Seeking Advice on Crib Tents

After 21 years as a child care provider, I wouldn't give up my crib tent for anything. I use the Graco Pack and Play port-a-cribs for my youngsters that range in age from newborn to approximately 18 months, depending on size and weight. I have ONE crib with a tent on it. It has been a life saver. I seem to wind up with one *adventurer* from time to time and the crib tent has been my only means of keeping him/her safe. It was about the same price as another crib, itself; but I was able to install it myself and have had no problems with it. Mine has lasted at least 10 years and is still in great shape. It was a very good investment.

Infants stay in the same area with me until their naps are sometimes disrupted by the older childrens' activities. Then they are moved to a separate room set up with the port-a-cribs for their two naps a day. This room is monitored.

Around 18 months to 2 years, I move my kiddos to sleeping bags with pillows located in the area where we do our activities, for naptime. At this age, they need only one nap a day right after lunch. They understand requests and gentle reprimands. They are ready for big beds and understand about staying put until naptime is over.

They are so much fun at every stage of development!

Good luck and God bless!

http://www.MissBrenda.com

I've heard that once they can get out of their crib, that you should move them to a toddler bed. Does your crib drop any lower? If not, I'd probably say make the move to a toddler bed just to be safe. My daughter is a little climbing monkey too...but for whatever reason she has not tried to climb out of her crib yet - thank goodness. Good luck to you and your adventuresome little girl!

A friend of mine used hers for her twins. It was mainly to keep her cats out, and they worked great. She still has them on, and her twins turned 2 in April. They never climbed out...probably because they didn't realize it.

I put my son in his big bed when he was a little over 2...just a few months ago. He was ready to be a "big boy". He took to it great...a few problems but nothing major. If you're afraid of your son climbing out, why not put big pillows around his crib on the floor? Or just go ahead and move him out...for his own safety. There are sides that you can put on his bed to help keep him in. Good luck!

Hi M.,

I have a very active and curious little boy who finally climbed out of his crib at about 25 months.

We weren't ready to transition him into a big boy bed at the time because we had a new baby arriving within a few weeks.

We did invest in a crib tent, and it wasn't cheap or a waste of money.
However, it wouldn't fit on our nursery crib. Fortunately, we had a second crib- just a basic, traditional-style crib, that the crib tent fit on perfectly.
Our son was actually excited to have his own "tent" bed. He shows everyone that comes to the house his "tent".

It has worked perfectly for us and has given us some additional time before putting him in his own bed.

He has been using it now for almost 6 months, and we haven't had any problems at all.

It is unfortunate that it only fits on standard cribs, though. We would have had a real problem if we wouldn't have had the second crib.

So it works for us, hope it works for you, as well!

We bought ours at USA Baby in Frisco. I think it is the same one that is in the One Step Ahead catalog. I did see one at Babies R Us this weekend as well.

We put our daughter in her big girl bed the month before she turned three. We will probably do the same for our son.

Good Luck!

J.

SAHM to three sweet angels- 3 1/2, 2 1/2 and 5 months

Hi M.,

We moved our daughter from her crib to a twin bed w/ a bed rail at about that age for that same reason. It took approx. a 24 hr period for her to get used to the new bed, but then everything was good. She never even tried to get out of the bed when she woke up! It was actually a day bed, so maybe she still felt enclosed by it?

I never even considered the crib tent b/c her crib was also a sleigh style with the back higher than the front.

Good luck with whatever you decide!

H.

The company that childproofed my house recommended cribs until age 3 and crib tents in the interim if you had adventurous kiddos.

My first child (now 7) was moved to a twin sized bed with bed rails at the age of 2 yrs 4 months... I never had a real problem with him for the most part. At first he never even got out of bed and would call to me just like he used to in the crib... until he realized he COULD get out. Then he only sneaked out a few times.

With my youngest however, now 2, I'm wondering if I, too, may need a crib tent. He's able to crawl out but hasn't yet. When he doesnt' want to go to bed but it's bed time, as soon as you turn to leave the room, he will stand up and raise one leg like "I'm going to crawl out of here you just wait and see" but he never does. I'm sure he will eventually. We have installed a safety gate right at the edge of his hallway because his room is upstairs and he's more the type to be quite adventurous.

I have several friends that have used them with great success up to about age 3. I think it's just an individual decision you have to make. My little one isn't as willing to accept mommy's instruction as my eldest so I will probably do the crib tent.

I just wanted to add alittle note of caution. My daughter started to try to climb out of her crib at about 22 months. One day I happened to walk into her room thinking that she was asleep, and I caught her trying to climb out. The problem was that she had gotten her foot wrapped back around through the rails of the bed, and had I not caught her, I am certain that she would have broken her leg or something. I had never thought of her getting into the situation she found herself in, but we took her out immediately, and put her into a toddler bed. Either choice that you make would work, its a prefernce thing, but I would not just put pillows down to prevent the fall, I would try to prevent the climb. I never would have forseen the idea of her foot getting stuck, I am just grateful for the mothers instinct to check on her when I did. Good luck in your decision, I know it is a frustrating one!!

M., I don't have any personal experience with a crib tent, but a friend of mine used one once, literally. She said it was cheap and a waist of money. They took it down the very next morning and converted her crib to a toddler bed and have had no problems with that. We also converted our crib to a toddler bed and have had no problems. Ours is also the day bed style. I agree that they must feel a little more enclosed with that kind of bed, plus being that we converted the crib, it is relatively low to the ground...as I imagine all toddler beds would be. Good luck!!

So funny you ask this, one of my 22 month old twins just put his leg up on the gate and pulled himself over. I was laying on the floor reading and saw him drop to the floor...feet first. I just put pillows and sofa cushions around his crib. I guess it's time for the toddler bed and a whole new training period. I think the tent is fine but could be dangerous if there is an emergency and you have to get her out quick.

Good luck!

Oh wow! I put our crib to the lowest setting and its been working for now. My ds is 17 months and a big boy at that. He hasnt started doing this yet but I too am curious to know what other moms have to say about this.

I know eventually we will probably skip the whole toddler bed and go straight to the full bed that fits the convertable crib. We plan on buying bumper rails so that he will be guarded while he sleeps. But, once hes awake Im sure he will climb out and come get us.

My daughter, now 7, never tried to crawl out of her crib that I can recall, but I have a good friend who's son was doing that before she was ready to put him in a toddler or big boy bed. She just put the side of the crib down after he fell asleep each night. She figured if he was going to crawl out, she didn't want to have him crashing to the floor. That way he would stay in bed until he fell asleep, he wouldn't fall out when rolling over as the side was still tall enough to keep him in the bed when he was lying down, but then when he woke up, he could get out of the bed on his own and the railing wasn't at a dangerous height. I'm guessing with her method, he still could have fallen as the crib would still have been higher off the floor than a toddler bed, but she never had a problem with him falling at all. My 19-month old son is the ultimate climber. He was climbing over our baby gates at 14 months. We had to buy the tallest baby gate they make to keep him from getting on the stairs. I'm just waiting for the day (guessing very soon), when he realizes he can climb out of his crib as well. :-)

We never had a problem with our daughter climbing out of the crib, but moved her to a "big girl bed" at 17 months because her baby brother was arriving soon and would need the crib. You might think of a way to help her know what to do if/when she does wake up in the morning or in the middle of the night (all the excitement of new sleeping arrangements might interfere with sleeping for a night or two). You might want to put a baby gate at her door if you're concerned about her wandering around the house at night.