Climbing Out of Crib - McKinleyville,CA

get a crib tent is what im doing with my super active 11month old 1 in 2 days. My first son didn't walk till 13 months and once he mastered that he was climbing out till he finally fell out and i thought he broke his neck. I still have the nightmare. I finally put him in a twin bed at 26 months. I never thought I would get a crib tent till #2 came along. rolled over at 3.5 months, crawled at 5 and was walking at 7.5 months. His new trick is climbing on the sofa and climbing up the kitchen cabinets. Im going nuts. He is too young I feel for a bed right now. If he can get on the sofa and then fells off it as he has hitting his head on the hardwood why would i take the chance of putting him in a bed??? Not ready yet. Amazon has crib tents which Im ordering mine today. We already lowered his mattress at 9 months as he was trying then to get out. He is very busy and i forget how old he is sometimes for all he is doing early. I wonder what his next trick will be at 1. YIKES!!!!

Good luck

SAHM/.zombie 40yrs old with 2 amazing funny little boys. 3.5years and 11 months 1 on June 18th. I can't belive it.

I would switch him to a twin bed - if you don't want it on the floor, the crib mattress can slide right under the metal bed frame (like a trundle) and can be pulled out at night to cushion any possible falls. We still have the crib mattress under my 7 yr old's bed because it we sit on it when we read her stories and tuck her in at night. It puts us up high enough, and is softer than the floor.

Since he wiggles around so much in his crib, I suggest you keep him in his crib. Plus, he's bit young for the freedom of a bed. I've seen nets/tents that attach to the crib somehow that are designed to keep animals out & kiss in the crib. Look at Babies R Us. Our youngest son learned to climb outa the crib at 2 & we waited til he was 2.5 to put him in the lower bunk under his brother. I had to train him to sleep in his crib which took a bit less than a week. Every time he climbed out, I took him back to bed. I said absolutely nothing to him, no kiss & not even any eye contact. I'd just stick him back in his bed. One night I did this about 30 times in 45 minutes. He finally figured out I meant busniess & stayed in bed. I even trained his older brother to ignore him when he appeared in the hallway. So, once your son figures out how to climb out, you could do this same thing. Since your guy is jsut putting his ankle on the railing, it will probably be a while til he feels confident enough to make the jump down. I really feel that just cuz kids can climb outa the crib, it doesn't mean they're ready for a toddler or regular bed. That's too much freedom for children under the age of 3. Best of luck!

Don't move him until you have to. My son plops himself on the floor every now and then and plays on the floor until he is ready to go to sleep then he calls for mom or dad to get him back into his bed. We just play like we had no idea that he had gotten out, and tell him to stay put and he does. I moved my daughter to soon and it made life really hard for a good 6 months. He wont get hurt if you have the room baby safe and make sure he cant fall on something hard or sharp. Put some soft blankets down just in case. But once he does it the first time he will do it every time.

He is ready for a toddler bed. Just put a gate up at his door at night so he can't wonder if you don't hear him. Also make sure his toys are picked up and his room is safe at night that way he doesn't get into trouble. You could always put him in a pak n play to sleep instead of a crib so if he climbs out he doesn't have far to fall. We put my son in a toddler bed and gated the door and made sure is room was especially safe at night, it worked.

Dear J.,

I went through the same thing, but my 4-1 crib didn't allow crib tents. We did a 1/2 and 1/2, we bought a thomas the train toddler bed and during the day we put the mattress in the train bed to get him used to it and at night we put the mattress back in the crib. Both beds were in the same room. Finally one day after nap time he climbed out of the crib all the way and fell into a pile of toys. Scared him more than anything and daddy said that's it! he is done with the crib - and the crib was broken down and put in storage and a 1st step gate was put on the door frame. He loved to kick the headboard in the crib and substituted the wall once he was in the train bed. Even with bed rails! My husband was of the opinion a 12 inch fall out of bed was better than a 3 foot fall out of the crib! And I agree.

Good luck and don't forget to tell us what happens.

R.

He is a bit young to move to a bed so try to keep him in the crib for about 6 more months. When he does move to a bed he may take a few spills. Just make sure the floor area is clear of obstructions and if the thought of your child hitting the floor bothers you, put a few blankets down to cushion his fall. As for the staying in bed, be ready to consistently and immediately return him to bed. He will figure it out soon enough.

We taught our little girl to climb out of the crib safely. She now climbs in and out of it all the time. We also moved her to a toddler bed but that is not working very well unless she is really tired.

Good Luck.

P.

I agree with the other Moms that you should not move him to a toddler or twin bed yet. My daughter is 31 months old and still sleeps in her crib. If you move him out of the crib you invite a whole bunch of potential problems (getting up in the night to interrupt your sleep, not napping because he can get down, falling out of bed, etc...).
My daughter was also an early walker and a big climber. I would put her in a "early walker" sleep sack at night. They're made by Halo and are a bit hard to find, but basically it's a sleep sack with holes out the bottom for their feet. It keeps them warm until they learn how to sleep under the covers and they have some freedom to walk around but (here's the key) not enough freedom to climb out of the crib. Plus it's a lot cheaper than a crib tent.
Once my daughter grew out of the sleep sack phase and into keeping herself under blankets and covers her desire to climb out of the crib faded. She now loves her crib. It's her safe place, her special bed. I won't move her until we're both 100% ready.
Good luck with the climber!!

My little ones had the same problem (they are 4 and 2), anyway, instead of a toddler bed, we put a twin mattress on the floor and put the baby gate in their doorway with the door open. Once they are asleep, I remove the gate. If they come into my room, I can easily go back to their bed with them and get a little more sleep that way. It works for me, perhaps it will for you too. Good luck!

My 18 month old just started doing this too. I got a crib tent off of Craig's List. I was against it at first, but the peace of mind at night and during naptime is well worth it. It is a dome-like covering, so it is a little bit like a cage, but with enough room to stand in the crib. I just felt like he was too young not to be in a crib and too young to understand the rules of having his own toddler bed. Good luck!

Two words: CRIB TENT!

My daughter started climbing out of the crib when she was 13 months old - not falling out, mind you, but lowering herself gently to the floor. I don't care who says "well, when they start climbing out, you take them out of the crib and put them on their mattress on the floor"..... there is no way on Gods green earth that I was going to put my 1 year old BABY in any sort of sleep situation other than a crib. The crib tent saved us, and as it turns out, she absolutely adored that crib tent and actually looked forward to getting in her "fort" at night! When she turned 2, we had to take it off to wash it (it is made of see through mesh, but she was sick one night and vomited all over it - I just had to wash it) and she had "forgotten" how to climb out of the crib! Either that, or her desire to escape it just disappeared - she was rather pushed out of shape that we had to remove the tent for awhile too. We put it back on for awhile at her insistence, and then took it off when she was 2 1/2 for prep for a big bed. A month after she turned three, we went out and got a twin bed that she can use for the rest of her young life in our home (toddler beds are a total waste of money in my opinion). We have a mesh bedrail for her bed so she doesn't fall out.
Do NOT, for goodness sakes, put that baby in a toddler bed. You can buy these new at Babies r' Us for about $70, or check your local craiglist - in fact, if you live in the general area (I live in Campbell, right on the border of SJ) I would be more than willing to sell you mine!

My youngest was a year old when we got him a twin as he as walking at 9 months and running/climbing at a year! We just couldn't afford to have him fall out so we got a twin, put it on the floor (it really is large for someone so small), put it against one wall, and tucked the covers under the mattress when he went to bed. I had a kiddy size futon chair (the ones that just fold up in to a small floor chair that can be used for an extra mattress for sleepovers next to the bed, and would just slide it a bit closer at night to keep him from rolling out. Never fell out. He was really excited about the "big boy bed" -- we told him it was special and not for jumping like mom's and dad's. Worked.

Greetings J.: I have to say that I got a giggle out of your situation because of seeing it repeated in our family. My son would have climbed Half Dome at age 15 months if given the chance. There was nothing short of turning the crib upside down to hold him in it(which I did give some serious consideration). We because of other children bought a bunk bed and gave him the bottom bunk.But when any of the 5 children came into our room they liked to curl up to Daddyand fell asleep listening to heis heartbeat. I just had to force myself to learn to sleep. Now for the funny part--- That same son now has 2 children that do the same thing!! He has taken to putting a sleeping bag on the floor to be sure that his 15 month old stayed in her bed. Last week they took the crib apart as it turns into a toddler bed and the little one sleeps better & they don't have to worry about her falling & hurting herself. They have also kept a fan going in her room for quiet noise and at times have a CD running of soothing music so if she wakes up she can just play in her bed or on the floor and listen until she puts herself back to sleep. They also keep a baby gate at the door so she can't get out and hurt herself. (They monitor her with a baby monitor). I don't know how to encourage you to fall back to sleep because it really is a hard process. I had books on tapes that I listened to , music, or just went into the other room and fell asleep with the TV on. Just know that this won't last forever.Someday they will be teens and going out and then you really won't be sleeping until they get home at night! Good Luck in the great adventure of parenthood -its a ride like no other but one that is the best thing I ever did. NanaG

I agree that the crib tent might work best for right now. Although I had to move both of my girls into toddler beds when they were 18-20 months. My problem was that if I didn't have a crib bumper on the crib, baby would get her arm or leg caught in between the crib railings - well, that wakes them up. But then if you put the crib bumper on there, it just gives them a place to stand on to boost themselves up and get out of the crib (or squeeze under the crib tent... you name it, my girls were like little Houdinis!)

If you go the toddler bed route, I'd definitely make sure you babyproof the heck out of his room, remove all his toys (or he'll never sleep), and put a baby gate on the door. It's a bit of a challenge to get them to stay in a toddler bed at first but they do eventually get it. Still though, 15 months is young to be out of a crib!

For your own sanity, maybe he can just sleep in the Pack-n-Play for now? Maybe put memory foam on top of the mattress so it's more comfy? That way if he gets out, it's not a long fall and he won't get hurt.

don't bother with the toddler bed, go straight to a twin. get rails or ikea has some cute tent style things. i also liked the idea of putting the mattress on the floor