Logistics of moving toddler from cot to bed

[lizardqueenie]

Dd is 2.4 months and is pretty happy in her cotbed with bars on but I know that at some point soon I should probably think of taking the sides off of her cotbed.

At the moment dd sleeps with the door shut and in her sleeping so I am just wondering logistically how we go about moving her into the bed & using a duvet rather than a sleeping bag. Also is it still ok to have the door shut? I'm worried she will have everything out of the wardrobe/ try to climb up the bookcase! So how do I start to go about it? Have I left it late? Thanks for any advice, my brain just won't compute what to do at the moment.

[williwonti]

This could've been me writing this a few weeks ago. DS was so content in his cot, slept great in day and night so i was so reluctant to change anything. I had a couple of days run up, let him choose new "big boy" pics and stuff for his room and he helped change it to a bed. He "hated"(can't over estimate how much) blankets and loved his bag but he took to it great. I followed supernanny's way of disciplining if got out and it worked great. Good luck. I would just do it. I use a bed guard which is working great

[DIYandEatCake]

We've just taken the side off dd's cot (she's 23mo), and it wasn't as bad as expected. She's been pretty good going to sleep, and will settle back in it after waking in the night. I find it a bit disconcerting finding her standing next to my bed in the middle if the night - she will get up and walk through to our room in the dark silently, which I've been surprised by. Her door is ajar (she can open doors anyway) but we have a stairgate on the stairs and the study door, and keep the bathroom door shut to stop her aimlessly wandering in there. I think it may get worse though, she is definitely getting bolder with her new freedom...

[Delayingtactic]

DIY I think that would scare the living bejesus out of me! Especially since DS has a habit of touching my face if I'm asleep.

Three weeks ago we got DS (2 yrs 2 mo) into a 'big boy bed'. We got it as we got given a bit of extra money and thought we had better put it towards something useful. He helped us put it together and dismantle his old cot, which i thinked helped with the transition. For some reason he doesn't ever get out of it, even if crying and will only climb out if you come and get him. But he'll happily climb into bed and sit and play.

I think it completely depends on what your DC is like and it'll either be easy or hard whenever you do it

[BreadForMyBREADGUN]

Stairgate at the top of the stairs and just do it. Mahe sure any tall furniture is tied to the wall, and think no more of it.

Honestly, I worried, but we moved DS at the same age and after an extra half hour of faffing at bedtime, he was fine.

[BreadForMyBREADGUN]

oh, but any trips out of bed just put straight back... Othrwise you'll have a midnight visitor :)

[Startail]

DD1 could get out of her cot from long before she was two so it was no big deal. She was a pretty good sleeper so she didn't tend to come in at night.

I did end up with bolts at the top of our room, the bathroom and the spare room doors so at nap time she could only wander to the stair gate and shout and at night she only came in to see us, but DD1 as fiddler queen.

DD2 moved straight into a double bed no bother and no need to lock doors, she doesn't mess.

[DorsetLass]

We got your first happy in a duvet in her cot before moving into bed at 2.5 - worked well as less change. Tucked it in down side of cot bed to stay secure. Good luck!!

[BreadForMyBREADGUN]

Oh, get a proper single duvet, tuck half of it sideways under the mattress. Plenty of duvet for small sprog, too tethered to throw off.

I should release MN in condensed form.

[lizardqueenie]

Thank you all very much for your tips & pointers.

I think I just need to bite the bullet. Our bedroom is actually on a different floor to Dd's- we're in the loft extension but already have a stairgate on the stairs downstairs outside dd's room (if that makes sense). Door handles are all quite high up so she can't reach them but just need to think about what we would do with the stairs going up to our bedroom, whether to put another stairgate there or one across her bedroom door. I guess when she is potty trained she'll need to get to the bathroom anyway. Hmmmm

[BreadForMyBREADGUN]

We have the same set up - DS never came upstairs to us anyway, so we didn't bother with a gate. I wouldnt bother with one unless she's likely to go wandering. See how it goes

[Rockchick1984]

We put a stairgate on DS's bedroom door - also means he can't close the door completely and fall asleep behind it

We made sure furniture was fastened to the wall, and wardrobe had a hair bobble joining the handles so he couldn't mess in there irrational fear of coat hangers meeting eyes although he is able to open the drawers. We just had a few days where we had to put clothes away that he had pulled out, but he got bored of that very quickly.