sleeping bag question and cot/bed question please

[mckenzie]

hi
our son is just 2 years old and. we think, quite a good sleeper.
How do we know when he is ready for a bed?
I'm not sure how big the sleeping bags go up to but eventually he'll be too big for one and what do I use then and how do I make the transition, in both cases, the least problematic?

thanks in advance for your comments.

Hello

Don't know what others think about this, but here is our experience.

Our son was about 2 and 8 months when we moved him to a bed. We did it at that stage because we were expecting another baby and wanted to get him settled. Otherwise there were no obvious signs that he was ready for a big bed. In fact, I probably would have him in the cot longer. The only real problem was that he grew out of his travel cot and so if we went anywhere on holiday or visiting he had to sleep in a big bed. He, too, used to sleep in a sleeping bag - but actually what we did was move him to a bed and sleeping under a duvet at the same time. (Although I think sleeping bags go up to the age of 3).

He got very excited at the thought of going in a big bed - and we bought his favourite character duvet cover, which was "Thomas" . We also put up a soft bed rail at the side just in case, and I think it helped the transition. So, although I was anxious about it I think it worked quite well - with fewer problems than expected. If there had been problems with the duvet I think I would have tried the sleeping bag plus bed option. I also think the reason he was ok was because he was quite excited at the prospect.

Hope this helps.

Thanks LJay, that does help.

I put ds1 from cot to normal single bed at 15 months because we wanted the cot for ds2.
Had absolutely no problems at all.

Put ds2 in nowmal bed at same age as it had worked so well 1st time. Again, no problems. Friends who changed thier children at a later age (nearer 2.5/3) have complained about poor behaviour, eg getting out of bed, wandering around etc, so I've found younger is better, although GF won't agree with me!

Does your ds nap? if so, this may be a factor you wish to take into account. Also, is he a climber - better to have him in a bed than trying to climb out of his cot.

I wouldn't bother buying a toddler bed, just go straight for a single & get a bed rail.

Regarding the sleeping bag, I can't remember what age we ditched it, about 2.5. Just happened to be a coupl eof weeks before he said goodbye to nappies. If you're thinking of toilet raining, maybe it would be an idea to ditch the bag before, so if he needs to wee in the night he can. As for how; we put him in his summer sleeping bag also with thin duvet, then when he was used to this, just left off the bag & he carried on fine with the duvet. I'd wait for cooler weather though before you try this!

We bought bunk beds and dd slept on the top bunk (without the bottom one) with the big wooden rail down the out side it was a bit of a task for her to get out so she adapted quite well, we also put a stair gate on her room (she climbed over that 2 days later! (Din't do it again though as I think she hurt herself on the descent!) With ds I just put him on a mattress on the floor and used the stair gate, he did get up and wonder around crying for a little while but always put himself back to bed to sleep.

mckenzie - don?t think that there is one rule that applys to all here. We moved our DD into a bed just before her 2nd birthday - more out of convenience for us than at any definite signs - other than her amazing ability to escape the cot.... She loves it - helped by doing similar things to LJay - choosing the bedding, big fuss about being a big girl etc., letting her help to assemble it and put it up first thing so she had all day to get used to it. As it was, she was so happy at having a real bed that she loved it straight off. She was even really happy when we dismantled the cot on the same day - distracted by enjoying making her new bed with the new covers..

I think that it is worth moving them if they are showing signs of being ready for potty training, if they can get out of the cot (and so in danger of hurting themselves) or just seem so settled at night that they can cope with the transition. I agree with the comments about cot beds - going straight into a proper fullsize single bed is cheaper and if they are truly ready for a bed then it will be fine (esp. with floor padding - we used the old cot mattress down rather than pay out for a rail that you might only use for a few weeks).
We never used a sleeping bag so can?t comment - would have thought in all this heat, now is a perfect time for ditching it!

thanks very much for all your comments.
As it was so very hot last night we didtched the summer sleeping bag and went for a thin sheet and have done the same tonight with no problems so looks like the weather has made that decision for us. We'll have to wait and see what happens when it's cooler.
He's never tried to climb out of his cot before but of course, that was when he was in a sleeping bag so we were listening avidly while he got himself to sleep tonight incase there was a thud but there wasn't!

Our cot converts to a bed so we assumed he'd go into that but some friends have given us a Little Tikes Racing car bed and we're thinking of using that. Does anyone have any experience of it? We like the fact that it's close to the ground and as DS is mad about anything with wheels we think he'll love it.

He's only just this very week shown any interest in a potty (we've had 5 poos this week and 3 wees - I'm so proud of him!) but still doesn't actually tell me when he needs it, it's just me catching him at the right time. I dont think i need to worry too much yet though abot him being able to get out of bed for a wee, I reckon that stage will be a while in coming.

Once again, I really appreciate your comments, thank you.

Little tikes racing car bed - definately. My friend has one for her ds and he LOVES it. (so does dd when she goes to play, can't seem to get them out of it) So a BIG YES from me, especially if you don't have to pay for it