Is this unsafe, or am I overthinking?

[Imuptoolate]

Struggling to find a definitive answer to this online, or from HVs etc. Is it safe to use a cotbed duvet and pillow for a toddler in a cot that still has the sides up?

DS turned 2 a few months ago and has slept well in a sleeping bag since about 8 weeks old. I am toying with the idea of swapping to pillow and duvet because:

• He is getting too big for the sleeping bags and next size up looking expensive to get all the different togs for different weather etc.
• I want to start to encourage him to self settle to sleep (at the moment I cuddle/ rock him to sleep then put him in his cot) as I am due DC2 soon so need him to be a bit more independent.
• I know I will be anxious to check on him constantly when he first changes to proper bedding and thought I may as well do it when baby is here and I will be waking up multiple times a night anyway.

I don’t want to take the sides off the cot yet, as he has never tried to climb out, even though he can undo and get himself out of the sleeping bag if he gets too hot. He just sits nicely and waits for me to come and get him in the morning when he wakes up.

Some things online have said it’s dangerous to put pillow and duvet inside a cot in case they get stuck in the slats. But surely a cot bed still has slats around 3 sides of it anyway so isn’t much different?

I am also a bit worried because he tends to sleep on his side or his tummy, even though I place him on his back to start with. Is this an issue with a pillow?

Any thoughts/experiences?

Prepared to be told I am totally overthinking as he is PFB!

Following as I am wondering the same!

DS is 2.5 and has a pillow and duvet. One of his duvets is just a single rather than a cot bed size because we needed a spare and it's all the open shops had at the time.

No issue with tummy sleeping and pillows either. The issue with babies is having the ability to lift their head.

Our biggest tummy sleeping issue is the constant wet bedding from squeezing his nappies by sleeping on his front!! 😂

We did this (used a pillow and duvet in the 4-sided cot) from when DS was about 2.5. I did read something similar however so did to make me feel better we did it in stages - started in spring/summer with a cellular blanket for naps; then a duvet for night time; then pillow a few weeks later. Would recommend waiting til spring and warmer nights though if you can as they’re not great at pulling duvets back over them for a while and you don’t want extra wake ups!

I’ve never seen that advice. My DS was in a cotbed with duvet and pillow from 2ish, once he’d outgrown sleeping bags basically. I didn’t think anything of it, can’t see the difference between that and having a duvet and pillow in a bed?