Cot bed to toddler bed
Your child is ready to move from a cot to a toddler bed – but are you?
It can be a stressful event for a child to move from a crib or cot to a toddler bed so you need to make it as eventful and exciting as possible. One way is to give him or her a fantastic looking bedroom with a great dressed bed, so that they can look forward to bed time. You can create a co-ordinated dressed bed with a great looking toddler / cot bed duvet cover and accessories it with throws, soft toys, and maybe even co-ordinated wall paper and lampshades.
There are so many toddler (also known as cot bed, or junior bed) duvet covers that choosing the right one can be a bit of minefield. Your first consideration should be the material. Junior duvet covers, (like adult duvet covers) come in a variety of materials, the main ones being 100% polyester, 50% polyester and 50% cotton, or 100% cotton. The 100% polyester cot duvet cover is usually the cheapest – and that is for a reason. Polyester is cheap, and the material is easy to handle. However, if price is not a consideration, then this material should not come into your consideration. Polyester will make your toddler hot and sweaty. The material does not have breathable properties so body heat gets trapped. A junior duvet cover made from 100% polyester will also feel “slippy” and cause the duvet to move around a lot inside it, leaving it as a lump on side of the duvet cover and nothing on the other. A 100% cotton junior duvet cover, is and excellent material. Cotton, as we know, keeps us nice and cool, as its breathable properties take body heat away, reducing perspiration. The only down side is that cotton is a difficult material to iron. Junior duvet covers will need washing and hence ironing often, so be prepared to spend some time infront of your ironing board. A cotton blend (eg 50% cotton and 50% polyester) junior duvet cover on the other hand is a perfect compromise and the most popular material bought in the toddler duvet cover range. You get the breathable properties of cotton, with binding and soft qualities of polyester, to make it a good quality, cost effective, and manageable duvet cover.
Once you have decided on the material, you can decide on a theme. Ideally, you want something that your toddler is interested in, for example, jungle animals like monkeys and lions, farm yard animals, outer space and rockets, diggers and trucks, cars, trains, pirates, dinosaurs etc. You can also choose a more contemporary design for your junior duvet cover, like fairies or ballerinas, or footballs, or racing cars. The key however is to get a design/theme of the junior bedding and accessories that your toddler will like for a while and will grow with. It would be awful to get a character based duvet cover for example Minnie Mouse, who she will have grown out of in three months time! Let your toddler help you decide in the theme, as any input from them is sure to make the transition easier.
Finally, you can accessorise your junior duvet cover with throws and or soft toys. For example a pink polka dot throw would go beautifully with a pink fairies or princess based junior duvet cover and it could be used as an extra layer of warmth during those cold winter nights. Soft toys, like a heart shaped cushion, would finish the transformation off perfectly.
Above are just some ideas, but if you would like more specific ideas on accessorising, just drop us a note.
