My nursery is laid out that the baby room and toddler room are only separated by a little gate, they encourage the little ones to play with the bigger children, my dd started in the nursery when she was 16 months and has made very good friends with the older kids, unfortunately most of whom have just moved to big school. The little ones usually move up around 18-24 months - depending on their development, at the moment, dd and the 2 boys a month older than her are spending a lot of time in the big room as most of the big kids have gone now.

I quite like that she's been mixed so far, it's great that she learns from the bigger kids and the bigger kids learn to be gentle around the little ones.

Caiden moved a few months back. I think it's great. Every day he comes home he has learnt something new. I'd have hated for him to be kept back in the baby room and bored at least he's learning whilst having fun also.

i've been thinking about this recently too. ds will be 2 in december so we have a little time yet, but i'm worried he'll feel a bit lonely with new faces, room, staff etc... hopefully one of his friends will move up at the same time. where he is now, they separate them into 2 groups anyway when they can walk. so you have all the real babies in one room and the toddlers in the top room which has better toys for their age.

didn't really think about routines possibly changing! as long as it's for the best i don't mind, as when they put him in the top room they changed it so they all sleep at the same time in the afternoon. he always slept in the morning before that and now i either have to take him for a drive at 10am to get him to sleep, or just let him fall asleep on my lap at 1 ish! he screams his head off if i put him in his cot awake during the day now

My son was 13 months when he started nursery and he was in the baby room for two hours the first morning (Intro week). The following day the head teacher called me up and asked if I would mind if he was put straight into toddler class, as he could walk well and would get bored in the baby room, and would be moved soon anyway, so it was better to put him in earlier.

He was the smallest kid in the toddler room (and is still one of the youngest) and everyone there was already talking and even running. I think he was completely overwhelmed by it, as it was his first time away from family too - he cried his eyes out. The nursery staff were fantastic to him, and to comfort me when I had to leave. He settled in within 6 weeks and has learnt so much.

I am really grateful that the staff recognised he would do better to be in a class ahead, and decided to move him straight away. They also spent so much extra time settlling him and giving him one to one sessions, whilst allowing him to interact with the other children.

It felt sad that he was ready being classed as a toddler, but hey, I would prefer that to him being kept as a baby just for my benefits :-)

All of her little friends have moved up now apart from one and they were born the same day so are moving up together.  They start their moving up process in November.  The other little girl is fine but DD misses her friends and keeps trying to go up into the big room (as we call it) in the mornings and is crying now when I leave - which is totally out of character.  They have been very good and they let her up there when they can but it's not always possible due to staff to child ratio etc.  I am looking forwars to the day she goes up.  She is way too advanced now for the baby room, she needs toddler time lol.

I was pushing for her to move on as I think they kept her in the baby room cause she only went part time and it was convenient for them. So that was a downside. My dd did very well and didn't find it hard cause it was the same nursery and environment. She was definetely ready and enjoyed the new challenges and toys. But I think I should have asked more questions and I was never actually showing the new group and room until parent's day a couple of months later. I also wasn't told about the new structure (snack time with milk, tidy up time, snoozing time etc.) although it all went well but I should n't have been too scared to get involved. So I'd recommend for you to ask them if you could have a look at the room and get told about the new routine (although I realize now that a good nursery should offer this anyway).

Hope this helps!

my dd moved up into the toddler room a couple of months ago and was absolutely fine, she had a few visits there before hand and I think she was definately ready to move up. luckily her key worker she had in the baby room had moved to toddlers a few weeks before so she was with her.

when she moved up I was excited really cos she's growing up! xxx

just wondering how other mums have felt when their lo moved from the baby room in a nursery into a todeller room. was i alone in being upset by it? how did you/ lo feel and do you think staff could have helped more or did they do anything that was good?