.... Maybe the plan tonight should be top put him to sleep on the floor but then LEAVE HIM ALONE...!

Sorry I've rambled - thoughts or suggestions..??

mmmm DS2 is 2.2 YRS, obviously......!!

We moved DD at 14 months. It's great.

Why don't you think he's ready for a proper bed?

We moved our twins just before their second birthday as one of them was a climber and the constant escape attempts from his cot were unsafe.

We put them in singles with a bed side guard on them and put a baby gate on their bedroom door.

They slept much better in the proper beds with proper mattresses and we had no problem with the transition (they were very excited about the character duvet covers as I recall )

It might be that your DS has outgrown his cot and is banging into the bars waking himself up. He might also now be too heavy for the cot mattress and it's not very comfortable.

Ds1 was 2. It was a cot bed so relatively low to the ground. I don't think any damage would have been done if he'd have fallen out. You could always lay cushions on the floor next to his bed if you're worried.

Can you take the side off the cot to turn it into a bed? Failing that just put the mattress on the floor. If he starts wanting to use the potty you want him to be able to get there!

We started the move at 18 months and had the luxury of allowing him to take his time with the change. We needed to move his actual bedroom to the other side of the house as neighbours could him crying at night. We put the bed in one room and kept his cot in his old nursery. We decorated the big boy room for him and let him play, read, do bedtime routine etc in new room.

He loved it but insisted on sleeping in the cot still. Only when I put him down, already asleep, for a nap in the new bed did he take to it. He woke up smiling and never slept in his cot again! We left the cot made up for another month but he didn't ask for it and loved his bed after that.

I hope your boy comes round for you, it must be so hard.

I'm unsure if he's ready or not because it was a bit of a disaster in the end - we had no way of getting him back to sleep when he woke (normally I'd go into him, sit by his cot briefly, and he'd immediately go back to sleep).

I do wonder if he's suddenly becoming more aware that there are other options other than his cot - and of course his brother is in a big bed.

Average age around 16/17 months as they start to climb out.

But according to your OP he was asleep until you moved him back?

2.5 - no problems with bed time nap time on the other hand was a different story.

My lo is 16 months today. I'm going to move him as soon as he starts walking confidently. I think he will sleep much better

AmeliaJack - yes you're right, it was probably all our fault...! We should have left him alone! he does still wake though occasionally in the night, so it could still happen that he just won't go back to sleep in a bed/on the floor although eventually when he gets used to it he'll settle in.

DS was 2.5. He had a cot bed and we got him involved in taking the cot part down and making it into a bed with his own little tool kit.
He'd been in grobags until then so we got some of the gro to bed bedding with the zips down the sides so he felt secure. He slept so much better after that, I think we should have done it earlier looking back.

DD was 4 months old when we put her in the cotbed. She outgrew the Moses basket.

She was 2 when we took the sides off the cotbed. We were concerned that she was trying to climb out and would fall.

Both times were hugely traumatic for us as parents, but she was absolutely fine and afterwards we wondered why on earth we had worried about it.

We did find DD asleep on the rug a couple of times where she had rolled out of bed onto the floor and not noticed (she does have a thick rug) but apart from that she was much happier without the cotbed sides on and stayed in her bed at night.

Just about to get her a grown up single bed now she is 5

When she was 18 months. Very easy as she was keen to be a 'big girl'

2y 7m, moved as he was climbing out. It went terribly, 3 months of 2 hour long bedtime battles trying rapid return and all sorts. Luckily, once asleep he stayed there but no more cots in bed, only on the sofa.

I don't know if moving before getting out of bed became a game might have been a better idea.

We moved him into a proper single bed at 2.4 months. He loved it, but it was the end of naps completely and we also had a nightmare couple of months at bedtime (2 hour battles!) when he realised he could run in and out of bed whenever he wanted. But no problems since the novelty has worn off.

Ds was 15 months. Naps became a nightmare for a while until I started strapping him into the pushchair instead. I had no choice because I was about ready to pop with dd and needed the cot.

Dd was 2 and a bit and had started climbing out of the cot.

With both dc we put a gate across their door so that they could get out of bed and play if they wanted and still be safe. A couple of times I found them asleep in the middle of their rooms but more often than not they stayed in bed and went to sleep. In the morning they played in their rooms for a while until we got up (generally at about half six or so. They still do this on a weekend but as they have got older we leave them until a bit later.) We took the gates away when they were about 3 and could open them anyway and needed to be able to easily go to the toilet.

Ds1 was 16 months, was good overall and he just loves his big boy bed now whilst baby brother has his old cot

21months

Between 3 and 4 years old.

My dd I moved to a toddler bed when she was 14months old, as I needed the cot for my ds. Also she had nearly made the end fall off.
With my ds he was also 14months old when he went to a mattress on the floor after breaking his cot. (He jumped so hard the base snapped).
At nearly 3yrs old, my ds is still on a mattress on the floor as he can't currently be trusted with a bed (he's a climber).