moving to big bed

[Mummatotwo!]

hi,

i have a 17 month old son, and i am due for another baby in 3 months.
ds is currently still in his cot and i am weighing up if i should start attempting a big boy bed soon so i can use the cot for the new baby and its not such a shock for him.

i have no problems with buying another cot, but if ds is only going to be in it for a few more months is there really any point?

at what age/developmental stage did you try and do a big bed?

he does still move around his cot alot during the night and ends up at the wrong end etc. how did you tackle this?

[visitor1]

My 19 month old has a big bed....but refuses to sleep in it....screams and cries when ever i try. I also have a 7 month old that is awaiting DD2 cot as she is currently in a porta cot.

Im now thinking ill have to buy another cot....due to 2 kids wanting 1 cot...AND i have a bub due in Jan...LOL

Ill be watching this thread

[*charmalea*]

i would wait an extra month or so , ds was 16-17 mths old when we tried to move him , we had the hardest time and it really affected all of us , he was still too little to want ot be in a big bed ( we got him a toddler bed) he didnt understand that it was a bed and screamed and ran around his room or we would rock him to sleep for hours , then to hear him running around in the middle of the night , my mchn said to put him back in his cot and life was normal again ....

he is now 20 mths old and is geting interested in a big single bed , he climbs into it and pulls the covers up and lays on the pillow , so i can tell hes ready ... well getting ready ....

if he is happy you could leave him in his cot , most dont leave the cot till they are 2 ... we are happy to leave him in his cot till hes ready , but they turn a major mliestone 18-20 months and he could get over loaded trying to figureout the big bed and figure out his developmental side as well ...
kwim ...

im due in 2 mths and we have no set palns to ship him out , baby will be in with us for a bit ...

so what im trying to say if give it a go , if he doesnt take to it after 2-3 nights , give up and put him in his cot .... then try again in a few months ... me and dh have learnt the hard way , leave the baby to do it when hes ready .... it will be less stress for all !!
he may love it or may not , in our case he did not ....
good luck ....

[Hoody]

I transfered my DD1 at 18 months with no problems when i was 7 months pg in preparation for the new bub. It all went smoothly. We bought a bed and set it up in the new room which we painted etc and we made a big fuss about it been her big girls room. When it was complete i left it for another week and we just used to go and play in it during the day. Then one night i just asked her i said "do you want to go ni nighs in your big girls bed or your cot?" she suprised me and went to her cot grabbed her cot quilt and took it too her big bed and we never looked back. From day dot we were lucky as she never got up and down etc messing around once she was in bed she stayed and she never fell out etc. If we were to have a problem i was going to transfer the cot to her new room and give it another month or so and if neeed be transfer after DD2 needed to come out of basinette. But on our front it could not have gone any better and i was so stressed out about it at the time iykwim.
GL i hope your transition goes smoothly.
Hoody

[Mummatotwo!]

i dont feel he is "quite" ready just yet, but i just want to start getting organised for the second bub.

maybe i will just bite the bullet and get another cot. its not the money, dont get em wrong.

thanks for your advice, and feel free to keep giving more

[aussienic]

My Ds2 moved into a big bed at 16 months and coped just fine.. Maybe you culd start off with day sleeps in a big bed..

and then move to big bed sleeps for night time..

[MantaRay]

It's hard to know. They are all different. We moved DS1 into a big bed at around 16 months as DS2 was on the way. It went really smoothly, no problems at all. DS2 is still in a cot at 20 months, and we will be converting his cot to a bed soon, but I think it will harder than with DS1. DS2 is a great sleeper, but not good at the staying still thing. So it will be interesting to see how he goes when he can climb out of bed.

I think the best thing you can do is try it and see how it goes. If it really doesn't work, you can go back to the cot. Remember to give them plenty of time to get used to the idea. Talk up the "big boy bed" for a few days and maybe get him to pick his own linen. GL.

[~Kim~]

It is hard to know, but I'm a fan of waiting until they tell you. We didn't have a bub on the way, but DD decided on her own at 16 months that she wasn't going to sleep in the cot another second....we had no trouble with the transition and I wish I'd figured out that was what she had wanted sooner than the week it took me - duh mum!