turning the cot into a junior bed?

[beansbeans!]

hi all,

We are thinkinig about turning the cot into a junior bed for DD2, mainly beacause we never got the chance to do it with DD1
Although our problem seems to be that the cot never came with a bed rail, and the bed rail we have is almost the exact same length of the cot, which actually freaks me out about using it.

So my question is, for those of you who have turned your cots into a junior bed, what did you use for a bed rail? DD2 wont be in it long, til christmas time I suppose.

[Taurean]

Hi! We just did this with our cot this week as DD had learnt to escape!

We took both sides off and bought a mesh bed rail from Target for $60 (baby shops sell them too). It's extendable so we can use it on a single bed when we eventually put her in one. We have left it as small/short as possible in length so it holds DD in but she still has room to 'safely' climb in and out. I didn't want it at full length only for her to scale it and not be able to get back into bed

It's working really well. HTH!

[beansbeans!]

Thanks Taurean!!

Thats why Im looking at changing it too, too many times have I walked in to see DD2 half over, or almost completely escaped. I didnt like the thought of having a bed rail that she would still have to climb over either. I shall go and experiment with the bed rail we have and see if it does teh same thing... I hadnt even thought of that as an option!

Thank you!

[Taurean]

No worries! Good luck with it all!

[HotI]

Target has the mesh rails on sale at the moment

[Miss.September]

We changed our cot to bed and we didn't have a rail either. For the first week, I put DD's fold out couch beside the bed (the other side is against the wall) in case she rolled out. She never has. But when we converted the cot, the side bed rail is a couple of mm higher than the mattress, so it may have been just enough to guide her back into bed and prevent her from falling out. Good luck

[Megan]

When we converted the cot to a toddler bed, we didn't use a rail at all. To begin with, I just had a doona that I folded up and put on the floor in case he were to fall out so it was a soft landing. He think he's only ever fallen out twice and that was after a couple of months of being in it.

[Jellyfish]

No bed rail here, never fallen out; changed it when DD was around 18 months.

[Taurean]

Beans, I'd suggest watching your DD to see how much she wriggles and moves around. I had done that a lot with DD leading up to her going into the bed (due to sleep issues) and found she really favoured sleeping hard up against the side that is not against the wall so for us a rail of some sort was really necessary. I figure she's going through enough change moving into a bed that I didn't want her waking because she'd fallen out, especially as we could avoid it with a rail.

Just my opinion and I realise some kids don't fall out but each child is different.

[toomanyshoes]

We didn't bother with a side rail, they never fell out!

[~Stoked~]

I know with our cot if we hadn't attached the side rail the whole thing was unsteady. I could only find the bolts for one side though so it's still pretty unsteady, but it's against our bed so it should be ok. Ours is only a little bit higher that the mattress too but it does stop him falling out, he's a little wriggler!

[beansbeans!]

Beans, I'd suggest watching your DD to see how much she wriggles and moves around. I had done that a lot with DD leading up to her going into the bed (due to sleep issues) and found she really favoured sleeping hard up against the side that is not against the wall so for us a rail of some sort was really necessary. I figure she's going through enough change moving into a bed that I didn't want her waking because she'd fallen out, especially as we could avoid it with a rail.

Just my opinion and I realise some kids don't fall out but each child is different.

DD2 is the same.. She either sleeps with her head up against the end of the cot of shes absolutely against the side of the cot. Shes a very active sleeper, and she wriggles all night long.. She even falls out of our bed some nights if she is on the outside of the bed. Thats why I really want to use a rail. DD1 is exactly the same when it comes to sleep, she had a rail until about 6 or so months ago. I took it off at her request, and since then I think shes fallen out fo bed a couple of times.
Also a rail gives me peace of mind that she is likely to fall out of bed, which means we all sleep better.

[Taurean]

Also a rail gives me peace of mind that she is likely to fall out of bed, which means we all sleep better.

Exactly my thoughts! And so far we are getting sleep - woohoo!

[sas85]

I got DD1 out of the cot at 13 months onto a mattress on our floor when we were painting her room, decided to just put the mattress in her room after that to get her used to not having the bars since was 4 months pregnant by then, (she fell off a couple of times, and being the terrible mother I am I thought it was funny, but it wasn't that far to the ground at all, more like rolling off a step) she adapted suprisingly quickly though (she used to flail around in the cot and bang against it all the time so I thought she'd fall out heaps, but she got used to it fast) we put her on the lowest setting of a normal bed, the ground is carpeted so if she fell out she wasnt going to get hurt, just a shock. Worked for us luckily as I was more concerned about her trying to force roll her way over a bed rail having been used to the height of a cot rail if you know what I mean though which is why I never got one, but I was going to get the Target one when we were first thinking about it.