Short answer: There is no set age for moving from a cot to a bed. Many children make the move somewhere between 18 months and three and a half years. If your child is safe and happy in the cot, there is usually no rush: staying in a bed takes a kind of self-control that young toddlers are still developing. Good reasons to move sooner are climbing out (a fall risk) or outgrowing the cot. Whenever you move, make the room safe for a child who can now get up and walk around at night.
Signs it may be time
- Climbing out. Once your child can get a leg over the rail, a fall from cot height is a real risk. First lower the mattress base to its lowest setting, take out anything they could stand on (large soft toys, cot bumpers) and consider a sleeping bag, which makes climbing harder. If they still get out, it's time to move.
- Outgrowing the cot. Check your cot's instructions: most give a maximum age, height or weight.
- Night-time potty training. A child who is dry at night needs to be able to get to the potty or toilet.
- Asking for a “big bed”. Enthusiasm helps, especially if an older sibling or cousin has one, but on its own it isn't a reason to hurry.
Why waiting often pays off
A cot gives a clear physical boundary. In a bed, your child has to stay put by choice — and at two, the urge to get up and see what's happening is strong. Children who move early often go through a spell of getting out of bed again and again. That doesn't mean you can't move early; just go in expecting it, and keep your responses calm and predictable.
Is your toddler climbing out? Lower the base, clear the cot and try a sleeping bag first. That often buys you a few more months.
If a new baby is on the way
Try to make the move a couple of months before the birth, or wait until a few months after, so your toddler doesn't feel pushed out of their bed for the baby. Remember that a newborn sleeps in a Moses basket or cot in your room for at least the first six months anyway, so there is often less hurry than it seems. Read more in preparing your eldest for a second baby.
How to make the move
- Choose a low bed. A toddler bed, or a cot bed with the sides removed, keeps the drop small. A bed guard can help in the first weeks; make sure it fits snugly, with no gap between the guard and the mattress.
- Keep what's familiar. Put the bed where the cot stood if you can, and keep the same sleeping bag or blanket, comforter and night light. Change one thing at a time — not a new room, new bedding and no more sleeping bag all at once.
- Involve your child. Let them choose the bedding or help put the bed together. Talk about it during the day and read a picture book about big beds.
- Pick a calm moment. Avoid weeks with a holiday, illness, starting nursery or daytime potty training.
- Keep the bedtime routine exactly the same. Same steps, same order, same time. The bed is new; the rest isn't.
Make the room safe for night-time wandering
From now on your child can get up while you're asleep. Before the first night, look at the room from their height:
- Fix wardrobes, chests of drawers and bookcases to the wall so they can't be pulled over.
- Keep low furniture away from windows, and fit window locks or safety catches that restrict how far the window opens.
- Tie blind and curtain cords up out of reach and fix them to a surface; loose looped cords are a strangulation risk.
- Use a stair gate at the top of the stairs (or across the bedroom door).
- Keep medicines, button batteries and small objects well out of reach.
When your child keeps getting out of bed
Expect it. It isn't defiance; it's a newly discovered possibility. What helps most is a response that is calm, short and the same every time:
- Walk them back, every time. Calmly, with as little fuss as possible and the same short phrase: “It's sleep time. Night night.”
- Be boring. No telling off, no long chats, no extra games. Attention of any kind — even cross attention — makes getting up more interesting.
- Limit the extras in advance. One story, one drink, then lights out. A picture chart of the routine helps toddlers know what comes next.
- Consider a toddler clock that changes colour when it's time to get up. For children who can't read a clock, it makes “not yet” concrete.
- Give it a couple of weeks. The first nights are often the hardest. If you stay consistent, the getting up usually fades.
New fears at bedtime
Around this age imagination takes off, and with it the first fears of the dark. Take the fear seriously without making it bigger. A dim night light or a landing light left on is fine. See nightmares and night terrors for what helps at night.
And if it really isn't working, it's fine to go back to the cot for a few months, as long as your child isn't climbing out. That isn't failure; it's adjusting to what your child is ready for.
When to ask for help
- Your child is very hard to settle every night for weeks, and it's affecting the whole family — your health visitor can help, and may know of a local children's sleep service.
- Your child snores loudly, has pauses in breathing at night, or seems very tired during the day — talk to your GP.
- Your child has fallen from a bed or cot and is drowsy, being sick, or not acting like themselves — get urgent medical advice (NHS 111 in England, or your local equivalent), or call your local emergency number in an emergency.
Related reading
For the whole 0–4 sleep picture: The Big Book of Sleep (PDF, English) is a reference guide to children's sleep from birth to four, including bedtime battles, early waking and the move to a big bed.
Sources
- NHS — Sleep and young children.
- NHS — Baby and toddler safety.
- Child Accident Prevention Trust — Falls.
- The Lullaby Trust — Safer sleep information.
Written by the Bloom Guides editorial team. Last updated: 19 October 2026. General information only — not a substitute for advice from your health visitor or doctor.