help re bedding for 16mnth old

tiamai_d

With both, they came out the cot at just over a year old (DS1 started climbing/falling/getting stuck) and DS2 simply shook the cot so much it collapsed.

They then went into a junior bed (little white metal one) with a baby gate on the room door to stop them wandering out at night and in the mornings.

DS1 could open it when DS2 was a baby so it worked quite well for us.

tiamai_d

Ilovejackbauer wrote: »

Then you end up with the child yelling from behind the gate, when she wakes up.

But the child will yell from a cot anyway so I don't see your point. So long as you get up when you hear your child like most parents do, then it solves the problem nicely.

I can't fit a gate across my stairs as they are too wide and I don't like gates there anyway. It's too risky in my opinion. You get a bar that you can trip on and unless the gate is screwed to the wall there is the risk of it falling if a child pushes against it.

MadDogWoman_2

Hi,

I converted DD's cot into the bed about a month ago (21 months) not for any particular reason other than that she seemed ready.

We've not really had any problems apart from the usual getting up and down the first few nights. Her new trick is climbing into our bed (she is our room as her's is being decorated), but she is happy to be moved back when we come to bed.

She loves being in her bed as it means when she wants her morning feed she just climbs over me, lies down and latches on!

MDW

Heledarl

Hi

When my son was 18 months old we put him in his first bed, for exactly the same reason that he would climb out of the cot. One of the best investments we made was buying him a single bed, which has a 'trunkle' bed underneath.-the trunkle is a matress on wheels, which we pull out each night. It just means that if he falls out of bed, which he did a lot in the first few weeks of sleeping in a bed, he has a soft landing on the matress beneath. It also makes it easier and safer for him to get out of bed, as opposed to jumping. It's been a great investment because it means we don't have to buy a new bed for him when he's bigger and we've also got a spare bed ready for when he has sleepovers with friends....a long time off yet, considering he's not quite mastered the art of a night's sleep. Anyway, hope that helps!

superflygal

I had to laugh at your tale. I have a DS, 16 months, and a baby due in 4 weeks, and I actually found myself with a similar dilemma to you.

Luckily our son hasn't (yet) climbed out of his cotbed, but as 'hiya' is also one of his top sayings, i can well imagine it.

These are the measures we took. I don't know if any will help you!

1) We have a stair gate at the top of the stairs

2) We have round door knobs on all interior doors (kids find these really difficult to open as their hands are so little)

3) We moved DS into a large cotbed instead of his cot, and kept his little cot for the baby.

I guess as your DD has discovered to her delight that she is skilled enough to escape the confines of her cot, she will be practising this skill more and more. Maybe the focus is now more to keep her in her room than in her bed.

A friend of mine advised me against putting my DS in a bed, as she had done this wih her 18 month old, and he was up all night playing with toys, patrolling the house, and bursting into the marital bedroom! :mad: She advised using a travelcot, which are normally quite large and harder to climb out of apparently.

Hope you find a good solution to the dilemma.

SFG x

jellyhead

tiamai_d wrote: »

I can't fit a gate across my stairs as they are too wide and I don't like gates there anyway. It's too risky in my opinion. You get a bar that you can trip on and unless the gate is screwed to the wall there is the risk of it falling if a child pushes against it.

We didn't have a gate, but on the morning that my 18 month old got out of his cot and went downstairs (on his bum I assume) and walked outside INTO THE ROAD :eek: on a morning that my husband had to leave for a business trip at 4am and left the front door unlocked I decided we needed a gate. A council workman brought him back and I woke up as I heard the gate open.

We got the roller blind type gate which is designed for spaces like this. It goes really wide. You screw the fixings into the wall. I can't remember who makes it now, it cost around £55 though.

My boy is tall, above the highest line on the height chart. He went into a bed - once they start climbing out of a cot they could fall and knock out teeth/get a nose bleed etc. which means you won't be going back to sleep in a hurry.

His bed is a racing car, near the floor. It's single bed size though, so if he's poorly he can sleep with me - husband can sleep in his single bed and not have a disturbed night before getting up for work.

jellyhead

Oh, we also needed a latch on the bathroom door, to stop little one from going in and playing with the taps.

Felicity

Ilovejackbauer wrote: »

Then you end up with the child yelling from behind the gate, when she wakes up.

I have a friend who has a stairgate permanently across her living room, her three kids are penned up in there all day. Thats if they are not strapped into high chairs.

I think you have missed the sentiment of suggesting a stairgate on this thread!

It is not meant to cage a child in but simply to prevent them escaping and possibly putting themselves in danger until you are on the scene to release and supervise them!

koolcat99

My son climbed out of his cot the 1st time just after he turned 1, after he did it twice, I realised that it was only durnig the day when he did it, when I put him for a nap with a blanket.
Now I put him in his sleeping bag during the day too and problem solved, he is 17 months now and hasnt managed to get out since. I feel he is far too young still for a bed and will probably wait till he is about 2 to take the side off (cot bed).
He has a lot of sleeping bags. The best ones by far I have found are the "in the night garden" sleeping bags 12-36 months size. They are over a meter long and very very spacious. The outer material is similar to a real sleeping bag material (a bit shiney and slippery) No chance to climb out in those lol!