Suggestions of When to Move Out of Crib

I moved my son out of his crib at 14 months. He climbed over the rail, and smashed his mouth. You know what they say about mouth bleeding, it looks worse than it really is. We got him a race car toddler bed. He only got out a few times the first few nights. I just walked gim back to his room, and told him he had to stay in his bed.

Our son, now four, started climbing out of his crib at about 16 months old. Everyone I asked seemed to think it was too soon to move him to a toddler bed, but I was afraid he was going to break his neck! So, we got him a fire truck bed (it was kind of expensive, but well worth it) and he loved it. We never really had issues with keeping him in his own bed. He was pretty compliant, so we told him to stay in his bed and he did. I think the actual bed was so new and cool to him, he wanted to stay there.

The gerneral rule is that to protect them from injury move them to their own bed when they start climbing out or gertting stuck trying to get out. You can put the bed rails on his regular bed to protect him from falling out.

Is he trying to climb out that you are worried about, or his legs getting stuck? If you are worried about him getting out, try a crib tent. Sort of like a canopy with a zipper, so he can't get out. My son sometimes accidentally gets his legs stuck in the side, and sometimes he just falls asleep with one half out, but it's never been a big deal. I just stick it back in :-) I don't want to deal with the bed, my son is very independant and I know it will be torture trying to keep him in the bed, so we will wait as long as possible :-)

Every child is different, so when to move to a bed can be very different for each child. My son we moved at 16 months, since he was climbing out. I didn't like the crib tents, I felt wierd about it, so we ended up moving him to a full size bed with a bed rail. We just put the boxspring and mattress on the floor and it was the perfect height for him. The first two weeks he was great about staying in bed, but then he started climbing out. We eventually installed a gate on his door to keep him in his room. If we heard him get out of bed and start playing we just put him back in his bed again. We tried to do as little communication with him as possible when putting him back to bed. Absolutely no negotiation. There were a couple of nights he has fallen asleep on the floor out of stubborness, but he is four now and has been doing great in his bed for over two years. We had about 4 months of adjustment where it was fun for him to get out of bed, but then the novelty wore off and he has been so easy at bed ever since. Also, night time potty training was a cinch since he could get in and out of bed and to the potty on his own. My daughter we moved to a toddler bed at 22 months, for the same reason, she was climbing out. We have had the same issues with her as we had with him, but the gate was already on her door, so that wasn't an issue. Most nights she goes right to sleep, but we do have the occasional night where she gets up and starts playing. Nap time for her is actually worse than anything else, she sometimes plays for over an hour before she settles down. One word of caution with the crib, if his leg is actually getting stuck, be very careful. That happened to my daughter and she actually sprained her ankle trying to pull her own leg out. That was the final straw for us in making the decision to convert her crib. It was awful, she oouldn't walk on it for over a week. We ended up getting x-rays and everything to make sure it wasn't broken. So just be very careful with that. As for your son, I would make my decision based on his temperment. You have a better idea than anyone how he will react to a big boy bed. I do highly recommend a gate if you do it now, since he is so young, you don't want him roaming through the house while everyone else is asleep. Good luck.

I removed the front rail of my daughters cribs at about 17 months and prior to this I started giving a nap in a bed just to see how and what they would do during the day and at night. They took to their new bed very easily and it was a great transition. I bought them big beds at 2.5yo. They stayed in their toddler crib/bed for quite some time with no problem. Start with the naps and see what he does. He is stays in and goes to sleep without climbing out then remove the front rail of his crib and make it a toddler bed, if this is an option with your crib.

I have 3 girls and finally got a boy. I will most definately agree they are very very different. Busy in different ways.
Good luck, Trish

Hi P.. The problem with bumpers is they use them for leverage to get over the top of the crib. With all of our kids, they got a big kid bed for their 2nd birthday, until the last one <sigh>. He's 21 months but has Down Syndrome so is developmentally about 12 months. He decided to try to climb out of his crib. He is now in a toddler bed.

Suggestions for keeping them in a bed are to put a gate in his doorway in case he does get up then you know he's in a safe place. Make sure you have a good baby monitor on in his room so you can hear if there is any playing going on. When you put him into bed at night make a bedtime routine of reading stories and snuggling to relax him. Then each time he gets up (because it's not if he'll get up, it's how many time will he do it), just put him bck into bed. The first few times tell him he needs to stay in his big boy bed. After that just put him into bed without saying anything. It's tiring the first few nights but then they catch on.

With a couple of my kids (I have 6), I had to sit in their room until they went to sleep. Each night I would sit a little closer to the door until finally I didin't have to. It was a good time for me to make out grocery lists, organize my next day, read a book, etc.

Good luck!

sounds like your son is signaling you that he is ready to be out of the crib. It is different with every child...some love the cirb and will stay in it until 24 months, others don't like being "caged".

Get your little guy a twin on the floor with no frame or headboard or a toddler bed, but leave the crib in there too for a "trial" period. Start out with naps in in the new bed to see how it goes. If he takes to it and doesn't constantly climb out, then start night time sleeping in the new bed.

Good luck and I agree...boys and girls are TOTALLY different!

--C.

Yes, boys and girls are different! My son came first and he couldn't stay in the crib, he slept with me and eventually by himself. He won't stay in bed longer than he has to, that's just something I learned to accept, including naps. He stopped taking naps at the age of 2. So when my daughter was born I expected the same type of behavior. Completely different! So all you can do is have the same routine you have with your daughter and eventually he'll follow. It takes time though, so be very patient!! E.

Because my son HATED the pack & play & we traveled quite a bit, I decided (after the ped's recommendation) to move him into a TWIN size bed (not a toddler bed) at 18 mths. I would've felt fine doing it even earlier after I realized how dang easy it was & how well he slept on ANY real bed after that!!

Earlier is easier - that's what our ped said & I'm a believer. If you got with a toddler bed, it's just another transition you'll have to deal with down the road (just a thought). I bought the longest bed rail I could find, turned the rocking chair around so the back faced the end of the bed & it was just like a crib at that point. I put a small pillow at the small "opening" at the head of the bed where the bed rail started. DS cried for about 2 seconds & promptly fell asleep - slept through the night his first night & ever since then. It's been WONDERFUL.

Just keep the baby monitor on the first few weeks to make sure that if he IS getting out of the bed, you can be there to help him out. After some other recommendations online, I put in a fairly bright nightlight for that reason - if your child does get out of the bed, you don't want him to hurt himself simply because it's too dark. My kid is a MAJOR explorer, & I thought for sure I'd have an issue with him constantly getting out of bed & wanting to get out of his room. But I think the "earlier" part of the process WAS better for his personality type because he didn't quite "understand" yet that he had some extra freedom. Make sense?

Good luck - I kept the crib up in the same room, thinking it would take awhile to get him used to it, but after a week, we took the crib down & he was good to go!!

Hi P.,

I think your son is ready to move to a toddler bed, especially since its dangerous if he tries to wiggle himself out of it. It's never an easy transition froma crib to a toddler bed, since they go through separation anxiety, ina new setting. It's challenging, but needs patience, love and time. I did that with my older son, and it took me 4 months get him accustomed to "his bed". I have a bedtime ritual of reading his favorite book Good Night Moon 2-3 times,reassuring, hugging and patting him for a few minutes. Don't stay too long with your son during this transition, cuz there are going to be many nights when he walks off the bed, and saunters looking for you. Keep your stay, short and loving, and when he wakes up, hug him, and put him back in his own bed, as opposed to your's (if not he will make it a habit) I knwo I went through this same phase for a couple of months, crying, separation anxiety, getting off his bed and looking for me, eventually it's stopped, and he enjoys his bed so much that he says "sleep in my bed"....

Best of luck

C.

Hi P.- My son was in a toddler bed at that age. My husband and I use a safety gate at his door so if he gets up and we don't hear him he can't get out. Also I made sure there was no way he would injure himself if he did get up and it took us a little while to hear him. (Covers over outlets, toys off the floor, clear walkway etc) He probably will not stay in bed the first few times (new freedom and everything)but he will eventually. My son now lays in bed and calls "mom", "mom." Good luck.

Hi P. -

My son never got stuck or wanted to get out, but he was so tall, he would easily get jammed up in the crib and it would wake him up through the night. So, at about 13 or 14 months, we put a twin mattress on the floor, surrounded by a bumper on one side, and a bazillion pillows everywhere (kinda not necessary), and he did so much better in the bed. And he LOVED it so much.

Since he obviously didn't stop growing (almost 3 feet tall at 21 months) - he is now in a queen mattress on the floor with the same, a bumper on one side, tons of pillows, and pillows on the ground. He does great in it, and even when he wants to cuddle up with me, I fit in the bed too. ;)

One more thing, this obviously makes it way easier for him to get out of bed, so we have a baby gate up that allows him to only come into our room if he gets up at night.

Good luck!

does he act like he wants to get out of the crib or is just putting his legs thru it? you could get another bumper and have two bumpers. i think around 2 is a good age to move into a bed, he may be ready..each child is different tho. you could get a bed with a railing...or put a baby gate up in his room where if he got out of bed he couldn't go far. until he got used to his bed i mean. with a new baby on the way i'm sure you want to deal with the situation asap...good luck!

My son who is now four climbed out at about 21 months. At first I left the side lowered since I knew he would just climb out and didn't want him to fall. Then ended up getting him a twin bed. I would recommend keeping him in there as long as you can since it is challenging to keep thme in bed. It's really a shift since we could just put him to bed and know that he would stay there until we got him out.