How we went from a cot to a toddler beds in 2 weeks!

Perseverance.  That's how we got the twins to sleep soundly in their toddler beds in under 2 weeks!

A few weeks ago, we found Master James terrorizing his sister in her cot. Somehow, he had discovered how to climb out of his cot and thought it’d be fun to visit his sister.

We put him back in his cot only to find the next morning he was again asleep in Georgia’s bed.

 He was clearly very pleased with himself - she was not.

After James’s night-time escapades we decided that it was time to start transitioning the twins into toddler beds.

Luckily, the twin’s cots have 3 removable side poles to make the gradual transition to beds easier.

Our first attempt at nap time in their cot/bed was fun. Instead of sleeping soundly as we wished, the twins discovered they were free to explore their room and got up to all sorts of trouble. One time they scaled their changing table which enabled them to jump around on the top of their wardrobe.  Great fun!

Furniture rearrangement was called for to limit their adventurous spirits.

After a few nights of the twins trashing their room and being found in interesting sleeping positions, John and I stripped everything that could be moved out of the room and child-locked everything humanly possible. Amazingly, every night James still managed to find something else to destroy or climb. It was a constant battle of wits on how he could escape each night.

My favourite photo is when we found him asleep in a draw that he had cleared out!

After a few nights of explore and destroy, the novelty wore off and the twins were sleeping soundly through the night with no surprises in the morning.

Now it was time to take the plunge and remove the cot sides to complete the transition to beds. Charlotte and I supervised while John did the hard work. Soon enough we had two little beds!

The twins adapted to sleeping in their own beds relatively smoothly, although, for two nights we did find them asleep on the floor.  This time Georgia got in on the random sleeping action.

All in all, we found the twin’s transition from cot to bed quite easy and at times, very entertaining. The best advice I can give you is to stay consistent. If you hear them playing or crying to come out of their room, just leave them. They are safe.  The excitement of being able to get out of their cots is a whole new experience. Eventually, the excitement wears off and they will go back to sleeping well.

Kelly xxx