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Taking the sides down off a Cotbed

 Does anyone have any hints or tips on taking the sides down off a cotbed?

 My little boy is 16 months old now, and has been sleeping in a toddler bed at nursery for the past 2 weeks, as they are preparing him, for moving up into the "Big Boys" room in July/August, and he's sleeping in it really well.

I caught him with his foot on the very top bar of the cotrails of his cotbed at home, and now worried it won't be long before he climbs over the top.

 Part of me thinks, their not babies for long,- but the other part of me thinks, I would never forgive myself if he fell over the top?

What worked best, when / if you did it? Any advice?!

Ps He's a confident walker (and running!) Thank you!! xxx

Replies

  • hi lara,

    i know how you feel its quite a daunting time because you feel as soon as they are in a bed they are no longer babies but you don't want to run the risk of little man trying to climb out and then possibly hurting himself.

    we took charlie out of his cotbed around the same age as your little boy because he started to climb out. we were goin to take the side off see how he goes, then change it fully into the bed, but we didn't, we went straight from the cot to the bed. he helped us to take the cot apart and turn it into the bed and for the first few weeks i used the bedding he had been using whilst it was a cot which seemed to help with the change. i'm not goin to lie we had a few tears for the first few nights which we totally expected because you have to remember they've been used to being surrounded by crib sides for the first 16 months of their life, but by having familiar bedding, nightlights and soft toys around should help.

    when we changed the cotbed into the bed we put some extra pillows on the floor at night just in case he fell out, toddler/cotbeds fortunatly are quite low to the floor so its not a long way to fall if he did topple out but its obviously not a nice feeling if ur fast asleep at the time lol...we also put a stairgate on his door because he had the freedom to get in and out of bed. we stuck to our original bedtime routine and if he got out of bed we would just put him back in without talking to him.

    some nights were a bit more stressful than others but mainly things were pretty normal for us and it all went fairly well...charlie is now 3 1/2 and sleeping in a full sized single bed so for us transfering him from cot to bed at 16 months worked wellimage

    you just have to go with your gut instinct hun and i would say if your little boy is used to sleeping in a bed at nursery then the change for him at home might be a little less stressful for you all. don't forget there are the toddler bed guards you can get in case you are worried he will fall out but like i said we just used cushions/pillows

    hope this helps

    take care

    zoe x

  • Hi Zoe, that sounds like great advice! I think I may try it in the next couple of days, whilst I am not at work, that way if we have some unsettled nights, I'm not worrying about going to work early in the morning! Thanks for replying! It helps knowing someone else has tried at this age! I've no idea what the age is supposed to be for taking the sides off! Thats a great idea about the pillows! will try that! Will make me a little less worried about him falling out! I'll let you know how i get on!

    Lara x

  • hey hun no worries always happy to helpimage

    the trouble with us mummys is we forget to generally go with our gut instincts on many things regarding our kiddie winks due to we worry too much about what professional may say or think. as long as our little ones aren't in danger i've begun to realise we need to give things a go just like we get our little ones to try new things.

    charlie is 3 1/2 and 2 weeks ago we took him out of nappies at night time i decided to do it because a)we had 1 nappy left and b) i'm pregnant with my second and i really didn't want both of them in  nappies but my hv said not to bother taking him out of nappies at night until they are dry in the morning...as much as i appreciate her advice i'm glad i didn't wait till his nappies were dry because he's only had 4 accidents in the last 2 weeks and the rest of the time he has been dry so i think it just goes to show deep down we do know whats best we just need a little nudge in the right directionimage

    hope it all goes well hun, always around if u need a chat, good luck for the next few nightsimage

    zoe xx

  • That's great news about Charlie! Well done for going for it! Like you say mummy instinct is always right! I tried last night with the sides off for the first time, and it really didn't go well image( he got into bed fine, infact he absolutely loved it, but he got far too excited, and was jumping up & down on the bed, when I finally got him to lie down, he rolled over and straight off the bed .. its a cotbed, so it's really low to the floor, but I feel so awful at the moment.. & have put the side up again, but I'm now worrying that he will just climb over the top.. he made it on our bed yesterday no problem at all. So I went out today & bought a bed rail, that took me an hour to put together only to find it didn't really fit very well, so took it back, and bought the "Dream Tubes". I put the Dream tubes on this afternoon, and it just added to the excitement of making his bed one big bouncy castle. Fun, but not ideal! Plus he's just wanting to "jump" off the bed, which is not safe at all.i'm just a bit gutted as Nursery say he sleeps in one there with no problems at all, so I feel like I'm doing something wrong.He'll sleep fine without the cot sides, but it's the play time first thing in the morning & going to bed that's the main problem, as he's really into climbing at the moment.. sofa's, beds, chairs etc! He's such a good little boy, just really into exploring and climbing, which is a little boy & toddler thing to be doing! So I'm not disappointed, infact I'm very proud of him.I'm going to keep the dream tubes though as I think they are a fab idea, and will be good when he's a bit older. I've put the sides back on again, and will leave them up for another couple of months I think before I try again. Thank you though for your advice & support, it was ( and is) very helpful! Congratulations on yor pregnancy! That's lovely news, and a huge well done on getting Charlie dry through the night Lara xx
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