My 20 month old has been climbing onto the top bar of his crib for the last 2 weeks. I've caught him teetering on the edge several times now. He has not fallen yet, because I'm sure he knows that he will get hurt, but I'm worried that he will end up falling on accident or finally decide to push it a little farther.
So today I set up the toddler bed set up in his new room. His crib is currently upstairs which is basically one big room with a stairwell in the middle-and yes, I have a gate up, but if he can climb his crib, he can climb that, too. Moving to the new room is necessary because the stairway is too much of a safety risk. I don't think I want to get a crib tent because first of all, I can't afford an extra $70 right now...and there haven't been any on craigslist- I've been watching lately. Plus even if there was one for cheap in the near future, I've looked at reviews for several popular crib tents and they aren't very good. The chief complaints are that they are too flimsy, easy for the child to tear, and don't fit all cribs. So I am not sure I would even want to pay half-price if that is true. And I'm also not sure I would feel right basically caging him in. But, if it could stay up even with a toddler trying to push and pull it down I would try it at least.
My ultimate plan is for him to sleep in the new room in a toddler bed. But, how should I go about it? I already have the toddler bed set up in there- but should I set his crib up in there, too, and let him get used to the room first before switching to the toddler bed? Should I go cold-turkey and take the crib away, or transition by having him sleep in the bed during his naps on the weekends? If so, for how long? And is there another way to ensure his safety in the meantime? I also thought maybe I could sleep in there with him to help him feel safe until he's comfortable enough to sleep in the toddler bed on his own...but I'm worried that my being in there will only make it harder because he has been sleeping alone for so long and in the past when I've tried to co-sleep with him, he is just way too excited to sleep. He wants to play.
It would help to hear experiences using crib tents, and also how did you switch to a toddler bed??? Thank you
I have two year old twins and we switched them to toddler beds about a month ago. We went cold turkey and also switched them to a new bedroom. It has worked great for us. One, every so often, gets out of bed and walks around or will play with her night light but otherwise they love their new room and their big girl beds. Two things new to them and they seem to enjoy it.
Hi K.,
We didn't use a crib tent, but we did have a similar situation (toddler's room upstairs, worried about him climbing out of toddler bed and ending up down the stairs the wrong way).
We put a gate in the doorway to his room so he can't leave without help. He's managed to get it open once or twice, but luckily he's good at going down the stairs at this point (20 months) though we keep the gate in his doorway because in the middle of the night I fear he'd be too sleepy to get down safely.
Just a thought - gates are a lot less expensive/more sturdy than crib tents.
L.
K.,
Just go for it! He's ready. Mine was 22 months old and climbed out of the pack n play at GRANDMA'S!!! It was our first day there, too, and we were going to be there for 2 weeks! I didn't know what to do and thought it was going to be terrible, but we just threw a twin mattress on the floor, cleared out the room of safety hazards, and let him sleep. He did GREAT! When we got home, we went out right away and purchased a toddler bed. He's been in it ever since. He's always been good about staying in it (we're really lucky) but when he has gotten out at bed/naptime, we use the Supernanny technique of going in there, picking him up, putting him back in bed, and leaving the room - all without saying a word. If he kept getting out (over three or four times) we would say, "It's night night time. You need to stay in bed," then leave the room. You really have to be consistent with this. Either way, if he's crawling out of the crib, he's ready for the toddler bed. Chances are, he'll be so excited about the new bed, you won't have too many problems. Good luck!
Amy K
We just put up our kids toddler beds instead of their cribs wright afrter we moved which was about a month after they turned one year old. The toddler beds are about a foot up though, and the safety bar only covers the very middle so we put the mattress from our spare bed on the floor in between their toddler beds so that if they fell out it would just be onto another mattress. I had never even heard of a crib tent before.
K.,
I would just make the change, get rid of the crib and put him in the toddler bed in his room. The bigger deal this is made into, the harder it will be. If you have a child who will get up and play, put away toys and books so he can't get to them during sleeping time. Take the handles off the dresser or lock it in the closet or get it out of the room if you think he will pull out the drawers to climb the dresser. I would also recommend getting any bookshelves out of the room if he might climb them.
Do his regular bedtime routine and leave. If you start something new like sleeping in there with him, it will most likely just cause more problems. Either shut the door or stack two baby gates (one on top of the other) in the doorway so he can't escape. If he can open doors, put a baby lock on the handle or flip it around so it locks on the outside. The likelihood of him getting out of his room during the night and hurting himself is the real concern, not that he's going to feel caged in.
He may not like this. He may push back and fuss. Children are resiliant. He will learn to be fine with it. Be confident, make the change, and he will adapt.
Good luck,
S.
.
If you are switching him from the crib to a toddler bed and a new room, I would put his crib in the new room for security reasons. A new room a new bed its hard for a 20month old. Put the crib in the room for two weeks then transfer him into his toddler bed, but if you have a climber you might want to put pillows on the floor in case he falls. But keep the toddler bed in his room. Then start with naps in the toddler bed then transition to the bedtime toddler bed. Please keep the gate and anchor it to the wall, no crib tents I think it will be more of a hazzard then a plus. Do a routine it will be hard at first but dont you dare sleep in the same room with your toddler you will end up starting a habit that you dont want. Trust me! Good luck it wont be easy but must be ready for the challenge it could go good or it could be hard.
If you know your child has trouble with change, change one thing at a time. Otherwise, just make it a fun thing to be in a new bed in a new room.
We took our oldest out of his crib because he hated it so much, so we had no issues with the transition.
One thing that we found was that the toddler bed was unnecessary. We used one with our oldest for 6 months and then put him on a full-size mattress (we just happened to have an extra) on the floor. He was much happier on the bigger bed.
With our second, he started crawling out ofhis crib at 15 months, so we just went straight to a twin-size mattress on the floor. The only problem we had was trying to keep him in bed, but after a long 2 weeks he did just fine.
