What age did your child move from cot to bed?

Just curious.....at what age did you move your baby/toddler/child from a cot to a bed?

Both my boys were right before their 2nd birthday.

Love

We had to kick them out to make way for the next LOL. Lindsay and Erin were in a bed at 23 months and Paige was 20 months. They all took to it really well and luckily we haven't had any major issues with falling out of them.

And can I ask ladies, did you have midnight wanderings? Olivia is a good sleeper, so I not so bothered about the middle of the night, but her nap time at lunchtime (my golden hours!).....I am worried about her realising she can "escape", LOL. Sometimes her naptime is an hours "quiet-time" of reading books in her cot.....I am stressed that I will lose my Mummy Me Time!!

(The reason we haven't moved her into a bed yet, even though she is 2.5, is because she is such a titch, there is so much room in her cot, and we haven't had the need to shunt her out as we had a 2nd cot for Charlie lined up.........

But we are moving again soon, so I guess I was thinking that I'd like to get her used to a big girl bed before we move? Or should we just wait till we actually move (ie there will be so much change, that a change to big-girl bed won't be an issue? Or will it?! Dunno. If I had my way she'd be in a cot until we actually need it for B3, which won't be till at least her 3rd birthday.......but is that "too late"? (I have NFI on this one, as you can tell!)

I had no problems with Emma wandering but Jack was a big wanderer. I used a gate at his bedroom door to stop him from wandering but could still see and hear what was happening when he was in there.

Asha si in a bed now but it is a toddler bed from Ikea so we have no dramas of her falling our of bed. She falls alseep in the lounge before going to bed anyway so she is always asleep already when she is in bed. Next holidays we will be working on her going to bed and falling asleep in bed ... that should be interesting. I am guessing I will need to get a gate for her door too!

Cheers

It does take a while for them to get used to not wandering, because at the start it is a big novelty for them to get in and out in and out. So at first I would close their bedroom door and they would eventually go to sleep and if they were on the floor I'd put them into bed then. Because Paige was a bit younger, to get her used to it I would put her in her cot to go to sleep and then put her in the bed. As for night wandering, they rarely do it. Most of the time they will stay in bed and call out.

Or you could leave it until you move and make a big fuss about her new room and her new big girl bed. I don't think 3 would be too old either. Can you take the side off the cot in preparation for the bed and see how she copes with that?

:

---

Can you take the side off the cot in preparation for the bed and see how she copes with that?

---

That is actually a really good idea.......I have just remembered that Olivia's cot is one that converts to a "toddler bed" and don't faint, but I even know where the sides are!!

Thanks Sherie, I will have to nag Andrew into doing the chore of messing about with allan keys etc later!!

We've just finished setting up her new room and tonight will be her first night in a single bed.
Wish us luck :D

We have never used the safety rails on the beds. At first we would put a pillow on the floor in case they fell out, but if they ever did fall out, they had wriggled down to foot of the bed and then fell out, so a rail would be useless in that case. Paige had a few tumbles though and in the end I put a pillow under the matress on the side to prop it up a bit so she would have to roll uphill to fall out and it really worked.

BTW Lucy, good luck with the Allan keys LOL.

We moved Lucy into her toddler bed when she was about 18months. We let her decorate her new room and pick out the doona and everything for her toddler bed.

She was scared of it at first (probably didnt help it was in a new room too) so Dh just sat with her in there til she went to sleep each night for about 1-2wks, then she didnt need it anymore (got the tip from the Supernanny).

We have had different stages over the last year with her of sleeping all night no problems, waking up and wanting to be put back to bed, waking and wanting to be in our bed, waking and falling asleep behind the hallway door so we would have to wake her to move her out the way when we went to bed (VERY ANNOYING!)

All of the different stages have been related to something turmultuous, ie. toilet training, new baby, FIL dying, me teaching full time and not being around as much, etc. They usually only last a few weeks then we find a new trick that gets her to sleep quickly and things settle down again.

xxxCaz

I voted before 12 mths as he was closer to that that 18mth. We decided to move him for lots of reasons: 1. he used to roll in his cot and wake himself up hitting rails. 2. We co-slept for part of the night and found by coincidence one night that he slept in a single better than in the cot I think because he thought he was in with us. 3. It was a lot easier to put him to bed because we would sit and read to him and then just lay down and pat him until he went to sleep.

We did get a bed rail which we took off when he turned 3. We didn't have any trouble with wandering at nap times because I always sat with him until he was asleep. Now that he is older we sometimes set a timer and he knows he needs to stay in his room until the timer goes off. I have actually given in recently and let him stay up instead of having a nap. Now I have babbled too long, sorry

we put 1st dd into a bed at 19mths cause ds was on the way, i didn't use rails we just had a mattress and base set (took the wheels off) so it was flat and low on the floor, put the cot mattress beside it and voila - all good. however we waited until ds was 3.5yrs old when he was moved into a bed and get this he still called out in the morning that he was awake and could i get him pmsl - he didn't realise he could get out for another few months - personally i think if they are not attempting to climb out then if you can leave for as long as possible, i know with lani she will stay in until she is at least 3yrs old cause she is also tiny, and even if we have another there are so many cots i can borrow from my circle of friends.

good luck

Aidyn is 25 months and is still in his cot... I will probably keep him in there until the end of the year... so will look at moving him at around 2.5 years of age.
I'm definately going to go with a safety rail... he has had 2 falls from sleeping in our big bed in the past couple of months (:crying:), so I wont even contemplate moving him into his own bed without safety rails.

Lucy - I dont think 3 is too old to have them in the cot... I remember my Mum distinctl;y telling me not to rush Aidyn into a big bed, as I will soon realise how much easier it was to have him in the cot. I also am not looking forward to him wandering all over the place during nap time etc!
I might delay his move to a big bed until later, but it depends how much more he grows as he is already very tall.

Noah went into his big boys bed just before his 2nd birthday - it was one of his pressies :) I brought all of his linen too and gave it to his as a present too. Scab aren't I? LOL.
I plan on moving Tehya into a bed probably around the same age, although she is much smaller in size so she might stay in the cot longer... who knows. I am looking at the old fashioned daybeds for Tehya, as I plan on doing her room a shabby chic style. The lady at the bad shop told me to put it against the wall the opposite way so that way it still had a side up, IYKWIM. So thats a thought for us.

Oh yeah, I used the rail too.

Joel we moved around 2ish too, I had a waterbed at the time and whenever he woke and got into it he would sleep great so thats what we got him. The transition was great, no need for a rail there and he slept beautifully in it. Brandon was about 2 also.

The only thing I would worry about with removing the cot side preparing them for a bed is that most cots are higher than a bed, if they fall out it's a pretty big fall, well it is from my cot anyway.

Maddison was about 20 months old & I put her in my old single bed, one side against the wall & the cot next to her bed on the other side, so she couldnt roll out!!! She never got out at all ever, but I wouldnt close her door, she could lay in bed, read, play, sing sleep whatever! Mind you she always said & still does "Mum, I'm tired I'm gonna go lay down!" Sunday afternoons she often goes into her room & is really quiet so I check & she has her teddy's in bed , books around her & she is fast asleep!
She is tiny too Lucy, & looked hilarious in the bed!!!!

Thanks so much ladies....it is really good hearing all the varieties of combinations and ages and tactics!!

(To add some mischief to the mix we are also considering (I am not sold on the idea yet) putting Olivia in with Charlie......so that when we move will only use 3 out of the 4 bedrooms, thus keep one as a guest room.....so that may add some fun and games to the whole performance!!)

My only one piece of advice re keeping them in the cot longer is be careful about climbing! I have heard some real horror stories with kids hurting themselves and falling cots when littlun's try and climb out. So providing they aren't climbers and don't intend on climbing out of the cot then I'd say yes it safe to keep them there. We chose to go with the cot convert to a toddler bed between 18 mths - 2 yrs, can't remember exactly. Paris never got out of bed at naptime, and if she did she was promptly taken back so it was never an issue for us.

Goodluck!

*hugs*
Cailin

I agree with Cailin. Matilda started climbing in & out of the cot from around 16 months. It took us over a month to get her used to staying in bed. If I could, I would have left her in the cot until she was 2 years for sanity sake because now I think she would understand the whole concept alot easier. At the time we put her in a junior bed & made a big deal out of going to the big girl bed. For the first 2 weeks we sat at the end of her bed, but she never went to sleep. Then we tried the continuous putting her back in her bed technique, but after 4 weeks of her not going to sleep quicker than 2 hours we got pretty desperate. We took everything out of her room except the bed & wardrobe. We then spent wind down time at night with her as usually reading a book in her bed. We would give her a bottle & let her lay in bed and would sit at the end and once she finished we would take the bottle & walk out of the room. We would close the door and stand outside & have to hold the door shut. (which did break my heart but we were desperate and had taken a month of 7-9-9.30pm settlings...) She would fall asleep within 30 minutes laying at the door chatting & not upset & we would put her back into bed & she would stay there until morning. I found for the first month she would wake up earlier, so rather than roll over & go back to sleep she would pop out of bed & run into our room. But after a few months she's got the hang of it & is fantastic. We actually have started putting furniture back into her room.

I had tilly in a cot until well over three, even close to 4 years. She once "slept climbed" out but never again. She slept well in it and then was totally ready for a bed and we didn't need a rail as she' was almost 4. I will do the same again if coco allows it. I know both my goddaughter (2 ) and nephew nearly 3 were both moved to bed at 2 and neither will stay in it, sounds like a nightmare to me! oxoxo