Cot to bed in "mummy steps"

[Canuck]

I'm thinking I'm going to start the steps to moving my (15 month old) son from his cot to a twin bed. Looking at it I think we'll forgo the toddler bed.

I've been given the suggestion to move him onto the floor on his cot mattress beside the bed and then when he's fine with that move him onto the twin bed.

For those that have opted to put their children in a bed have you used the bed rails you can get for kids? Is it worth me getting one? My son is a very active sleeper. I hear thumps in the night and it's him bumping his head against the cot "bars". I'm also a bit concerned about him having free reign of his room and refusing to sleep when it's time.

Any advice? Suggestions? Experiences?

Cheers!:wave:

[Squeegee]

Is it important for you or him to start at this age?:detective: My DD didn't go into a bed until after she was 2. Just a thought:detective:

[Canuck]

He's actually nearly killed his cot from rattling it so much (he's not small). As well he is at daycare full time and the kids his age sleep on mattresses not in cots so before he can go to that room he needs to learn to sleep outside of a cot.

[Squeegee]

Fair enough:yes:

We told DD about going into a big bed and geared her up for about a week. Just dropped the idea here and there throughout the day. Then went shopping and bought her a quilt cover for her "big bed". We would always put her in her new big bed and then we placed her cot right against the bed and left it made up so she could hop in that if she wanted. We eventually took away the cot and she has been fine ever since.:D

Hope this helps...Good luck to you:fingerscrossed:

[macsmum]

Hi Canuk,

I started my son getting use to a bed at about 18months, I started with day sleeps then gradually moved to night sleeps. I use to give him the option of bed or cot and 95% of the time he chose the bed.

The reason I started so early was he also is a very active sleeper and he kept hitting the sides of the cot and sometimes waking himself up. I started with one side of the bed against the wall and a bed rail on the other.

I have had no problems with him not sleeping but in saying that I dont keep any toys in his bedroom and kept everything else out of reach till he got use to it. I use to get excited and praise him alot too.

Hope the transition goes smoothly for you.

[Canuck]

Did either of you shut the bedroom door or put a gate up? I do have a baby monitor that I plan on using for a few more years still so that I can hear what he's up to in his room.

[lovinmummaof2]

my hubby bought a single bed about 2mths ago. and has been set up in rabbies room for ages.
had to get him to sleep in it on the weekend. as alyssia was getting too big for the bassinet and has started rolling over.
we just kept him up really late then put him to bed read a story while he has a bottle, then left him in bed. i check on him every 15-30mins and if he's up i tell him to go back to bed.
we have a safety rail and a step stool so he can climb into bed as its abit big. he's fallen out of bed once. got stuck upside down w/ his leg stuck between the mattress and the safety barrier. - i just gave him a hug n a kiss put him back to bed and he went back too sleep. had a sml bruise on his ankle tho

[Seekrit]

Cobes was the same age, he's a climber and a smart boy.. he'd stand in his cot and yell if he was put in it (consequently we co-slept) but in his bed he may get out but normally stayed in and slept. It helped that we'd lay beside him and read to him.. can't do that in a cot!

Anyway, all we did was set up his cot and bed in the same room and asked him to choose bed or cot, he started exclusively choosing cot.. but if he slept in the car or something I'd put him in his bed.. then he'd choose cot most nights but sometimes bed and in about 3 weeks he chose only bed :)

We close his door at night, sleeps more that way, he wakes up, climbs out of bed and knocks on his door. We don't have any safety rail, just his cot-mattress on the floor beside the bed.. he's never fallen out

[macsmum]

I shut the door and use the baby monitor. I have found the darker the room the less likely he is to get out of bed

[dragonflyblu]

we co-sleep so Clea doesnt have her own bed... but a good tip is to teach bubs to climb out of bed. we did this really early and from about 9-10 months she would turn around and slide backwards off the bed. So if she did wake up and wanted to come looking for us she could get out of bed easily. Its probably important if you plan to put a rail up as you dont want bubs trying to get out of bed by climbing over it.