From cot to bed... When did you do it?

[LoveNeverFails]

Hey all. How did u make the transition with your little one? What was your strategy? How did it go? How old was your child?

Heres what weve done: My DD is 2 and 5 months old... Or 29 months. When she was about two 26 months I tried her in a toddler bed for her day naps... She hated it, cried and almost seemed a bit scared (which is out of character for her she barely gets scared) so after a few days of this I put it down to her not being ready. We werent in any hurry anyway. But the same week, she went to the spare single bed we have, climbed in and asked for a bottle and slept beautifully for 2 hrs!! I think with the toddler bed she didn't like how low to the ground it was or something. So anyway we got a bed rail and have been getting her used to the "big girl bed" by putting her in it occasionally for day naps (on the days when she Is super tired so she's guaranteed to sleep lol) and its a 50/50 chance that she sleeps. But she's like that in her cot too.

Anyway now it's Been a few months and tonight for the first time we put her in the big Girl bed for the evening. She was happy to hop in with her bottle and fell asleep immediately which she doesn't even do in her cot! Usually she sings and talks to herself for up to two hours before she nods off. I checked on her about an hour after she fell asleep and she had done a big poop so I had to Change her nappy, which I did with her still In the bed. She woke up... Said "clean up" (meaning I'm ridding her of the poo haha) then rolled over and went straight back to sleep. It's midnight and looks like she won't be waking at all tonight :-D very happy! Will see how she goes this week.

We would love for her to be permenantly in the big girl bed soon as I am due with our second child in July and hope to use the cot for the baby instead of buying another! Our DD1 will be almost 3 yrs old by then and I think that's well Old enough. I have two friends who as soon as their kid turned one, they put in a toddler bed that night and that was it... I couldn't have done that with my daughter, she would have had a ball crawling out and running a muck! Way too young for her! But for their kids, it was no problem at all! I also have a friend who did this at two yrs old, because she felt two was the right age. Her daughter screamed and cried and slept on the floor for a month bcoz she hated the bed and would crawl out. She has now adapted. That's a bit extreme for my liking but each to their own!

So what do you think? Did u go by age? Necessity? When your child was ready? Did u do it Overnight or gradually?

[MonkeyBoo]

I made the transition with both my kids for necessity.

DS1 was 14 months. He was climbing out of his cot (did it multiple times, there is a reason I call him monkey lol) and it was dangerous. Put him in a toddler bed and within a week he was sleeping better than he ever had in a cot.

DS2 was 15 or 16 months. We changed him because he was getting his poor legs stuck in the bars of his cot and had horrible bruising on his legs. Best decision we ever made, he LOVES going to bed, he is now sleeping through finally (although thats more to do with us taking his bottles off.him) but he never gets out, he goes straight to sleep and.he adores his bed. I cop flack for transitioning them early but its worked amazingly well for us, so I dont care

[beej]

DS1 was into a big bed by about 20 months, out of necessity, DS2 needed the cot. We transitioned him slowly though. First we took a side off the cot, when DS2 was born, and put that side against the wall. The after a month of so we turned the cot so the rail-less side was facing out. Then about a month before we needed the cot for DS2 we put DS1 into a big bed. No drama's for us. DS1 still wont get out of bed until someone goes in and tells him it's ok!

DS2 is still in the cot, with one side off. Time to turn that side away from the wall.

We did take the side off (both times) so I could get the boys into bed without having to lift them (after c/s's).

[~manda~]

DD just turned 2 and we're going to convert her cot to a toddler bed this weekend. I don't really want to but we're going away over Easter and she barely fits in a port a cot (she's tall) so we have to get her used to sleeping in a bed by then.

[Turbo]

Ooh i'm glad you did this thread. DD is almost 20 months old and DH has been talking about taking the bars off the cot and putting the small side rails on, but I think DD will probably just hop out of bed and run amuck if we do that! Plus her cupboard is on of those sliding door jobbies and she loves pulling her clothes off the shelf, so every morning I would probably come in to find everything on the floor lol!

[lil]

We moved DS from cot to bed out of necessity at 19 months as DD was too big for the bassinet. The only thing I've found is day sleeps have virtually disappeared unless he's absolutely pooped. He fell out of bed once just last week, but apart from that he's fine

[Z'sMum]

Oh I'm glad you started this thread too! I'm curious to see what others have done and when.

DD is 17 months and still in her cot. I have been wondering when we should make the change with her, but I can hear her rolling about in her sleep and smacking into the cot rails! Don't think she's ready yet!

[~manda~]

Turbo - I'm worried about that too. We're rearranging her room tomorrow morning so that all her creams etc are out of reach. We have one of those ikea wall unit things that you can put the baskets in, we have the baskets on the bottom row at the moment so I'm moving them to the top so she can't get them. We have all her sheets etc in there.

She's a good sleeper so I'm hoping it will go OK.

[Miss_C]

we were lucky in that it was a whole new bedroom he was moving into and we made it all a part of his 2nd birthday. He "helped" us paint and unpack the boxes when his bedroom suite came etc and told him when his birthday came he could sleep in there, we would pretend play sleep on the bed etc but only had the room totally ready ie bed made etc for about 3 days prior. The first night he didn't get up once and we were gobsmacked, this carried on for almost 2 months and then it all fell to poop and I was on here complaining saying HELP me he won't stay in bed or in his room and we tried everything, all the supernanny techniques etc and hubby and I were at the end of our tether It would take until after 9pm before we could sit down together by which time whoevers turn it was to put him to bed was so frazzled, then someone suggested putting the safety gate across the bedroom we did that he tantrumed for 2 nights and it has been a breeze since.

We are also lucky in that we have a family room so his bedroom is "just" for sleeping or quiet time reading a book, no toys in there as I really believe that helps but I know some people don't have that luxury.

We also bought a really good quality mattress in king single size a) so that it would last b) so we could lay on his bed and read stories at bedtime or if he was sick etc.

[MeNThem]

Our two were about the same age as the OP... they had started to climb out a bit, and were pulling at the sides, rattling them etc. They were both in the same room at the time too, and would stir each other up a lot.

So we left the side of their cot mostly down at about 27-28 months ago, then at some point a bit after, hubby took off the side of their cot and we had anti-roll rails up, but with a mattress on the ground incase they staggered out and went *plop* (lol!)... they only did once in the whole time between the cots + beds transition thing.

They had big sliding doors on their wardrobe too... they never did a thing. For ages even though they COULD get out of their beds and terrorise (even do so together), they would sleep more settled without being restrained in the cot. They would sit and giggle and jump and play like they were in their cots, but would still frequently call to be picked up out of bed lol.

They gradually learned that they could come out of their room and play with their toys when they woke up, and we were ok with it. For a while they learned how to turn the TV on, but then forgot it again (!!)... so still when they get up and we are in bed (ok so now on non-school days), they will get up and draw, play together, read or whatever without disturbing us. I don't know how we taught them it, but, somehow they learned/we taught them.

I think that MIss_C's point is paramount. If you can just have bedrooms for sleeping, the chances of them playing around are FAR less. Ours didn't have toys except their sleeping things in their room. They never associated playing with their room, so they never played up particularly badly. Its only now at over 5 and in school that they have a few more toys in their room. Actually, they have done for maybe a year or two, but more as storage than playing I guess.