Hi Everyone:
To make a long story short, I tried having my 20mo. old daughter sleep w/us @4am this morning. When it wasn't working, I put her back in her crib. Well, needless to say, she was none to pleased. She got so mad she actually climbed out, BAM! onto the floor. My husband and I were absolutely stunned. I am at a loss. I bought a crib tent ($70 crib tent I may add) and not sure if this is the right thing to do. I wouldn't object to putting her mattress on the floor, but she is a TERRIBLE sleeper and 4 nights out of 7, she usually is up talking, playing, singing at 4 or 5 am. I usually ignore her, but sometimes she just won't go back down and I (or my daycare provider)am stuck w/a crab by 11:00 am. I just think she'll run amoke if she's free to rome. I'll need to remove all her toys (in her room), get a gate for her door and get ready for Hell, part II if I go the crib on the floor route. Any similar experiences/what worked for you would be GREATLY appreciated.
THanks, everyone for your stories and support. My daughter did alright w/the crib tent, but I didn't zipper her until she was asleep. She did her usual 4am wake up, chatted for 1hour and cried out for me 3times before she screamed bloody murder (I don't think she realized she was zipped until she stood up). At 5:15am I picked her up (poor thing was screaming, "OUT, OUT!")and started my day. Ugh....thanks again...I really appreciate it.
I am so not looking forward to when my trio can climb out of their cribs (they're almost 16 months). I don't have a crib tent (yet) but I've heard from other posters on another forum that they've worked well for them. If you go that route, let us know how it goes. Good luck.
At 20 months she's ready for a big girl bed. As for getting her to stay in bed and/or bedroom, check out the Ferber book (Solving your Child's Sleep Problems) - he has a whole section on dealing with this in older toddlers/kids.
Also, let her have some books in bed (but not toys - they're too interesting). If she wants to stay in bed and look at books, fine - as long as she doesn't disturb you.
well I can relate to this one as my son would climb out of his crib to find me. Once I finally convinced my husband that our son needed a bigger bed, he was in one. I did read though that during the transition period that if your room is large enough, to try keeping the crib up as well. My son has been in his own big bed with no real problems. If going with a big bed vs. a toddler bed, I would suggest you buy a step stool (got mine at target) for her to get in and out easily. Also make dure you place her in the middle at night so she won't roll over.
Hope this helps. Good Luck!
Crib tents are fine. I've seem them work wonders. Sounds like she "fell out" in an attempt to get out rather than climbed out with any skill. My neighbor used a crib tent and her son really liked it. It was new and novel--and kept him safe. We did a big girl bed at 2.5 years of age. I think a crib tent is a good solution to that "in between" time of crib and big beds. Toddler beds are a waste of money since they are actually in them for such a short amount of time.
Hi,
Since she can climb out of the crib now. I would suggest getting a toddler bed or a big girl bed. Both my kids had toddler beds and it was great since they are so low to the ground and I was able to reuse the crib mattress. The hard part will be keeping them in the bed. Both my kids transited pretty easily but it takes time. Good luck.
My son and daughter both crawled/jumped out of their crib at 8 and 10 months...we used a crib tent for my son who did it at 8 months...but moved him to a "big boy" bed at 22months. He was ready for it and he actually slept better than he did in the crib. My daughter jumped out once and never again...since 20 months (she'll be 2 next month), we have converted her crib into a day bed and she is also much better about sleeping. She'll sneak out one time right after we put her to bed, but for the most part, she sleeps thru the night. Maybe there's a possibility your child needs to transition to a toddler bed---needs the change of her routine to help. It 's always worth it to give it a try!
Hope this helps..Goodluck!
M.
i don't have any advice because my daughter is still 18 months and hasn't figured out how to do that yet (but she will, I have no doubt), but I just wanted to send my support and say that I feel for ya!!!
skip the tent... waste of money
we put our 16 month old son in a bed for the same reason... climbed over/fell out of crib at 16 months... the transition was so easy and now that he's 2 1/2 we don't have to worry about it...
he liked his bed much better than the crib almost immediately...
we did put a nice gate on his door and made sure his room was safe...
My pediatrician advised a crib tent. A toddler on the run around a house on her own is a recipe for disaster! :)
I'd baby proof the room (AGAIN! : ) ) and put her mattress on the floor right away - if she has gotten out once she's very likely to climb again and, of course, any injury would be too much, right?
With some good sturdy books and one or two stuffed friends she'll entertain herself, drift back to sleep on her own, or will stay up and get into reading (HURRAH!)... and if she is a crab at 11:00 maybe she could be encouraged to catnap for an hour?
My eldest has been on the floor since he was just over 18 months old - he loves it, we love it. Just waiting until my youngest gets a little bigger and can fend off his older bro before getting him on the floor too (they share a room - talk about a crazy situation!??!? HA!).
You'll make a great choice and your daughter loves you for taking the time to think it all through!
I too would say that she is ready for a big girl bed. Once they are able to climb out you need to make the switch fast so she doesn't get hurt. I agree with you that you'll need to get most of the toys out of her room. We took all but a couple of toys out of my son's room when he switched to a bed. We also put a gate up. He wakes up at least once a night (he's almost 3 now) but he stays in his room and either "reads" his books or plays with his stuffed animals. He has a pretty bright night-light so he can see what he is doing. He usually falls back asleep for a little while, so he's not too crabby.
Also make sure she get into anything dangerous by climbing. We had to put safety locks on our windows because we have a dresser there and don't want him to open the window and fall out (2nd floor room). It may be hard the first few days as she gets used to the new freedom, but if you've taken most of the toys out in a few days she'll realize what to do. I don't know how you put her down at night, but we use a cd with favorite songs that he listens to as he falls asleep. If we have a lot of trouble with him when he wakes up during the night (only once in a great while) we'll turn his music back on and he'll usually go back to sleep.
