Switching from cot to a real bed - when?

[Sanne Panne]

My 17 month old sleeps in a cot, isn't the type that wants to climb out and still fits in there fairly well so we're in no rush to move her to a bigger bed yet - but baby 2 will be here in June and we'll want to let him/her move into our daughter's cot fairly soon (initially by placing the moses basket in there) so our daughter will probably be out of her cot around the time she turns 2.

Is she likely to still need a bed with high bars all around (e.g. a convertible cot bed) or can a 2 year old usually move into a bed with low bars along the sides to keep her from falling out but that lets her climb out at the foot end (or however these toddler beds work) when she wants to? Is this a very individual thing or is there a rough age at which they are usually ready for this?

Thanks!

[helena handbasket]

Honestly, keep them in that cot as long as humanly possible. In a giant gro-bag no less.

Switching from cot to bed turned my good sleeper into a nightmare. And I had to work really hard to make a bad sleeper into a good sleeper, so even more insulting! And a year later, we have JUST finally got him back to bed at the time we want. I know there are plenty of children out there who easily make transitions with minimal stress to the parent, but with a newborn keeping you up half the night, do you really want to spend the other half chasing a two year old back to bed?

We went straight to a normal sized day bed with a baby rail on the side. My son is a busy sleeper and rolls out of bed. We did have a toddler bed but he wanted nothing to do with it. But the big problem for us was that he could physically get himself out of bed........ over and over and over until mommy literally started to lose my will to live. I suppose there is no harm in trying, you can always go back, but small cots are so inexpensive that I would just get a new one for baby and let the two year old keep theirs as long as possible.

Many people will say the opposite though, so depends on you and your kid. :)

[helena handbasket]

Forgot to mention, my son was two when we switched, but had to because he was dive bombing out of the cot and we lived in fear of him breaking his neck in the middle of the night. If your child is not trying to kill themselves in the escape, then leave well enough alone I think.

Life is hard, why change the little bits that make it bearable?

[Pickle]

I posted about this a few months ago as my son was still in his cot at 2.5 and I felt like the only person around to be still using a cot for his age group. I decided, on advice from lots of people, to stick with the cot as long as possible (it's a cot bed, so the same size as a junior bed). A week ago we finally took the plunge and converted his cot into a bed, he's 2 weeks away from turning 3.

Having heard horror stories from others who made the switch a lot younger I can say it's a great idea to keep them in a cot as long as you can. He is so excited about his "big boy's bed", hasn't got out of it once, and in the mornings is now reluctant to get up. Result!

My daugher is 18 months and I wouldn't even consider converting her cot into a bed at this stage - there's no WAY she would stay put!

[melbourne groover]

My daughter was just over 2 and we had no probs. She went straight into a big bed with a side rail on and still never got out, just used to yell for us to come and get her!

I do think it depends on the child, she never really even stood up in her cot. My son though... I suspect he may well be a different kettle of fish...

[millsa]

I have a 17-month-old who seems to be too long for the cot but I am going to keep here in as long as possible, on advise on lots of family and friends (and good to see that many forumites think the same). He is a fantastic sleeper so helena's experience has only reassured me not to think about the bed for another year or so :)

[Sanne Panne]

My daughter is a great sleeper too (she does stand up in the cot when she's ready for the day but is way too lazy to make any attempt to climb out) and I don't want to mess with that either, especially thinking back about how awful her sleep was and how desperately tired I was until she finally started sleeping through at 6-7 months old. Think I'll get her a cot bed (one size up from her cot but still with bars all around) that can be converted to a junior bed later. Saves buying one cot...

[legalbeagle]

My son was a terrible sleeper, and now at 2.5 he is a brilliant sleeper. He's still in his cot, and more than happy so that's where he's going to stay till he tells me otherwise. There seems to be lots of pressure to do things with children by a certain stage: wean, sleep through, move to beds, potty train, etc etc. I say go with what suits your wee one and ignore what everyone else is doing!

[quickbrownfox]

I agree with Sanne Panne - get a (second hand?) cot bed so that you can keep the bars on for now and 'graduate' to sideless whenever it suits you (Boori does a great one that comes with special low level side bars for when you initially take the cot sides off - pricey, but great quality and you can use as day bed after, or resell for a decent price). Unless you have an enormous child, a cot bed should last them until they're at least 4 at which time maybe a single bed would be the way forward. If you do get a single now, you could always just put pillows on the floor initially in case they roll out. Or get one of those side thingies....

We had no choice but to take the bars off our sprog's cot bed at around 2.5years, as we had an escapee on our hands. It's a pain as she nowadays refuses to sleep in a sleeping bag and sneaks into our room at night, but it's better than her breaking a leg trying to jump the bars. I'd love to go back to the days of a well contained toddler!!! What especially annoys me about the move out of sleeping bags is that they kick their blanket/ duvet off at night and then come in search of warmth. Aaarrrgggghhhh!

[Sanne Panne]

> toddler!!! What especially annoys me about the

> move out of sleeping bags is that they kick their

> blanket/ duvet off at night and then come in

> search of warmth. Aaarrrgggghhhh!

Thanks for the advice about the cot beds! Regarding sleeping bags and blankets: there's a third option, a warm sleepsuit. The Baby Sleep Shop has 1.2 tog polar fleece (but cotton lined) footed sleepsuits which allow the toddler to walk around (not as freely as in normal clothes but it's pretty good) and stay warm without being constrained to a sleeping bag. We've always only had our daughter sleep in footed sleepsuits - in summer a plain vest with a cotton sleepsuit on top and in winter these fleece ones. There are cheaper fleece sleepsuits available too (I believe Next have them) but the ones we use are really, really good and warm without being too warm... ?21 though. http://www.babysleepshop.com/acatalog/Fleecy_Sleepsuits.html

[Pickle]

I'm pleased we spent the money on a cot bed initially, as they do last for ages. We've got the Mamas & Papas "Ocean" range for both our kids and they're lovely - very sturdy and look nice as a bed. We won't need to buy a single bed for our son for a good couple of years yet as he's got plenty of room to grow. We aren't using a bed guard, just a duvet tucked in quite tightly - so far so good, he hasn't fallen out and is managing to stay under the covers all night.

The only thing I've found is that bed sets for "junior" beds are really expensive! I got a cheap duvet cover in the Mothercare sale, but found little boy's sets (not branded ones, just generic car patterns etc.) are expensive. But I guess if I get a couple of years use out of them it's not so bad.

[ludoscotts]

hi every child is different so why not give it a go if you already have a single bed and if it dosent work then buy a cot bed.

our little one was trying to escape her cot at about 20 months and we were very worried about her hurting herself then on her own she started saying that she wanted to sleep in the bed(already had a full size single bed in her room)and would cry if we put her in the cot.

we had a couple of nights where she was coming out of bed and through to us. so on my cousins advice we put a stair gate on her bedroom door and now if she wakes she just shouts for us as she knows she cant get out of the room.

Putting her to bed we had a couple of rough nights with her getting out of bed as it was a novelty but we just did the ignoring technique and if she got out of bed made no eye contact and picked her up put her back in to bed, didnt speak to her and left the room. We had to do this 7 times the first eve then only once for the next few nights as we had stopped it being a game. She now doesnt get up at all and is a really sound sleeper.

every child is different and we have been lucky that she has settled so easily but think she is less frustrated as she can get out of bed if she wants and is not shouting to be let out.

We got her one of those sleep clocks that you set to change pic once its ok for them to get up so some mornings she gets out of bed a little earlier than we would like and plays in her room. when the clock changes she shouts us to come and get her out with a shout of "mummy upsy daisy's here" think if she had been in her cot still we would be getting up half an hour earlier everyday.

good luck with the change over-whatever you decide it will be the right choice for you.

[quickbrownfox]

Sanne Panne Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> > toddler!!! What especially annoys me about the

> > move out of sleeping bags is that they kick

> their

> > blanket/ duvet off at night and then come in

> > search of warmth. Aaarrrgggghhhh!

>

> Thanks for the advice about the cot beds!

> Regarding sleeping bags and blankets: there's a

> third option, a warm sleepsuit. The Baby Sleep

> Shop has 1.2 tog polar fleece (but cotton lined)

> footed sleepsuits which allow the toddler to walk

> around (not as freely as in normal clothes but

> it's pretty good) and stay warm without being

> constrained to a sleeping bag. We've always only

> had our daughter sleep in footed sleepsuits - in

> summer a plain vest with a cotton sleepsuit on top

> and in winter these fleece ones. There are cheaper

> fleece sleepsuits available too (I believe Next

> have them) but the ones we use are really, really

> good and warm without being too warm... ?21

> though.

> http://www.babysleepshop.com/acatalog/Fleecy_Sleep

> suits.html

Funny you should mention the sleepsuits.... I saw these similar (although sans inbuilt feet and prob not as warm as fleece) ones on the 'oracle' that is Bambino Goodies. http://www.bambinogoodies.co.uk/we-love-po-p-all-one-pjs/ . It's a great blog that currently has the low down on non-high street cool kiddy-stuff sales! I'm trying to be good and conserve cash, but there is some seriously cool stuff out there!

[Smiler]

Our 21 month old (terrible sleeper, thought things were improving but we are back to the bad old days - sob!) has very nearly managed to climb out of her cot several times. She points to the (standard) single bed that we keep in her room saying "bed, bed,no cot" etc. etc. Won't settle in cot at bedtime or when waking in the night. Two hours solid crying 1am - 3am the last two nights as wanted out of the cot (stayed in room with her, but didn't let her come into bed).

We co-slept until recently and before Xmas had thought we had successfully transferred her to her cot, but apparently not!

We have a two-bed, split-level flat, with a standard single bed that converts to a double in the nursery, as well as the cot (when we have visitors we go into the nursery and the visitors have our room). There is room for a cot, but no room for a small toddler bed or cot-bed in addition to the standard single bed. So, when we move her from her cot she will have to go in the standard single and we'll get a plastic thing for the side to stop her rolling out.

Since we co-slept, she's used to getting down from beds, but if her sleeping continued to be poor and she was in the bed, we would have nowhere to lie down when going down to check on her etc. at night (our room is on another floor). We would need to try the "supernanny" ignoring, putting back in bed approach mentioned by ludoscotts.

Am really hoping that with persistence we can get her to settle in the cot again.

For those with the space, think that toddler beds are much cheaper than cot-beds.

Agree that sleepsuits are good. Got a couple at Christmas and they're good for our restless sleeper! They have bargain ones in George at Asda.

[ludoscotts]

hi smiler thats exactly what our little one did with asking for the bed- we tried to ignore it at first but wish we had just moved her sooner-think life would have been much easier if we had just put her into the bed as son as she showed interest instead of wasting time with her waking in the night and transfering backwards and forwards. The fact that she is showing interest herslef may be a good time to do it, and after about a week she was settled in the bed as I said above trying a couple of techniques and stairgates etc and she has been a much better sleeper since she is in bed.

[ClareC]

I would second the stair gate on the doorway advice!

My sisters youngest son broke his leg climbing out of his cot at about 20 months, they changed the cot to a bed asap and then had the problem of him getting up etc. Putting the stair gate on his bedroom door made all the difference. He shouts hello a couple of times and if he gets no reaction goes back to bed!

[Sanne Panne]

Interesting to read all your experiences... if our daughter is still happy in her cot by the time we need her current cot for the new baby (our daughter will be 22-23 months old then) we'll probably go for a cotbed (assuming that by cotbed we mean a larger cot from which the bars can be removed later on, right?) . If however she's interested in a real bed and/or tries to climb out of her cot by that time, a real bed she'll get... with a stairgate at her door (she'll finally have a door then - she currently sleeps in our bedroom as we still live in a 1 bed flat! Must move soon! Two under-twos in our flat cannot be fun)

[Smiler]

Maybe will try the move to the bed when our current visitors go. Have already got the stairgate on the door. Though she has sussed out how to move things against it to climb over the stair gate - mini houdini!

[helena handbasket]

If you have stairs anywhere in your house I would really recommend a gate on their door. I always imagined my son sneaking through the house without my knowing it while I slept........ it's not easy being paranoid!

But I wouldn't depend on it to keep your kid in bed. Mine would stand there, rattling the gate and screaming his fool head off until I thought I may very well lose my mind. Once when I decided to ignore his protests, I went to assess the situation when it suddenly got very quiet (generally not a good sound at our house) and found the poor little guy out cold on the floor next to the gate with his little arms still reaching through the rails. Break a mother's heart!

I ended up doing the old routine of going up, putting him back in bed without saying anything, then walking away. Like on "Nanny 911" or whatever it's called. It only takes my son about three thousand repetitions for it to "take". At least he's consistent.

[plimsoul]

my kids were generally not great sleepers. at 2 1/2 put them in ikea kids beds and their sleep improved immediately. they have never actually got out of the beds, but when they call out we always go to them therefore they have never felt the need to get out of their beds.

also, we dropped their afternoon kip at the same time, without this i think it would have been a different story. but as many people say, each child is different.

the pros of buying the ikea bed is you can tuck a full size single duvet at the bottom and it never falls off. this also means you have bought a duvet that you will not have to change (unless falling apart). therefore no more replacing and spending as the bedding stays the same...