Helping your child move from a cot to a separate bed

Most parenting decisions involve an element of adventure, with one of the major decisions being the transition of a baby from cot to bed. Some take to it as fish takes to water, while others experience anxiety and difficulty. We as parents need to manage this important milestone in the child’s development and ease the anxiety and pain felt.

Generally speaking most children are moved from cot to bed between the ages of 18 months to 3½ years depending on the nature and temperament of the child. There are various reasons why this change is required.

Reasons why a child should be moved from cot to bed:  

The first important reason is that the child has outgrown the cot or has learnt to climb out and may injure oneself. However this argument has a pitfall as moving a child to a bed would remove the constraint of a cot and the toddler may easily roam about the house at night.

The next argument favoring the move from cot to bed is the arrival of the next child; it is better to get the baby adjusted to the bed at least 6 to 8 weeks before the arrival of his/her sibling to prevent feelings of sibling rivalry. As an alternative it would help to let the elder child get used to the situation by waiting till the newborn is 3 or 4 months old.

Another important and good reason to get the child out of the cot into the bed is when you are trying to toilet train him/her; you could easily motivate him/her to go to the loo without being trapped by the bars in the cot.

Do children easily cope to change from cot to bed?

A ‘Yes’ as well as a ‘No’ as coping up with a new situation depends entirely on the nature and temperament of the child. Most first–borns resist especially when they get an indication that there is another child on the way as they are too attached to the cot and coping with the change of sleeping location could make the child anxious.

Again the transition from cot to bed will be difficult for children when they are coping with other changes like toilet-training and starting nursery that are a part of growing up.

It has also been noticed in practice that younger siblings take up more easily to these changes as they wish to ape the older siblings and the change from the cot to bed reinforces that they are no longer the baby of the house.

How to make the transition from cot to bed easy: 

Though some toddlers take to the transition very easily, most require a bit of encouragement and reassurance.

Familiarity makes the transition from cot to bed easy; put the bed in the same place as the cot and allow your child to sleep with his/her old cot blanket if she/he wants even if it is too small. I know of a toddler who loved sleeping with the edge of the blanket fastened on his thumb.

Next take your child with you to select his/her bed and take his/her ideas in the selection of the bed, mattress and bed cover. Also ensure you get a night lamp to make the room less scary; sticking up attractive luminous moons and stars on the ceiling would also help.  

Celebrate the occasion by throwing a party on the ‘Big Day’ when the toddler moves from cot to bed; your child’s excitement would add appeal to the big bed. Once in bed make sure that you leave the door ajar and also play some comforting music to add to the pleasure and lessen the pain.

Do not forget to invest on a guardrail to prevent the child from falling from the bed.

Lastly do not swap cot for bed prematurely; if done you could allow a baby to use the cot for a while before trying again.

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