Cots and cotbeds - outgrowing of

[Belle]

I went for the cot option when buying for my son, partly due to space but also I thought maybe we'd go straight to single bed from that. well, he's not especially tall - but at 19mths is starting to look v big in his cot. But then growth does plateau doesn't it, so perhaps I'm being overly anxious? anyway my thought was perhaps to invest in a cotbed to give him more space but still behind bars, v necessary, as long as poss. Then next baby if there is one, could go into the cot. However I'm a bit superstitious on that point - so don't want to buy purely on that basis.

Those who started with cots - did you find they lasted a while or did your little ones outgrow them before you thought they were ready for a bed? I def don't want to put him in a bed for a looooooong time!

[crystal7]

Hi belle we also went for the cot option and as you know e is pretty small but seems to be outgrowing it already. It's not so much that she looks big in it more that she moves around so much in her sleep that we hear her bashing against the sides- am convinced she'll injure herself! Reluctant to buy cot bed as nowhere to store cot but like you want to keep her in the cot for as long as possible. Maybe i'm being neurotic?! No advice sorry!

[Belle]

yes we have the cot bashing too! In fact that's more the issue as my husband has just pointed out that it's not that my son nearly fills it yet - it's that when in his 18-36 mth grobag, that nearly fills it...oops! :-$

Still though like you say the bashing is a worry plus in our case wakes him up.

[randomv]

Hmmm...my LO is just 2 and is BIG (91st centile) and is still fine in his cot! I'm thinking of moving to a bed before he climbs out and hurts himself though (he can do it, just hasn't wanted to do it enough!!) But accidents aside, I think he'll stay in the cot for a good 3-4 months longer. Travel cot on the other hand...

[The Nappy Lady]

DD1 was long but slim and was in the cot until 2.5 years old, then went into a regular single bed.

DD2 is 2 next month and still fine in the cot.

They do start to look big in a cot, especially with a roomy sleeping bag, but I'd still keep them in there until 2.5 if you can.

[Belle]

Good advice. Will keep putting in the soft toys to try to stop him bashing his head, though he ritually throws each one out before going to sleep at night...

[The Nappy Lady]

Cot bumpers????

[nicolemodesti]

Go straight to a single bed with bed guards.Only option that worked for us. Our boy refused to go in his cot bed with sides so took them off when he was 20 months old and he refused to sleep in his cot bed. Bought some dusty moon dream tubes that narrowed the sides of the cot bed and as he likes to move around at night he seemed to fall out. So we bought a single bed with bed guards and he loves it...room to move and comfier mattress. At just turned 2 he sleeps soundly in it and have only had one night of hearing'mummy fell out!'

[snowboarder]

When, in others experience, do the converted cot beds get too small then? Are they a similar size to junior beds? Or would you go straight from cotbed to regular single? How many bed sizes are there?!? Agree though with the need to keep them behind bars for as long as possible!

[Pickle]

Snowboarder, my 3.5 year old is still in his converted cotbed, with room to grow.

[BeccaL]

Snowboarder, my 5.5year old is still in her converted cotbed - just getting to the point where we're thinking that we need to start looking for a full size single, though she is pretty short for her age!

[candj]

We bought the cotbed for dd1 but never took the railings off as she was kicked out of it at 2 1/2 years of age into a single bed when dd2 arrived. Now, dd2 at 3 years old just got her single bed as we're preparing the room for no. 3. We had every good intention of having both children sleep in the converted bed but there was always someone waiting for it. In the end I'm glad we bought the cotbed as it was/will be used by three children and we will probably finally get to take its railings off for the next toddler.

[Belle]

Resurrecting this thread as my son has just demonstrated to us today that he can climb out of his cot. He does sleep in a grobag at night though, so am guessing that would be much harder - anyone with experience of this? But I'm uneasy, and think it can only be a matter of time before he finds a way out. I know it'll be much easier from a bed but at least without the risk of injury, and I guess from browsing the web the main thing is to put a stairgate on his door so he can't traipse down the stairs/into other rooms at will.

How have people generally found the transition to bed? I hear so many bad things about it! and gina bangs on about it being responsible for many sleep problems.

[Gubodge]

It was absolutely no problem at all for either of my children. With both we took just one side of the cot off first, just in case it all went horribly wrong, but they both loved their beds straight away and neither ever got up in the night other than to go to the loo. In fact it took the younger one months to realise she could even get out by herself, and she would lie in bed shouting for us to get her up in the morning. Which was a pain.

[helena handbasket]

My giant boy was having nightly near death experiences diving out of his cot bed at two so we had to switch to single bed with rails. He's a very busy sleeper. I feel like we had no choice either way but the transition turned my good sleeper into a nightmare. Even more horrible for me because he had been a terrible sleeper as a baby and I worked very hard to turn him into a good sleeper! Back to square one!

We had a gate on his door because he would get up oh I don't know about a THOUSAND times at night and we had three flights of stairs for him to tumble down in the dark, but you never get over the first time you go check on them and find a tiny person sleeping beside the gate with their little arm sticking through it! If you have a persistent child like mine you get desensitized to the cold things you end up doing out of survival, I'm afraid.

It was about a year of bed issues. No joke. If you can keep them in a grow bag, behind bars, for the love of God do it.

[charlottep]

I was totally anticipating helena's scenario with my stubborn 2.8 yr old, but it has actually been a very easy transition so far, we are in to week 3 so I guess still early days. Again, he seems to think he can't leave his room, so he calls for us in the mornings, which suits me fine. We could be in for a whole heap of trouble once he does, but so far so good.

[ClareC]

I think once they can climb out it's better to just put them in a bed. My nephew climbed out at 18/19 months, my sister was reluctant to change the cot to a bed given his age but he then managed to break his leg climbing out, he wasn't even 2 :-(

[snowboarder]

Surely they simply CAN'T climb out if in grobag? Please?!?

[Pickle]

Snowboarder - my daughter had worked out how to get out of a grobag by the time she was a year old!

[Belle]

and the worry is that he might try in his grobag (though hasn't yet) and cause himself an injury. We have a cot rather than cotbed, so can't experiment without the sides I don't think.

HH - that's the scenario I'm imagining. Although the fact he rarely stands up and never tries to climb out even when he's yelling his head off about being in bed gives me a bit of hope that he may go the way of not realising he can get out straight away...

[ClareC]

Happened during an afternoon nap so not sure if he was in a grobag or not...... no one was there in the room so don't know exactly what happened, the theory is that his leg got caught between the bars :-(

Worst part was that the hospital managed to x ray his leg just below and just under the break so missed it completely!! He was sent home with the advice to give him ibuprofen and encourage him to walk?!?!?!?! A&E called 10 days later to ask they return when he was x rayed again and put in plaster, apparantly his file was randomly reviewed...... all very odd, good news was that the break healed well and he is fine, he is 3 1/2 now.

My sister changed the cot to a bed and put a stairguard on his bedroom door, that worked for quite a long time :-)

[helena handbasket]

I do admit that my boy is particularly resourceful and observant, and I have learned to anticipate situations with him that "most" parents don't seem to have to deal with on the same level. He could Houdini himself out of his grobag as an infant as well but boy oh boy do I wish that would have worked for us. Some of these little people just keep you on your toes more than others! So most parents needn't worry that my experiences are typical.

If memeory serves, Belle and snowboarder I think that you have sons very similar to mine?:))

Anyway it's okay because three years was old was somewhat easier and four is gold now that he understands cause and affect and is developmentally ready enough to think it through when I explain to him why something is a bad idea. Mostly. He absolutely just gets better and better and if possible I just fall harder in love every day. But I don't know how I survived the first three years!

[Belle]

Yes HH, our boys are similar! You provided some welcome sympathy and solidarity in the tough early months I recall.

Going to investigate single beds in the sales, and monitor what he's doing for the immediate future, but think we'll have to get round to it before long. He is still a handful, so am looking forward to the times you describe, without wanting to wish the time away too fast.

[pebbles]

A great tip i was given about grobags was put them on back to front so when my boy started to take his off I put the zip at the back and voila... never again :)

[susyp]

My daughter is 2 1/2 and is a 3 year old height and still quite happy in her cot(not cot bed) - she seems to like it being so cosy! Plan to keep her in it for as long as possible.....! She has only just started sleeping through so I have no wish to mess with anything to do with her sleeping! The side of her cot is broken so she could easily push it down and climb out but hasn;t figured that one out - I do tend to go to her as soon as she cries/calls though . We're having our house completely renovated in the spring so guess will get her a bed when it's done and everything has been redecorated but that will coincide with her starting nursery so may try and hang on to the cot until next christmas - when she will be 3 1/2 - but don't want her to feel like a baby if the others at nursery talk about their beds (but surely that's just not going to come up!). Luckily we have old 30s doors with high up handles so she can;t actually get out of the room to fall down the stairs.

Is it wrong to keep a 3 year old in a cot?! She is tall but not yet touching the ends- agreed on travel cots was quite a shock when we went away last spring and i realised she no longer fitted in it - had to all sleep in one bed all holiday!!

susyp