My barely 14 month old toddler has now discovered that she can climb out of her crib and does is every time we lay her down. Prior to this discovery, she had a dream sleep schedule: slept 12+ hours a night (7-7) and took 2, 2hour naps a day, without fussing or crying much when we put her down- but now that's a whole different story that she can climb out! What do I do? I have heard of nets or tents to put over the crib, but I have also heard of the risk of stranglation/hanging- and I am not sure I am willing to take that risk. My plan was to babproof the room and just put her crib mattress on the floor or get her a toddler bed. Any tips on how to transition a toddler from the crib to a bed??? ANY advice on this topic will be appreciated! Thanks in advance- you mama's are awesome!!!!
Can you remove the side of the crib that goes up and down? That's what we did with my son and added a toddler rail. That way he could stay in his crib longer until he was ready to transition to a bed.
What worked well for all three of my children was to put them in Halo Sleep Sacks https://www.halosleep.com/products/results/?product_categ... It's a wearable blanket that actually worked well to prevent them from climbing out of their cribs. They are still mobile in them & they would walk around in them with no problem, yet they couldn't swing their legs up over the crib. They all actually love them & my 5 year old always tells me she still wants one!!!
The only place locally I've been able to find them is at Babies R Us. They keep them with the bedding.
my son climbed out around that age and so i put all of his stuffed animals around the bottom of the crib and pillows..so if he fell out while climbing he would be ok..b/c he had only done it a couple of times..well..he stopped ..guess he didn't want to land on them..also keep the room dark..black out curtains..she can see so she's climbing out..i wound up keeping my son in his crib til he turned 3...so keep trying.
We ordered a crib tent for my daughter, which we are still using. Babies R Us didn't even carry them; Wal-Mart does, and you can have it shipped either for free or for minimal shipping charges to your nearest Wal-Mart. The crib tent we have has both Velcro straps, which are too short to go around the main bar at the front of our crib, and ties. We double-knotted the ties on the outside of the crib, so my daughter can't untie them.
It's been a positive experience with the crib tent. I'm dreading the transition to a toddler bed as I know she'll be up during the night and come into our bed. You can go either way, it just depends on your daughter. My next door neighbors moved their daughter to a toddler bed when she was 18 months old, and they didn't have any problems.
Dear Bre Ann A:
My kids went straight from my bed to a toddler bed at age 18 months. If I were you, I wouldn't wait. Now that she's had a taste of victory, she'll just keep doing it and it's just too risky.
Do what you were going to do: Babyproof her room, get rid of the nightlight and be sure you make a big deal about her new little bed and sheets. I used a musical nightlight that sat on a high shelf. It cast stars around the room as it played and then shut off after five minutes. The first couple of times I was sitting silently by the toddler bed and when the muic stopped and the light turned off, I whispered, "Shhhh! Be very quiet. The stars have gone to sleep...don't wake them up, okay?" My baby answered in a little whisper, "OK," and that was that.
Since he was a rascal, I had a tension-mounted baby gate on his door, just in case. I stepped over it and let him fall asleep alone. Sometimes, I heard him creeping around in there but, generally, it was too dark for him to see his toys and he'd go right to sleep.
Best wishes,
M.
I have turned our regular crib into a toddler bed, just took off the side that slides up and down, I have not had a problem, our crib is STURDY. But we also have put the crib mattress on the floor under the end of our bed so that when they get up and come into us, they have a bed of their own (does not last long, but better than between us for the next XX years). We put one of those gate things that don't let them roll off the bed for the first couple months. They can climb over it, but it is only 10" tall, not the whole 2 1/2 feet up and then 3 1/2 feet down! Then we would not put it down for a couple months, eventually put them in a regular bed....saved on the toddler bed. The last one was climbing it at 12 months, not walking but climbed out CONSTANTLY!.I use a comforter folded in half under the edge if the crib-on the ground-in case she falls out of bed, she lands on it and usually curls up and goes back to sleep.I put it on the bed while not in use! Soft and warm!
My second daughter never figured out how to climb out but she started to cry for no reason at point to the big bed on the floor (modified bunk bed) so i put the baby-proof door knob on and out her in the bed with her fav toy. Clean the room so it is boring and turn off lights except for a night light. It is basically a large crib. If she comes to the door and cant get out she will get bored and get back in bed. Good luck.....now if i can only get my 4 yr old out of my bed i'd be happy.....(spoiled the first one) ....big mistake.
It sounds like you've got quite the climber on your hands! (= I loved Melissa's advice for kiddos that have not been able to climb out of the crib before (if they already have I would be afraid they might "nose dive" onto the floor) - and I know you'll get a lot of pros/cons on the tents for the crib vs. the toddler bed. I actually favor just changing their room (making sure it's baby proofed) and going for it with the toddler bed (in my case beds) but I am hopefully not (cross my fingers) going to cross that bridge my one year olds are at least 1.5 or 2 years old. I don't exactly remember when my first set of twins started "testing" the crib - but the moment I noticed them starting to pull themselves up with their elbows and heads over the rail I put them into their toddler beds.
I hope this helps...be grateful you only have one to put back to bed...it COULD be worse - LOL
Take care - A.
Wow! That's really young. Our son climbed out right at two. We put him in a toddler bed. Then we closed his door with the lights off. We found that he would fall asleep on the floor and we would go in and put him in bed when we went to bed. Now (after a month or so) he stays in his bed. At naptime I usually had to hold him down for five or ten minutes until he fell asleep. His room is baby proofed. Just hang in there! She will adjust. We also put a toddler lock on the door when he learned to do the doorknobs so that he can't go wandering through the house without our knowledge. I hope that helps.
HI Bre Ann,
It will be really hard to keep a 14 month old in a toddler bed. I would make sure the mattress is as low as possible in the crib and get crib extentions for the sides so they are too high to climb up or get a crib tent so the kids can't get out. This may buy you some time until you have to get the toddler bed. It's impossible to keep the kids in bed when they first get one so you'll have to deal with that for awhile until she is willing to stay in bed. Meanwhile the room should be baby proofed just as a precaution.
Good luck with whatever you decide. The good news is that this phase will pass...
I would defiantly transition to a toddler bed. my children were about 18 months when they started climbing out so we just put them in a bed. i have done both a regular twin bed pushed with one side against the wall and a guard on the other side. we got it at target or walmart. it just tucks in between the mattress and box spring for support and is a rail so they cant fall out of bed.
my younger son had a crib that converted to a toddler bed with the bed rail. both were fine actually it took them a couple of days to realize they could get out any time they wanted. thankfully they hadn't learned to open the door nob yet so they couldn't open the door to come out.that battle came later. we had a good little bed time ritual and stuck to it the same way so the transition was nothing new. I actually preferred the bed because it was a lot more comfortable to lay in bed and read with them.
good luck, what a smart little one you have!
When my first was not even 14 mos she was fighting agaisnt the nap. It was one of those days. I put her in bed she stood up screaming and was trying to climb out. I looked at her and said there is no way you can get out. Went out, shut the door, went downstairs, sat on the couch, put my face in my hands and THUDD! SHREEEK! I fly up the stair to be greeted by my screaming baby at the door. I scooped her up, ran down stairs and called my mom. I tried to get her to walk but she wouldn't. I called my ped. who said to bring her in and that he would wait to go to lunch. So we flew to the doctors office and thank goodness she was fine. (we think it was just the initial shock that she couldn't walk in the beginning because at the doctors office she was running.)But my doc said we were lucky. She had to be done with the crib. Thankfully we had bought the convertable crib so we just took the big side rail off and she was fine. If you do not have a convertable crib buy a single twin mattress and mattress rails. (if you get a set save the box spring for later when she is older.) she will be low to the floor but not on the floor. Doc said not to put the mattress on the floor because bugs would get in the mattress, yuck. I was worried about her falling out but she never did. Now I have a 21 month old. She is still in the full crib and makes fake attempts to climb out but really is not close. I always used bumper pads but we took those out now that she tries to climb. (I think that is what helped #1) She seems so little to me to not be in the full crib, too. Even though she is 7 months older.
My first only used the "convertable crib toddler bed" for not even a year so I definately think that getting a toddler bed is a waste of money. I know that big lots is having a huge sale on mattresses this week. Bed rails are inexpensive too. Good luck with your little one
Hi there,
My daughter just figured out how to climb out too. BUT, my child is a lot older then yours. She is 28 months old. I can only tell you what I did to stop it.
I just kept putting her right back. I would say, "it's night-night time stay in your bed, I love you good night."
Then walk out. I think this happened about 5-6 times in a row. The last 2 times I said nothing to her. Yes, she screamed, but she soon got tired and fell asleep on her own. I believe it lasted about an hour. It only took a few days of this for her not to climb out when she's napping or sleeping. I do however, let her climb in and out of it whenever she wants, just not when she sleeps. She likes to swap out her "babies". Sometimes she needs to get one that is in her crib.
WOW 14 months old and doing this????
I do have a great on line book called "The Sleep Sense Program", I believe it covers climbing out of cribs.
Email me at ____@____.com and I will send it to you. I can send it to any other mom out there too.
I wouldn't suggest a Toddler bed yet. I think she is still to young.
Good luck!
This happened to us right around the same age. I almost bought a crib tent but then my husband realized there was actually a MUCH lower setting on our crib for the mattress. It was all the way at the bottom and I think was meant for when the crib converts to a toddler bed. Anyway, I hadn't seen it before but we moved the mattress down that low and now he can't climb out even at almost 2 and being in the 90th percentile for height. So I would first double check if you have a lower crib setting. If not, I would get a crib tent, I have lots of friends who swear by them.
I agree with your idea- baby proof her room and close her in. My kids had the same issue and that's what we did. It was a little tough at first, but the novelty wore off and they both returned to their sleep schedule for the most part. At least you know she'll be safe in there and the time you have away is the same as before. Sometimes mine would fall asleep playing or reading a book and I'd have to move them, but it wasn't too big of a problem. Just try to act like nothing is different except that she is now big enough to get a big girl bed. Good luck, hopefully it won't take too long to adjust!
