17 month old no longer sleeping - cc not an option

[monkeyboysmum766]

My son has slept 12 hours a night straight through since he was 8 weeks old. However, following a number of ear infections at 16/17 months old he wakes up every night. He goes into his cot as usual but when he wakes in the night he will only settle in our bed. Have tried controlled crying but as he is tall enough to swing out of his cot head first when having a tantrum, but too young for a bed, it is not a safe option. Does anyone else have this problem or any ideas?

If he can climb/fall out of his cot, then he's not safe in it and it's time to move to a bed IMHO. My DS1 moved to a bed at c. 19 months, partly because DS2 was on the way, but also because he wasn't sleeping well in the cot.

Once he was in the bed, I could lie next to him while he settled and then sneak off, although this then created another prob, as I spent a lot of time lying in his bed. CC was the only answer in the end. Horrid, but onlt took 3 nights.

If you put a bed rail on and a duvet/ cushions the floor jsut incase a bed should be ok? Put a stairgate on the door to stop him getting to the bathroom/ stairs in the night.

I had to do cc too, if you're not ready for cc then wait until you are exhausted but if you do end up doing it then, it will be harder because you will be even more knackered.

Thank you both for the advice about moving him into a bed. For some reason I thought he was too young. Quite silly of me really seeing as he grows out of everything earlt so I have no idea why I though his cot was the exception!

The good news is his ear infection has finally cleared up and he's sleeping again.