When do you move your child from cot to bed (adult)?

Hi..wondering above question. My 13 month old baby has shown very displeased in sleeping in his own cot lately. he will cry before sleep, and during the night, if he wakes, i have a hard time putting him back to bed. last nite, i gave in and let him sleep in between us...and he didn't put up any fight and slept well.


he has been sleeping in his own cot all this while, with high bumper at the side, so he can't see us when he sleeps. i am relunctant to take off the bumper, as he will hit the sides.


Should I move him to an adult bed?


he sleeps in the same room as us. in due time, we will move him to his own room, but we do not wish to at this stage.


thanks for your advice.

There are numerous threads on this. As Cara says you should take the bumper off. He'll hit the sides and will learn that this sometimes hurts. No biggie. In a year your kid will be constantly full of bruises and scratches anyway. ;)


13 months is too early in my opinion, but 16-18 months works. In any case I don't think it should be later than 2 years. Make sure the bed has rails but also make sure that your boy has some way to get in and out by himself.


It depends on the baby.

hmm, dont know - we have bumpers on our cots (wwbee - have a look by the way i posted the same question a couple of days ago - there is some good advice there) - still have them - mine are 2 now - what is wrong with them? stops the kids heads from banging on the hard bars.


as for the fact that he cant see you - i know this is not your question - but by 13 month he really should be in his room - the longer you wait the harder it will be to move him.

"hmm, dont know - we have bumpers on our cots (wwbee - have a look by the way i posted the same question a couple of days ago - there is some good advice there) - still have them - mine are 2 now - what is wrong with them? stops the kids heads from banging on the hard bars."


I don't think it is wrong either way. Just that (in my opinion) eventually they will have to learn not to bang their head. ;)


In any case by 2 our daughter hadn't slept in a cot in 8 months. I think that at 2 they are well beyond the point of being able to get in and out of bed themselves. Why not let them?

wwb, i have been having the same problem for the past week! my baby is also 13 months and has all of a sudden been waking up at night and crying for me. i think i made the mistake of picking him up a few times and rocking him back to sleep because now when he wakes up he is standing up in his cot, and when i come in, he lifts his arms expecting me to pick him up. he can't be patted back to sleep in his cot anymore... i have to rock him. and furthermore when i put him back in his cot he awakes immediately and starts all over again... i am trying to work out a way to get him back on track without using the cry it out method... so you are not alone!!!


as for you thinking about putting your baby in an adult bed... last night i actually slept on a mattress on the floor with baby and he slept fine but i was quite amused by how he had absolutely no concept of staying on the mattress. he flip flopped around like a fish out of water all night and many times i woke to find him peacefully sleeping on the carpet. in his cot, the bars obviously keep him in place but on the mattress he just kept rolling onto the carpet! (foam mattress is only 2 inch thick btw so no harm done). so for me, i think 13 months is definitely too young to be put into a bed on their own...


if you have since worked out to get baby back on track please let me know!

:)

I agree that 13 months is too young. But even 4-5 months later body awareness is much more developed. A simple low rail will send a signal to the sleeping brain that it's time to stop. After all this is the same signal that hitting cot bars sends. Of course all babies aren't ready at 18 months but as I said by 2 years it should not be a problem.



"i am trying to work out a way to get him back on track without using the cry it out method... so you are not alone!!!"


Hmmm. Patience. I'm sure you'll work it out. The picking up is a mistake as you have figured out. He'll cry it out. He needs to understand that crying does not help. Right now you are rewarding his behavior. Kids that age can easily cry for an hour so it is necessary to be quite firm.

Hi Sashimi girl, my baby has slept well for the last 2 nights since i posted this thread. someone suggested me to take off the bumpers, so i did. it works wonder!



i took off the bumper that face my bed. so he can see me. for the last feed, i let him drink in his own cot, while i sleep in my own bed. he can see me. he will doze off without much cry. unlike before, he will stand up and walks around his cot, and cried out for me. when he wakes at night, i use the same routine as his last feed. seems to work so far in the last two days. in fact, last nite, i let the dim light on the whole night, and he didn't wake for the whole night, till 4.30am (last feed at 7.30pm) for another feed. this rarely happens cos he usually wake between 11pm to 2am for one feed.


i hope it improves. otherwise, i m considering what you have done is to put him on the mattress on the floor. however, after reading your post, i m hesitated!

wwb, your little one should not need night feeds anymore really - try to get him off it - he should be able to go 7.30 pm till the morning - next time he wakes up give him water, not milk and stick to it - after about a week or so he will figure out that no point in waking up - he does not get milk anyway... to be honest that should be done at much much earlier stage - I think we stopped all night feeds for ours at around 4 months... This might be one of the reasons he wakes and does not go donw easily - he expects (and gets it!) to be fed....


Most, most definetly NO feeds at that age 11pm-2am...