7 things that will happen when your toddler starts climbing out of their cot

Posted in Sleeping.
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The day your toddler manages to scale the cot and then fling his little body over the rails, is the day you can say goodbye to life as you know it.

If you also live with a cot escape artist, then you’ll relate to all of these things that will happen when he decides he’s a big boy and not a baby who sleeps in a baby’s bed.

1. “Hello mum!”

The first time your tot surprises you by proudly appearing in front of you after you’ve put him to bed (and finally made yourself that cup of tea) is hilarious. You think he’s so cute and cheeky, until …

Toddler girl lying on bed next to cot

2. He WILL. NOT. STAY. IN. BED. HALP!

Then the curtain calls start happening. You’ve put him to bed, sang the songs, read all the books, done the ‘time for sleep’ routine. But your toddler has new-found freedom. He’s no longer a prisoner to the cot. He can get up and up and up and (yawn) up … 

3. Cot day sleeps are over

The luxury of tucking your tot in bed at 12.30pm and indulging in a couple of hours of me-time (aka doing the vacuuming and making the calls that he won’t let you make when awake) are OVER. A cot escape artist will fight his day sleep until he crashes in the car at 3pm, when you drive down the road to get milk.  

4. The bed-hopping starts 

If you manage to get your little one off to sleep in his own bed, you will inevitably get a night visit from him at some point. At first these are welcomed (Snuggleville!) but after a while you will stop taking him back to his bed and wake up to him grinning at you in the morning, realising you must have both fallen asleep.

5. The tantrums are amplified

All this lost and interrupted sleep will take its toll on your little one, and potentially send you quietly insane. You might find his tantrums are much worse than usual and that he’s super fragile. Almost anything sets him off. He’s tired, grizzly and he just needs sleep. But going to bed has become a game. Sob!

Toddler girl in cot

6. Everywhere is a bed

You will find your toddler napping in the most ridiculous places – in the middle of the hallway floor, curled up on top of the pile of washing in the basket, on the floor of his room after you shut the door on him in an attempt to stop the wandering. The list goes on.

7. Single bed here we come

Then, when you finally accept that the cot has served its purpose, it’s time to replace it with a big boy bed. As you wipe away tears that the baby days are well and truly over, you realise he’s still your baby when you see his small body tucked up in that giant single bed.

So teeny! So cute! Maybe not so pesky after all! Nawww.

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