When did you move your toddler from cot to toddler bed?

[Browncoffee]

My daughter is 23 months old and we are starting to wonder when best to move her to a toddler bed. We have a 2 week old and would ideally like to move the cot to her room when she stops sleeping in our room (5-6 months) or even before that.

When did you move your toddler to a toddler bed and did it stop them staying in bed after bedtime/make them wake up and come into your room earlier?

[slh2009]

This decision has been taken out of my hands this week as I found my 21 month old straddling the side rail of his cot shouting "Mummy horse!". So I think the sides will be coming off rather sooner than I had hoped i.e. this weekend!

Am also interested in how to keep him in bed so will watch with interest....!

[Lousylu]

WE moved our son out when he was almost exactly 2 - and no, he went to sleep as per normal & didn't get up and out at all - he could obviously get up in the mornings and then come through - but no ealier then he would have woken and shouted for us anyway ... that said, my ousin had a nightmare with his eldest boy just refusing to stay in the bed at night - so, like everything, it depends on the individual child. Trust your instincts and suck it and see!

[buggie]

We took sides off our 23mth old's cot about 3wks ago. As far as I know She hadn't tried to climb out of the cot but had tried to climb out of a travel cot & think it was only a matter of time. Plus she would climb into any bed and "sleep" given half a chance so knew her own bed would be quite exciting.

We haven't looked back, is so lovely to be able to hug her in bed before she goes to sleep & much easier to move/pull covers over her. She seems to settle to sleep much easier & weirdly still calls for us in the morning rather than climb out & into our room (think this is just her though - she still likes to be carried downstairs in the morning too!)

[Browncoffee]

Thanks for sharing your experiences. They are certainly encouraging. We're thinking of getting the toddler bed now rather than wait till her sister needs the cot, so she doesn't feel like we've kicked her out...plus she has the option of going back to the cot if it turns out she's not ready.

I've heard of parents putting stair gates on their toddlers bedroom door so they don't get out at night or too early (after moving to toddler bed). Sounds like none of you have had a need for that. Well, looks like we'll just have to take the plunge and see how it goes.

[lucyA1308]

yes, definitely do it before the sister needs the cot. We were too late, and swapped over when the baby needed the cot, and put the older child in a propper bed. She really didn't like it at all, and for a very long time felt that her bed was still the cot.

It wasn't so bad in the morning, but I found the bed times were hardest, because then there was nothing stopping her just getting out of bed. She is fine now, like everything, even if it doesn't work straight away, they do adapt.