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from cot to bed Lock Rss

hi ,we have nearly 3 year old boy who is still very happy in his cot.but we know sooner or later he will grow out of it.
our main concern is how do you get him to stay in his bed the whole night and not running out of it and his bedroom.
should we be very strict or not?
I will watch this post cos i want to know too!!
My neice (now 3) started sleeping in her own bed from about age2. Mum and Dad got her psyched for it because it was a 'big girls bed', not for little babies! It took a couple of weeks to get used to with her coming into mum n dads bed during the night, but now it's HER bed. But her little brother plays in it during the day (he's still in the cot), but he's definately getting familiar with the big bed.
For me my DS went into a big bed when he was 22 months. I was due to have another baby so we needed him out. At first we spoke to him about going into a big bed because the new baby needed somewhere to sleep.(you could say he's getting to big) I then took him shopping with me to buy his bed and everything that went with it. When we brought his bed they gave us a free pillow and he was so excited to have a special pillow for himself.

Be prepared for him to get out of the bed many times!! The first couple of nights I had to lay with him then after that I just told him that mummy wasn't going to lay with him any more and that he was a big boy. Then after that he got warnings and after him getting up a couple of times his door would get shut. I found it alot easier for DH to be the tough one, even now he's 3 and some nights when he comes out he doesn't listen to me but takes DH seriouly. So I reccomend once you start with something you can't go changing it. After a while he was fine, he still has his moments now but I think he always will.

I highly reccomend getting one of those bumper things that go on the side of the bed. Also be prepared for him to stop having a day sleep if he still does now. It just got harder and harder to keep him in bed during the day when I had DD aswell and had to keep him quiet, he still now doesn't sleep at all through the day. Best of luck

i put both my boys in beds at 2 years old. DS1 went to a toddler bed and DS2 went straight into a normal bed.

they mostly stayed in bed so it was never really a big issue. initially when they were first in there, we made a big deal about how they were such big boys which made it a bit exciting. on the odd occasion that they did get out, it was just a matter of consistently getting up, walking them to bed. not telling them, actually physically putting them in bed. they do get the message to stay there, DS2 was alot quicker to get it than DS1, maybe because he saw DS1 in his bed.

during the night, they get up occasionally and its the same thing, just take them back and say its night time.

sorry, no great advice, but i had the same concerns as you and it never really eventuated. just be consistent and dont make it like it punishment to go to bed, and if he does run out alot, try to stay calm and just keep taking him back, he'll get the message.

Good luck!
We just transitioned our 17 month old from a cot to a bed last week!! We did this because he went kamikaze over the edge of his cot, so for us more of a safety issue (he's tall and a real climber!!) I keep his door shut, and he's been really good, goes to bed when he's tired, took him 2 days to figure out he could get out when he wanted to and he does... He plays with his toys in his room and yells to let me know he's up like he normally would in his cot! I'll be really stuffed when he can open his door lol, I just make sure the gates up on the kitchen door and the front door is locked after hubby leaves for work! I really don't think there's much you can do about them getting up... I think if you have a good bed time routine in place it should stay... So far ours has, you just have to get up when they do lol (luckily for me that's 8-8:45am)
I've just recently moved my 16 month old DS2 into a normal single bed as I'm expecting DS3 in a couple of weeks. At the moment it works quite well, because he still hasn't figured out how to get out! My DS1 is also in the same room, so they usually play for a little while before going to sleep and when they wake up.

If you are concerned about your little one hopping out of bed and coming into your room, would you consider putting a gate in his door frame? Keeping it open, but reminding them that if they do get up then you'll need to close the gate? I'm sure not everyone would be willing to do this, but I don't see the harm.


nice to know we are not alone...
thank you so much for all your advice. one more thing. what if he cries.stay with him or get out?


Depends on how bad he gets. But then he will most likely cry a bit at first, just reassure then I'd just let him self settle. If you keep going back in at the smallest cry he might do that all the time and will be harder to break the cycle

our DD went into her bed at 18 months, for a week or so before we took the sides off her cot so she got used to not having the cot around her but without the big change. then we went and bought her a special blanket and sheets and just popped her in a single one night. we'd let her play in and on the bed all day so she was familiar with it. shes fallen out once and has gotten up only a hand full of times...shes 2.5yr now! we were stressing but none of our worries even came up i think if you keep it cruisy and fun then theyll be fine, i wouldnt make too big a deal of it. i think your angel will suprise you =)
my friends DD got up all the time so she did the gate thing that someone above suggested and only closed it when she had gotten up repeatedly, she soon figured it out and stayed in bed.
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