Transitioning from Cot to Bed

As you may guess from the title of this post, we’ve made the transition from cot to bed. In fact, he’s been in a bed for the past month and I’ve been really pleased with the transition. My little boy has taken after his sister and became a little Houdini at the young age of 13 months, both of them tried to escape from their cot’s at this age and have had to catch both of them before they fell. For saying how different they are this is something they seem to have in common – trying to give their mamma a heart attack. You may feel that 13 months is very young, but I felt very uneasy letting him stay in his cot when I knew that he could climb out and potentially hurt himself. I decided to do the same as I did with my daughter and swap the cot for a toddler bed.

We were very kindly given the Country Toddler Bed from East Coast Nursery, which is available from retailers such as Mothercare, Argos etc. The Country toddler bed is the ideal first bed for your little one, its low to the ground, smaller than a standard single and includes side rails to keep your littles ones safe during the night. It’s a solid bed, I have been super happy with the quality and feel very confident that Henry is happy and ultimately safe whilst he’s asleep.

How we made the transition from cot to bed

We kept our bedtime routine exactly the same as before, bath and then snuggles in our room for his bedtime breastfeed. He always falls asleep on the boob, so I then just transitioned him into his bed. In his bed, we placed his Sleepyhead which he’s had from three months and was in his cot. I felt that this would help ease the transition and also prevent him from rolling out of bed.

He went down as he always does, and he woke at 3am, like he always does. He sat in his bed and called for me, I came and got him for a cuddle and feed, then back to bed. It was all a little too easy! I think because we’ve done it from a young age, both times, we’ve never had that getting out of the bed constantly, which I think definitely helped.

Over the past month, it’s been pretty easy sailing. He has fallen out a couple of times as he is a little wriggler. But I placed his cot mattress on the floor, so he’s safe.

My Top Tips

Do the transition when you feel your child is ready, or when you feel they’re no longer safe in their cots.
Make sure all furniture, like chest of draws, are anchored.
Install a stair gate at the top of stairs or at their door.
Keep bedtime routine the same as before.
Use the same bedding/blanket/sleepyhead/sleepingbag as before so it’s not too much change at once.
Choose a low level bed like the Country Toddler Bed with sides, to keep them safe.

Tips from other mums

As we all know when it comes to parenting, no two families tend to have the same experience. So I called upon some other parent bloggers to share with you their top tips from transitioning from cot to bed.

Roll a large muslin cloth and then place underneath the bedsheet to stop them from rolling out of bed. – Happy Mummy.
For older children, let them choose their new bedding, make it fun! – Big Little and Me.
Cushions or duvets on the floor in case of falls. – Hello Beautiful Bear.
Be prepared for long nights, if they clock on they can get out of bed be prepared to be taking them back to bed until the novelty weares off. – Mummy is a Gadget Geek
I genuinely sat on the landing with a glass of wine and returned him to bed 17 times…this worked as he got up once on night 2 and been pretty good ever since – Two Little Piggles
We did it while she was still quite young, before there was a novelty factor of getting out of bed. It was almost as if there were invisible bars up, she would not even dangle her feet out of the bed when she woke up! She would yell and shout and wait for me to lift her out. It was very strange. I think she was about 19 months old when I took the side off the cot. Never had a problem since. – Porridge and Parenting