Active Toddler Climbed Out of Bed!

My daughter is 2, and we moved her to a twin size day bed about 6 weeks ago. It has been a challenge for us.

We still go into her room repeatedly to get her back into bed for about 30mins for naps and bedtime. We tried letting her just go at it in the room and treat the whole room like a crib -- I read that in Toddler 411; however, I had the crabbiest kid on the block as she was losing a lot of quality sleep. There was just too much freedom. Therefore, we keep putting her back in te bed without saying anything..no hugging...etc. So far we have moved from a 1.5hour struggle to 30mins.

I read that if you can place their new bed in the same place of their crib that when they wake in the middle of the night and look around they feel safe as they have the same perspective of the room and are not frightened.

My daughter continued to sleep through the night even moving her to a bed; it was just getting her to sleep that was a probem.

Good Luck.

1 mom found this helpful

They will get out. But, you have to make them get back in. It's a hard transition, but at 2 it's pretty much the age. My daughter just turned 3, I've had her a toddler bed decorated with her pretty bedding since she was 2. She still gets out every now and then. I'm probably just so exhausted I'm just not firm enough when I try to make her get and stay in her own bed. But, if I'd kept the crib, just like yours, she'd be climbing out anyway. Good luck!

1 mom found this helpful

I have triplets who are almost three and we still have them in cribs, even though they know how to climb out. We have just had to try to teach them to stay in bed. If you are persistent eventually they will stay. Someone once told me that you can use a step-stool every time you get them in and out of bed, so they will think that you need the stool to get out, so if the stool is removed from the side of the bed they won't get out, but I never tried it myself.

Dear K.,
I aslo have twins, but boys. They are 20 months old. They just started climbing out of their cribs too. I was scared for their safety and my husband was telling me that they would be fine, it will make them tough. I didn't go for it. I decided to go ahead and keep the crib in their room, but since their crib is convertable I took off the main gate and put up a safety side that you can buy at wallmart. They will still crawl out every now and then but all you got to do is to keep telling them "no! it is bed time. Let's go to bed!" and put them back. Eventually they will learn that when the lights are out then play time is over. So, I hope that helps you out some. Good luck with the girls!!
-C.

ok. i have twins that are 3.5, so i feel you! it is time to switch! the climbing out thing can be dangerous, and soon they will figure out how to help eachother out! trust me! so just switch them. they will see you making the switch, so make a big deal out of it. how they are big girls with big girl beds, and they will LOVE it. now with getting up after bedtime, that will happen! you just have to monitor them for a while. bed time will be harder for a while, but if you stay strong and strict it will work. it takes about a month of checking 2 and 3 times a night. like once at 1 min and then 3 min and at 5 aand than 10, and soon they will learn you will come and check so it will be spread further apart. and fewer. each set is different. if you need any more ideas just write me back! good luck!!

When my son was little I attached a string with a small figure to the pull light in his closet. That way if it got out of bed he was allowed to sit in his bean bag and look at books that were in a basket next to the bean bag. Not only did he read at barely 5 yrs. It gave him some freedom. He sometimes was sleep the next morning in the chair. Eventually he read, turned off the light and got back in bed. He understood he could do that but not come out of his room and wonder. Good luck.

I don't think you can go wrong either way. We never used the tent, but I had originally planned to. By the time my twin girls were 20 months we were potty training and I was ready for all the double baby stuff to go including the cribs. So we bought twin beds and they loved them. We just sat in there during nap time and night time until they were asleep. There was no playing or talking to mommy/daddy allowed. I usually rocked in their rocker with my eyes closed. They figured it out in no time and we had no problems. Night time was a piece of cake. They went down at 7:00 pm and went to sleep almost immediately because they were ready. Nap time it took about 2 weeks of me sitting in there until they got the hang of going to sleep w/o getting out of their beds. Good luck!

I had purchased a zippered net that fits on the crib, which was actually designed to keep cats out of the crib. Try Babies R Us.

Buy a Crib tent they are wonderful!!! they keep your child safely in the crib until they are mature enough to sleep in a bed. they are also gaurenteed so if it breaks or tears just call the company and they will send you a replacement net and you send the broken one back in their pre paid envelope... I have used a crib tent with my oldest when he was little and he is now 5 and my 3 year old and 18 month old both have crib tents now...

A.

K.,
I have twins (boys) and we had the kind of cribs that turned into toddler beds, so when the climbing got frequent we took off the gate on one side (that's how ours converted). The good thing about that is, when they roll out it's not too far to fall. Ours occasionally rolled out but usually didn't even wake up!

There was some playing and jumping at first, but it was a short phase. We did have to change the way the beds were arranged in the room, so the boys could not see each other as easily. It made the room a little weird, but it helped! For a while either my husband or I would sit in their room until they fell asleep (police)...once asleep they didn't wake up until morning so that was good. If your girls are good sleepers that helps. If you have trouble getting them to settle down or go to sleep, you might think about staggering the bedtimes. Then the second one doesn't have anyone to mess with when she gets to bed.

We were able to use the converted cribs until the boys were four (they're small) and by that time they were SO excited about the big-boy beds. That transition was very easy.

My son climbed out of his crib when he was less than 1 year, so we got a crib tent. It was wonderful! It gave us a great piece of mind to know that he was safe and could not get out, but still allowed him to see everything and plenty of air to get through. He stayed in it until it fell apart when he was almost 3. (He had climbed on top of it, we had his bed lowered, that's why it fell apart!) He still likes the "enclosed" feeling that he has with his bunk bed, so I think the tent made him feel safe and secure. Check out One Step Ahead, they carry them on there.

Wow, K. - perhaps laying some ground rules with the twins about staying in bed until Mommy says that it is OK to get out of it. And consequences for disobedience, of course, but if she is big enough to climb out, she is big enough to stay in it until you are ready for her to get out. Reward her (or them) when she stays in and make a big deal about how important it is to be safe and smart! Hope that helps!
Blessings, S.

Go ahead and make the transition from the crib to the toddler bed. Check on them periodically, and if you find them playing during the night, then you need to take the toys out of their room and put it into another space temporarily. Explain to them , that when the lights go out, no playing is allowed till the next day. Do that for about 2 weeks, then move their toys back to their room.

My son started climbing out of his crib at 18 months but I still kept him in it. I didn't have a crib that turned into a bed so he waited till he was 3 years old to get his twin bed. I found that he didn't always climb out and it usually happened at nap time when he woke up. I would give it a while to see how often your daughter will climb out. Also, second born children are always different because we are different parents to them. The first child is watched more carefully and we are more protective of them but learn alot by the time the second and third child comes around.

We were lucky enough to find an adapter for our Jenny Lind crib that we had with our son, so when our daughter started climbing out, we just put it on and she adapted just fine. I think she was about 2 years old. Then just after she turned 3 we got her a big girl captain's bed. The captain's bed saves some room, as we do not need a dresser and it is closer to the ground. Both of our kids adapted very well.

K.,

We have b/g twins and we used crib tents for them to keep them in their cribs. We loved them and so did the kids. It is basically a white mesh tent that attaches to the crib and zips close to keep them in. You can still move the railing up and down to get them in and out. If you are not ready for the challenge of twins being in toddler beds (we weren't until they were 3), then you may want to research these tents and see if they are right for you and your children.

We own a baby proofing company and we recommend these tents to all of our customers. Please feel free to call or email us. Our website is www.infanthouse.com.
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K.

Just moved my son at 3 years old to a Thomas the Train toddler bed which he picked out for himself. It has small rails on it but he can stil get out. We put very little toys in his room-just a few books and his favorite stuffed toy for the bed. We put a gate up in the door so that he cannot roam the house at night. It was tough the first few night but he has adjusted.

A mom of 3 girls....7,5,& 2. The 2 year old climbs everything insight. She did climb out of her bed once and it scared me b/c the bedrooms are upstairs. I want ot keep her in her crib as long as i can b/c she is by far the busiest of the 3 girls. I know she will be all over the house if she is allowed that much freedom. Check with 'one step ahead' they have crib net covers. It is like a canopy top. Good luck! Maybe we'll see you at the olympics one day.

K.,

I honestly think that each child is so different that it's hard to pin-point a way to get this to work. We didn't have any issues at all with our daughter going from her crib to her own bed. She was so tall that at age 1 we had to take her from her crib, for fear of her climbing out, and put her into a twin size bed. We found that she would out grow a toddler bed too soon, so we just moved her straight to a twin bed. She LOVED it! My husband builds houses and furniture so he built her rails for her bed, and we put all of her babies that she wanted on there, as well as my gma makes pillows, etc and she made her several pillows to put next to the rails. She slept awesomely....all night long. It was great. However; that being said...remember that each child is different. We removed her rails when she was about 2 1/2 yrs old because she didn't like them. She still never fell off the bed. She is now 4 yrs old, and still has pillows all over it, as well as her selection of babies.

Good luck to you. You may try letting them pick their own stuffed animals, babies, etc to sleep with. This is what helped us transition Kloe to her new bed. :o)

Blessings,
~S.

From a triplet mom, I say wait if you are not ready. I had a climber too and we were not ready for big kid beds. We used a crib tent from Babies R Us. It was great! It provided safety and gave us some peace of mind.

Hello K.,

If you can help it, then they should not be in the same room. If they have to be in the same room, you can still do it but it would take a little longer. Get ready to go back into their room for as many times as they get out of bed. The great thing is that it will only get easier with time. When ever they get out of bed, do not comfort or even talk to them. Just carry them back into the bed. When you do not engage with them, they will give up and go to bed. That would be the end of that.

A.

Just put them in the "Big Girl Bed". and make a big deal out of it. Our son went into a "big boy bed" at around 2 and we had issues for a few weeks. He fell out a few times, so I would suggest putting blankets and pillows on the side that is away from the wall, then since he fell out, he decided to just sleep on the floor for a while. We made a palet on the floor for him, we would put him to bed in the bed, then he would move to the floor later. He has been cosistantly sleeping in his bed for a while now. The first stuff took about a month to get through. If they sleep on the floor, open the door slowly when you go to wake them, we hit him a few times because he slept by the door. The bad part is that he shared a room with his infant sister, so we had to go get her for the middle of the night feedings. I think that having the two girls in the same room will also help the transition. I hope this helps.

My daughter started to hike her leg to attempt to climb out right at 12 months. And for SAFETY issues I took the bed down immediately. All it takes is one wrong move from your child to break his/her neck or somehow maneuver through a net and get hung. I toddler bed is only about 6 to 12 inches from the floor. If they aren't too sure about it at first, don't worry if they fall asleep on the floor. My daughter adjusted within a week or two...I didn't worry about an upstairs issue because she couldn't open the door and when she could I didn't use the plastic door covers...i used crocheted ones that just slid on the knob

My advice is wait on the big bed. We didn't do that and bought a big boy bed the 1st time my son crawled out of his crib. That opened a whole huge can of worms regarding sleeping through the nite and almost 9 months later we are still dealing with the repercussions.

And, of course after we already did this I found a lot of information regarding keeping your child in the crib till at least 3. Don't make a big deal about the crawling out, just put them back and tell them to go to sleep. After awhile the novilty of this new talent may wear off. You will never be able to keep them in bed again once you switch to the big bed.

Good luck!

I have to go with SuperNanny on this one. We had this dilemma with my daughter. She learned that she didn't have to stay in her twin bed and we spent so much time putting her back in bed. Eventually we put a baby gate in her doorway so she couldn't leave her room. Then when we were ready for bed we'd move her into her bed and she'd stay the rest of the night.

Supernanny advice is this: the first time they get out of bed, give them some love and sweet talk, not very long though and put them back in bed. The second time they get out, simply say "goodnight" and put them back in bed. The third and subsequent times just put them back in bed and say NOTHING to them. Each night it will become easier as they will learn that getting out of bed gets them no positive attention. We did this for about 3 nights and now we don't have any problems.

Good luck!

I didn't have twins, but my daughter was 18 months old when we got into a "big girl bed" and this is how I transitioned her. I had a twin bed and her crib in the room, but you may have to modify this if you are planning on making the crib the toddler bed. I started with nap times and let my daughter get in the bed. I was check on her about every 3-5 minutes to make sure she stayed in the bed. If she was out when I checked, she got a warning. If I came in again and she was out, she was put back in the crib. Once she was able to stay in the bed for naps I did the same thing for bedtime and it was pretty easy. The catch is she didn't really climb out of bed. However, my son DID climb out of his crib. Not all the time, but he started and I did the same transition strategy with him. The difference was that one time when he had to go back to his crib to sleep, he cried and cried, and when I checked on him after he calmed down...I found him in his big boy bed - ASLEEP! He had climbed out of the crib and got in the bed, but was so tired from all of it that he fell asleep. I hope this helps! I'm sure twins are worse.