Cotbed vs bed for toddler

[CHLOE781]

Hi - does anyone have advice on the whole bed issue? I have a just-over-2 year old who currently happily sleeps in the cot version of his cotbed. We also have another baby on the way due early next year and obv for the first few months will be in a Moses basket. I was planning to buy another cotbed for the second baby to obv have as a cot initially after the Moses basket and for my toddler to keep his cotbed and convert it into a bed when he's ready for it. But my mother (the fountain of all wisdom!!) thinks this is waste of money and that we should give the cotbed to the baby and buy my son a proper (kid's) bed at the right time for him..... does anyone have any thoughts about this? Surely the bed version of the cotbed is just the same a 'proper' kid's bed...???? Thank you for any advice on this somewhat banal subject!!

[pebbles]

Ha ha, the joy of our mothers wisdom :)

I'm with her though, go straight for a single bed. It saves money and is no different except a little bigger. If you are worried about him falling out you can get things to stop him (we just turned the duvet around the other way and tucked it under the mattress which seemed to work).

Good luck x

[Strawbs]

Chloe you sound exactly just like me, we have a 2 year old who is happy in his cotbed (bars still on) and we have another baby due in march so figure by August we would have to buy another cotbed until it literally dawned on me that my 2 year old might be ready for a snazzy car shaped toddler bed which I will let him choose (within reason of course!) so we are going to do that. I do fear that it will then open the door to him wanting to get out of bed but I guess that will come at some point anyway.

Pebbles - great idea on the duvet!! thank you. xxx

[ClareC]

Totally agree with your mother (and Pebbles)!

I've 15mths between my two and did buy a second cot bed (both were in cots at the time)- total waste of money!! Although they allegedly are big enough to last until age 5 they really are not that big!! We ended up buying the eldest a big girls bed and will shortly be doing the same for number two at the grand age of 2 1/2!

I did use the cotbed mattress on the floor incase of falls at first (there were none) and the wrong way round tucked in duvet works a treat!

2 cotbeds anyone? ;)

[bumpy]

Sorry to hijack your thread but does anyone have any comments on the benefits of buying a single bed over say a cabin bed with storage - what age do they grow out of a cabin bed and will we end up buying yet another bed at the age of 10...!

Just that I've seen a fab cabin bed with funky storage but can't decide if we're wasting our money

[srisky]

Ditto your mum, pebbles & ClareC - got my daughter into adult single plus bed guards at 23 months in advance of her little brother's arrival. 6 months after she moved into a bed he moved into the cot. My daughter (2y 9m) had not 'escaped' from her bed at night, although she can get in & out independently. However, I can already tell my son is going to be much more of a hand full!

ETA: great tip about the duvet, I hope I remember this in 2y time!

[EmilyPie]

We have a 2 1/2 yo and a 3 mo. We had a small cot for the 2yo which he was happy in. Have now bought him a bigger cot bed and moved the baby into the small cot. Our 2yo is still happy using it as a cot and we were v keen not to have him climbing out of bed in the night and adding to the general sleep deprivation. We were also conscious of space. They're going to have to share a room so a cotbed and a small cot will be much easier to fit in there than an adult single. Hopefully this solution should last at least another few years, ESP as my eldest is quite small for his age. Eventually we'll prob move them into bunks, or move, but thought we'd cross that bridge when we come to it!

[CHLOE781]

Thanks guys for all the advice. It looks as though the general feeling is (space-dependent) that a 'proper' bed is the right choice for my toddler. Eeeek I quite like him being contained at night! Still, they can't stay in a cot forever. That is surely one of the most brilliant tips I've heard about the duvet, will definitely be using that one. Thanks again.

[ClareC]

Nice idea to keep them in a cot as long as possible.... Sadly for me my son was able to climb out (wearing a grobag) from 18mths!!!

Had to change the cot to a bed for fear he would hurt himself. He was oddly good in the bed and didn't get up in the night at all, even now at 2 1/2 he only gets up in the night to use the toilet.

Mornings are something else sadly, generally he comes in between 530 and 630. Bunny clock doesn't work as he just changes the setting until the eyes open grrrr

[Undiscovered]

Have 20 month gap and my first went straight to a big bed and was perfectly happy. She's just 2 now and in the low bed with a baby gate on the door (although never needed I don't dare remove!). She moved herself as soon as no 2 came. She's still in a sleeping bag though even in a bed.

Everyone's different though!

[oimissus]

weeelll, I'm going to go against the grain a bit here, and disagree with some comments, firstly about how long they'll be in a cotbed/toddler bed - I certainly know of one nearly 5 year old and one 5.5 year old who are both still in toddler beds, neither are tiny either, so you don't know they'll grow out of it quickly. Secondly, I had a friend who was in a similar position to you and moved her son into a bed and it was a bit of a mare, he was in and out all the time and she was up and down the stairs a lot, and in retrospect, when pregnant, she wishes she'd kept him trapped in his cot longer!

also - do you know how much space you'll have - how big is/are the bedroom(s), are they sharing, are you thinking of bunk beds or high sleepers, that kind of thing, some of which may mean that getting a single won't be as cost-effective as you think.

We only have the one but she's in a toddler bed (went in when she just turned 3) because I really would like her to have a mid or high sleeper when she's a bit bigger (when I first saw these in Ikea 15 years ago I so wished I'd had one!), plus her room isn't huge so it would make better use of the space. Hopefully we can sell the toddler bed when we're finished with it, so it won't be a huge waste.

[snowboarder]

Yeah to echo the above - we now have a 4.5 and a 2.5 yr old - the 4.5 yr old is still in his converted cot bed and has loads of room. I was eternally grateful that when the youngest was tiny I could put my then 2 yr old in his cot and know that he was not going to be getting out all the time - I did a lot of bedtimes on my own and needed him contained whilst I fed the baby! As it was he refused to let us take the bars off until he was gone three...and no way is my now 2.5 yr old getting his cot changed to a bed any time soon - he will be out of it like a shot!!

[emza78]

IKEA do a good in-between bed, half way between a cotbed/toddler bed size and a full single, think the officially aim it for 3-7 year olds. We went for this one as DD only outgrew her cot at nearly 3 (we didn't have a cotbed) I use it with a normal sized single duvet so we can buy conventional bedding and it looks fine.

We've also VERY surprisingly had no trouble with midnight escapes, she doesn't even get out first thing in the morning, still calls for done one to come and get her!