I wish my toddler would play outside on her own - but she is terrified of being anywhere outside by herself in case a dog should approach her
In the case of the bed though, she decided at 16 months that she no longer wished to sleep in her cot - it just took mummy a week of terrible bed times to realise that my great sleeper had had enough of the baby bed. She went into a foldaway bed until we moved 3 weeks later and I bought her an ensemble. Never had a bed rail and never fallen out except when she was mucking around.
Hi Nettie,
I moved ds to a toddler bed at about 16 months, the same time he went from two day sleeps to one (made the transition easier- he was so tired by nap time, he didn't care where he slept).
There was a thread on playing outside not long ago- I'll see if I can find it for you
My DS was never a great sleeper, so until we got that sorted we kept him in the cot. He moved into a big bed a month or so after turning two....he was ready a bit before but I wasn't LOL!! Best thing is we have not once had a prob with him coming out at night!
My oldest moved into her big girls room right around the time of her 2nd birthday & my youngest has just made the switch & she's just approaching 2.5. HTH!
Also, in respects to them playing outside, I encourage my 2 to play out there a lot, but I am lucky I have big back windows & can keep a pretty good eye on them most of the time, we don't have a dog (yet) so apart from the usual thrills & spills, there is no 'immediate' danget to them.
I'm planning to move my DD when we move house in October. She'll be 19 months. She's not going into a toddler bed though, straight into a normal single bed.
We put the older two into a single bed when they were around two as we needed to kick them out of the cot for the next baby LOL and #3 went in about the same time, I think it was probbly 22mths - she wasn't actually two yet anyway. #4 will be in the cot for a fair while longer I reckon and he's 2 next month. He's just not ready for a bed - we tried taking the sides off his cot a few weeks ago and he wouldn't have a bar of it, plus he's a really restless sleeper and he would just fall out.
my first 3 were all in a normal single bed by their first birthdays....easy..no problems at all. They co slept with us so that may have made life easier.
Mateauz though ....he has only just gone in the last month (he's 19 months) cause he thought it would be fun to pile his blanket in the corner and stand on the rail of the cot and jump . HE would scream in the normal bed...hated it so we had to dismantle it and we ended up buying him a toddler bed. Its taken a little bit but he now loves it.
Outside play.......I still dont leave Vy alone outside..I just cant im to scared she'll hurt herself...she's almost 3
I think DS was about 21 months - it was a few months after Miss M had arrived, and we needed the cot for her.
He was always banging his head on the end of the cot though - so for a year we put up with constant wake ups. He's better now, his bed is an IKEA one so its really low to the ground, so even if he falls out, he doesn't really fall, just slides.. lol...
We were thinking of moving Miss M soon, just because she keeps on hitting her head too on the end of the cot, and I don't want to put up with a year of constant waking up every hour cos she has shuffled to the other end of the cot!
As for outside - DS will play outside now for a little while by himself, but prefers me to be out there so we all go.
Trill and Arimeh - when you moved the older ones out of the cot to make way for the new baby, how did they cope? DD will be 22months when the next bub arrives, and the plan was to move her into a bed and then the cot will be free. But did you do it a while before the new bub came along, or when bub came home from hospital? I;m just worried about whether she'll get jealous about losing her bed to the baby.
Daniel went in to a big bed around February because we knew the new baby was coming (one day - or so I've heard!!) He had a bed guard on, but we've since taken that off. He doesn't fall out. We went out and made a big deal of buying a Lightning McQueen quilt and new sheets with cars on them. We still call it "Daniel's big bed." He really likes that. He never slept this well in the cot either.
As for playing outside. Not for ages yet. But I suppose it depends on your set up. If I had the pergola set up so I could cordonne it off (with gates), I'd probably happily let him play on the porch unsupervised. I don't know that I'd let him out in the yard by himself though. But my yard is still under construction, so probably not a good example.
DS decided he finally wanted to sleep in his single bed a few weeks ago and we've not looked back since. It was very very easy. We need the cot for DD soon too, so it was great timing!
If they're ready, they just don't look back. Daniel never complained once and was just so content.
I think he liked the idea he could get out in the morning, of his own accord, and play with his cars even though we were still in bed. He just wanders down to see us if he wants to. Whereas, in the cot, he couldn't get out on his own terms so he would get really agitated and always woke up crying.
He never gets out of the bed in the dark though, so he does lie there calling us. BUT.... I remember doing that as a kid too!
Gosh, I think I have the oldest cot sleeping toddler (29mths), and it's going to stay that way until I absolutely HAVE to move him! I can't imagine having a child under 18mths in a big bed.
With regards to playing in backyard alone - this happened around 2 years as we have a very safe, enclosed area. Still check on him all the time though.
Silly question here DD is nearly 20mths old and we will be moving a month or so and I plan to move her into a big bed as we will have to room once we move.
Now, do you have sheets, blanket and pillow once in the big bed? She currently sleeps in her sleeping bag.
Thanks
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