Cot to bed

[Babypigeon]

When is the best time to move your little one from a cot to a bed?

How do you know if they are ready?

What worked well for you? Or didnt work so well?

[RachelModerator Moderator]

Hello Babypigeon ,

It tends to depend a little bit on the baby/toddler, their stage of development and parental choice.

Some have purchased cot beds, which some find ease the transition as you can just remove the side, (according to manufactures advice) or some move from a standard cot to a toddler bed (smaller and lower than a standard single and they tend to have a bit more side support.

Others opt to move straight to a standard single. As always, we would say the main considerations would be safety...

It may help to think if the baby/child was to wake in the night, ensure the room has no obvious hazards they could get hold off before you get to them and make sure there is a stair gate at the top of the stairs to prevent any falls in the case of a escapee!

All the usual rules apply regarding the position of the bed, eg, not by the window, or any blind cords etc.

Older children may find choosing new bedding etc exciting.

Have fun and enjoy this new stage.

For general sleep safety tips, we recommend

lullabytrust.org.uk/

[LawsonLion]

I was really worried about my child falling out of bed, as she thrashes around when sleeping. So when my daughter went from cot to a bed I rolled up some towels and put them along the edge of the bed, under the fitted sheet, so when she got to the edge there was a bit of a buff there! To deter her from rolling out.

She did fall out a few times onto the carpet, before someone suggested tithe above, but just got herself back in bed.

[Babypigeon Community Ambassador in reply to LawsonLion]

Thank you my daughter does a 360 is the night and the cot stops her. It is a cot bad and is fairly low but she is still young so will wait a little longer