Hello, we were able to take one of the sides off DD's cot, so she slept like that for about 6 weeks and then straight into the big girl's bed. It was just a slat frame with a fairly low mattress, and I knew from the way she was able to catapault herself right into the middle of our bed that getting up and down was never going to be an issue. We didn't ever bother with a rail, the couple of times she fell out (much later on) barely even woke her.