Transition to bed

[daydreamingnightowl]

2.5 year old is still in cot but starting to climb out and getting pretty close.

I'm looking for tips as at the moment she follows same routine every night bath, book teeth, bed but she does protest for a couple of minutes rattling the cot and shouting let me out! We leave the room and she does this for about 1-2 minutes before admitting defeat and going to sleep.

My worry is that when the cot sides are gone, she will just get out at this point and what was 1-2 minutes of settling will become a long battle to keep her in there.

Any ideas or similar situations?

No advice but wanted to follow this as we are just about to move our 2 year old into their own bed as we have another baby arriving soon.
I got a floor bed and it's all set up.. but haven't switched him into it yet

Would love to hear any advice anyone has

you absolutely must remove the cot side or place the matress on the floor.
way too dangerous once they can climb.

there will be a transition but it will be fine. been there 3x.

My kids went into their 'big beds' at 2 yrs, on their birthdays, like it was a special thing. Of course they get all excited because they are no longer caged and can get up. Lots of getting up and being pesky but I was consistent and persistent with chasing them back into bed.

Always had bedtime stories and the usual routine malarkey and one of those soft light things.

Yes they will be pests for a while but that's part of being a kid, right?

Thanks for the replies. I wonder if anyone has any practical advice for what to do or say specifically when they get out of bed.

Is it just a case of keep putting them back until they stay? Reiterating it's bed time?

Has anyone tried a stair gate on the door or would this just encourage her to play until she fell asleep?

We moved ours to beds at twenty months. Let them play on it lots in the daytime with us in the room for a few days first, but always said a big 'no' to when they wanted to climb down. Made a thing of them waiting for us to lift them off. Never let them climb off it themself, as ridiculous as it seemed.
When the move came, DC2 got out of bed once. DC never. Light out, door pulled to. No speaking to them or leaving the room with them again until morning. Lots of reliance on blankets and teddies.
Any shouting was completely ignored.

Hi OP,

We're on night one of transition to bed from cot.

DS (just turned 2) climbed out from his cot last night (albeit an impressively smooth landing) and we knew that it was time to move on. It's a cot/cot bed so easy for us to switch in a day.

We have a stair gate on his bedroom door now.

I've been sitting on the floor outside his room for almost an hour. It's not going well. I knew the first night would be tough.

He has always been a dreadful sleeper so I don't know if that's a contributing factor.

I hope things work out well for you. Good luck

@tokesqueen thank you, that's really helpful. We're going to give this approach a go!

@ImDuranDuran how did it go in the end? I'm thinking we are going to have to transition sooner rather than later as I'm so worried about the successful escape not being so smooth as yours!