transition from cot to bed - would love to know what worked for you!

Hi there, I'm just wondering how those of you who have been through this approached it and if you have any advice for me? My oldest is nearly 2 and to be honest is fine in his cot just now i think, but i just want to be prepared for when he needs to move - i.e what are the key 'signs' that he needs to move, anything to look out for? what kind of bed should we get - a mattress on the floor or a proper single bed? also i have a 9 week old and am aware that more upheaval is not a good idea for hamish, how long do i leave it before the transition!

thanks all

Jenny

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Permalink Reply by Ray Ray on February 6, 2010 at 2:56pm: Our biggest sign was when our 20 month old climbed onto the railing and jumped!! so we took off the two side rails straight away and what worked best for us, and something everyone told us, was to make a BIG fuss about sleeping in a BIG KIDS bed. she was soo excited to be a big girl, and get to sleep in her own bed. The first night she fell out, but i had put pillows on the floor, and from then on she was fine. i found it easier to put her to bed. but for the first two weeks we made a really big deal of it, when she would wake up in the morning and we would go in there and be like, oh my goodness did Asha sleep in a big girl bed. she loved it, she was so proud. its almost been a month and a half and last night i took the pillows on the floor away. some people put a toddler mini raling on the side of the bed. Good luck =); ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Emily Aston on February 7, 2010 at 7:46pm: Hey Jenny. In my humble opinion leave it as long as possible as long as Hamish isn't trying to climb out! We moved Jamie into his bed in November (age 2.5) which coincided with him being toilet trained (we did the bed first and toilet training when he was settled in it) - the main reason being that once he was toilet trained we wanted him to be able to go and use the potty in the night if he wanted to, which he now does really well.
As far as beds go, I think it doesn't matter as long as it is a solution that suits you. I know a lot of people that use a large single bed from the start and then it will last - if you're worried about him falling out then a guard rail that slots under the mattress can help (with the other side against a wall). I always had my heart set on an Ikea extendable toddler bed (starts just slightly longer than a cot and extends up to 2m, it also has sort of in built guard rail and is quite low to the ground) - but I know a lot of people discount this option because you then have to buy another bed later and they aren't very easy to get over here. But I couldn't help myself!! He loves it though :-)
He objected a little bit for the first week, wanting to go back to his cot occassionally, but we put it away in the garage straight away so that it wasn't an option. After a week or so he didn't mention it any more.
Hope you are well and big hugs to you all. xxx; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Keri - Holly Chic on February 7, 2010 at 9:51pm: Hi Jenny, just about to do this with my wee Holly who is just over two. Just bought the bed and it arrives on Tuesday so now I'm panicking!!! I have done this before (twice) but it was so long ago! With my first son his room was quite large so I was able to have both cot and bed in the room and I remember starting with his day time sleeps in the bed and then after a week or so moving him to the bed at night. I think with no 2 son I just went straight into the bed and took the cot down but I'm not sure what to do with Holly. Her room is tiny (just a study) so can't fit both in. I'm worried that she wont want to have her daytime sleep if I take the cot away though :) I think she is ready though as she loves getting into the older boys beds and pretending that she is asleep. I do remember both boys falling out for a while so its a good idea to put the cot mattress on the floor by the bed.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Shally on February 8, 2010 at 12:37pm: I took the side off my daughters cot a few months back so she would have been around 15 months. She has only fallen out once but i had a porta-cot mattress underneath just in case =) She loves being able to get up in the morning and still being a cot, i don't think she really cared much. I'm looking for a single bed for her now and once i find one, she'll be moving into that. Maybe you could try taking the side off your sons cot?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Rebecca on February 8, 2010 at 6:42pm: like a few others, our wee boy started climbing out of his cot, so we took the side off, and he slept in that for quite a while ... then when we moved him to a single bed it was because we were expecting our second child and wanted him to be well attached to his new bed before the new baby was any where near his cot.

we also decided to spend a bit of money on a decent piece of furniture, hoping that a good, solid, king single with a decent mattress will last him into his teens ... so far he's only three, so we'll have to wait and see about that :O); ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Stacey on February 8, 2010 at 9:04pm: Hi Jenny,
We have it fairly easy with both our kids. With our son we had taken the bars off when he started climbing out, and put a mattress on the floor if he rolled. He had other ideas and would climb out and sleep on the mattress. We got a big bed for him and had no problems. (He was 20mths) our daughter, we had had a spare bed set up for our son in her room (MIL staying), after Master M went back to his bed Miss M decided that night that she wanted to sleep in the big bed, and has done ever since. (She was 16mths)....I had planned for the kids to be in the cot until they were 2-3yrs, they had other ideas :-)

Let him show you the way, then it shouldn't be so stressful.

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Permalink Reply by Keri - Holly Chic on February 9, 2010 at 9:31pm: OK, first night with Holly in a big bed! so far its gone OK (touch wood), there was no drama's, no trying to get out, no calling out etc, etc, although has only been since 7.30! Have a mattress on the floor in case she falls. I wonder if I'll get a full nights sleep (LOL); ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Angela on February 11, 2010 at 8:29am: Hello there :-)

When he starts to climb out it's time to move him out. He may not do that for ages yet. Monster did is at 18 months so has been in a bed since. We just took the side off the cot and put cushions on the floor. He fell out a few times, sometimes we heard him fall other times we just discovered him sleeping on the floor ... only happened around a half dozen times or so before he became used to the new arrangements.

If he’s happy in his cot, long may it continue! We are currently having issues with getting Monster to stay in bed.

Good luck for when you do make the transition.

Lots of love

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