The “big girl bed” regression

[Lovebehindthefool]

2.5yr old moved to a big girl bed last week. She loved it and first few nights went straight to sleep (even though she knew she could get out of it). Last night she was like a jack in the box for 3.5 hours. Just kept putting her back in (losing my temper I must admit). In the end I put her back in her cot (10:30pm by that point) and she was asleep within 10mins. I popped her back into her big bed and she slept through.
We are now at nap time with a very tired child and she has done the same again. I’m currently sat on her bedroom floor not engaging.

This is a girl who has been brilliant at going to sleep since she was 6months old. Now I know that this can happen but for 3.5 hours?! Why?! I’m so ill and tired and feel like packing it in.
I don’t want to sit in her room and start a habit like that but it seems to be working. Is it really normal for 3.5hours constant getting out of bed?!
She needs a bigger bed as she is just too big for the cot and wakes up in the night with all sorts of funny positions.
Help...from a mother with a chest infection...

[cookielove]

We moved our ds into a big boy bed just after he was 2! I would have kept him in longer but he learned how to climb out he even started flipping himself out head first just to escape. It is now a year later and he is good about staying in bed most nights but not always. Like you I lost my temper the first few nights and we have had to sit in with him in the past. Now it takes about 3 times to get him to stay in 😂 all about consistency! Fx she gets it now!

[Lovebehindthefool]

Yes I’m def keeping door open from now on. I stayed out of sight today and will probably continue to do that as I certainly don’t want her associating me in her room with sleep //hmm I’m happy for her to assume I’m stood behind the door even when I’m not though. Thanks for the support all!

[skippykips]

Oh, and door open is the only way she would go sleep. Not wide open, just slightly

[skippykips]

My 22 month old is in a bed. She was going straight to sleep for 3 months until she was poorly. She then kept getting out from that day.
I refused point blank to sit in room. What I did was I sat in my room with baby monitor on (sitting here now as I type)
As soon as I heard her out of bed I would meet her at door, not engage at all and pop her back in bed.
1 month it took for her to stay in bed first time I put her in.
I now just stay in here whilst she is falling to sleep. I feel if she heard me go downstairs she would be up immediately

[Lovebehindthefool]

Thanks all, she already had breathable cot bumpers and sleeping pod in her cot. She is having her tonsils out next year to help with her breathing as the poor little mite really struggles. She literally uses the whole of her single bed now!
She actually begged me for bed time tonight (must have been so tired after last nights antics) and I sat behind the door... I think she knew I was there and she didn’t get up once! I also left the door open and I’m wondering if that helped...she never needed the door open before but now I wonder if she needs that extra security.
Already have a removable side thing on this bed as I knew she would role out otherwise

[happymummy12345]

Fate that age is not too early at all. They can go in a toddler bed or a converted cot bed from the age of 18 months.
I moved my son at 17 months. He was so much happier in his toddler bed. I didn't bother with bed guards or anything like that, a baby gate at his door is fine. He got up the 1st and 2nd night, but after that he was fine. He slept so much better in the bed. There's no need to baby them by insisting they stay in the cot.

[littledinaco]

I would try and find a way to leave her in the cot, seems like she is happy and secure in there.

Maybe lift out of the cot into the bed when you go to bed if she’ll stay asleep but finds it easier to fall asleep in the cot?

Or can you get a big bed guard or something so the bed is more like a cot?

[FATEdestiny]

What about breathable cot bumpers?
Putting her in a toddler sleeping bag in the cot?

Otherwise, it's just a case of repeatedly putting her back in the big girls bed and ignoring her tantrums about it.

[Lovebehindthefool]

It isn’t that she is too tall for her cot. The problem is she suffers from sleep apnea and so is a very very active sleeper. I’m being woken 5 times a night by her squealing in pain because she has ended up stuck up one end of her cot. Believe me, I would happily leave her in that cot for another year, i loved that she couldn’t get out of it. I’m not rushing her out of it by choice, she needs more space to roll around. When she has gone to sleep in her big bed she has slept through much more comfortably. It is the getting her to sleep that is hard.

[FATEdestiny]

She will not have grown out of the cot. If she sleeps better in a cot, let her sleep in there.

A standard cot is 125cm long and a cot bed 145cm. I've just had a look at my DD'S red book height charts. An average child would be 7 and a half years old before they reach 125cm tall.

2 and a half is young to move your a bed. I wouldn't consider it before the 3rd birthday. But my tall 3 year old (who's the size of an average 5 year old) will be staying in hers for a long time yet. She's happy there, so why change. I might add that my (tall for his age) 8 years old is 137cm tall and fits in his sisters cot.

So, I'd suggest you're rushing her in your arms bed needlessly. Leave her be in her cot.