Cot to bed

[Motherof1and2dogs]

My little one was 2 in September, he is still in his cot and I just have no clue when to change it into a little bed for him. Unfortunately when it turns into a bed it doesn't come with sides to stop him from falling out of bed so a little worried this will be a problem.
I was told to change it to a bed when he starts trying to climb out of his cot but I honestly don't think he will ever do this. He loves his cot still and is happy but not sure if changing it to a bed helps his development, I just have no idea!

I also have baby number 2 of the way, due in July, so am I best to start this before a newborn baby comes? I know it could be challenging with teaching him to stay in bed and not be tempted to get out of bed every minute so am I best to start the bed routine now?

I would leave him in the cot as long as possible, especially if sleep is good.

When you do change it you can buy mesh sides to go on the beds to stop them falling out.

My eldest was nearly 3 before we changed her to a bed

I agree to wait as long as possible. With my first we moved her at just 2 as we had another on the way and wanted it sorted before DD2's arrival but it was a nightmare with her getting out about a million times a night. Apparently their impulse control is much better as they get closer to 3 so we'll be waiting with DD2 who was 2 in October.

We left our DS in till just after three and it was fine, went really smoothly when we finally made the change. He could have climbed out, he's really good at climbing. But he didn't (and indeed still doesn't get up if he needs something, he just yells!). I think it helped that he was old enough to talk about expectations re. staying in bed, and he understands his gro clock and when it's not time to get out yet. He saw that some of his friends had big girl/boy beds and that made him want one too, plus we thought he was ready to be able to get up and go to the loo by himself if he needed to (not that he does), so that's why we thought it was time.

Usually I’d say if it ain’t broke don’t fix it and stick with the cot but since there’s a new baby on the way I would transition him to a bed, with a guard to stop him rolling out, as soon as poss. For practicalities sake because you’re going to struggle lifting him in/out of the cot whilst heavily pregnant and in the post natal period especially if you have a section. It also means the cot can go to the baby and his big boy bed will last indefinitely so it avoids the extra short term purchase of a second cot. When you switch he will likely be up and down a lot more, so also better dealing with that before you’re also dealing with a newborn, and you don’t want him getting ideas about the new baby taking his bed so better the cot goes away and comes back out in a few months.

@InTheRainOnATrain makes some good points, so I just wanted to add a couple of things, as we also had a new baby before transitioning to a bed:

• we did originally think the cotbed would go to the baby, and older brother could go in a normal bed. But small cots are quite cheap and easy to get (I've never actually paid for a cot or cotbed, just bought new mattresses), and the baby can have the toddler bed when DS1 goes in a real bed, so it didn't cost us any extra. Probably less actually as a new cotbed mattress for the baby would have been more expensive.
• good point re lifting toddler into the cot - I think this depends on what your DP does at home and what you do. I'm the non-birth mother and took over all the 2yo bedtimes at that point, so there were no issues with lifting for DP who'd had a section. If you're having to do bedtime on your own for whatever reason that'll be more relevant.

However, our age gap was slightly smaller so I guess you've got more time than we had to make the transition if you want to go for it. Our DS wouldn't have been ready till much closer to the new baby arriving so it would have been a lot of change all at once, and we were having nightmare bedtimes at that point so he would no way have stayed in. It's nice having a proper bed too as you can get in it to do stories etc.