Juggling Nightime Wanderings, a Newborn, and Fire Safety?

I've always liked the double gate method...or the extra large Dog gate method (the kind meant for great danes...they're about a foot and a half taller then baby gates) but I just had a friend do something GREAT.

She installed Dutch doors on each of the kids' rooms. She locks the bottom half at night and leaves the top open. On her one "climber" she's put a gate up over the top half...but she can get in super easily by opening the bottom half of the door. No messing with the gate at all.

Too cool.

They make childproof door handle things for French doors too, but essentially the end result is the same thing as locking the door, so I can’t help you there fire safety-wise. I thought I would mention though that they make mesh “crib tents” for safety to keep babies from climbing out, but they would also work to keep little brother out too.

When we moved our son from a crib to a big boy bed I was worried about locking him in his room for the same reason until someone mentioned it's the same as him being in his crib. He had been "locked" in his crib for 2 years so what's the difference now? I mean if there was a fire your infant would be trapped until you got her? So it's really the same. That made sense to me so we used a child proof lock until recently. He now wakes up and comes straight to our room. And we have chain locks on all the outside doors, just in case. :)

Hope this helps.

What about bells or a door alarm that will wake you up if he leaves the room?

One thing I would suggest is a beeper for his door. They make door sensors that will go off any time the door is open. It doesn't lock the door. If you have a beeper security system, then you will know any time that he comes out of his room. The sound is loud enough to wake you up. I have a few friends with this system on thier front/back doors for sneaky teenagers.

What is more important to you, keeping your son safe or worrying about uncomfirmed fire safety by keeping the door locked? That being said, I have a friend who has to lock her boy into his room because he will climb up shelves to get at knives they have put up high. He is really into getting into things that are dangerous.

I have heard that there are locks that you can put on doors that hold the door open a little bit, but not enough to let him through. That might work for you. Then you wouldn't have to worry about the fire safety as the lock would be high enough for him not to reach, but keep the door open a bit.

Would changing to a regular doorknob mean he couldn't open the door himself?
Checkout goodnitelite.com. It is a sun/moon nightlight that tells kids when it is ok to be up by lighting a sun. The moon lights up for sleep time. You set the timer. Currently it is backordered, but we think it will be helpful for us.

I can tell you what cured my son of wandering at 3.

He went next door to the farm. I suddenly realized he was missing (my daughter was less that 1 year old) and I started calling his name and ringing our call bell. Suddenly I hear him screaming and soon he is in sight.

When he gets home and in tears he says the cow looked at him and it was big!

He never went wandering again.

It was a steer and not very big. It was black and had horns and had occasionally scared me when it had got loose into my yard.

But it had cured my son of wandering.

I know you can't do that with your son.

I had a friend who had two child proof gates, one on top of another. That may help. You could do that to your daughter's room as well.

Good luck.

Hi J.,

I'm sure you've had lots of great suggestions, but I just wanted to throw one in the mix. Some friends of mine had the same problem and they used 2 baby gates one on top of the other in the doorway so that their toddler couldn't get out, but they could still quickly get in if needed. They said that it took a little tweaking to get them in the right place so he couldn't climb them, but it worked really well. Hope this helps.

D. Rylander
A Blessed Birth Doula Services
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Put alarms on the doors. My son has Down Syndrome and Autism, he would wonder and get into things, so I used them every where. His bedroom door, the front and back door, the stove door the fridge, trust me every where. They are loud enough to alert you that your child is getting into something. They are pretty inexpensive too. You can find them at any hardware store.

i like the alarm on the door idea, if you're opposed to locking him in his room. of course that means you'll have to be getting up in the wee hours of the morning and chances are, he's not going back to bed, right? or you can try training him with an alarm clock or special kids timer. (why not just put his lamp on one of those automatic timers from radio shack?)

so if you don't like either of those, like someone said, there are french door locks or also one you could stick up high on the outside of his door (requiring holes). as far as fire safety, the firefighter told us that having the door closed gives them an additional 20 minutes to rescue a child in their room as it keeps out the smoke longer. another thought, do you want your 2 year old trying to find his way out of a burning building? do you want him to try and 'help' by taking his baby sister with him?

one other thought, they have crib tents you could put on top so your son couldn't throw anything into the crib. of course he'd still be able to reach through the bars. hey, how about putting a lock on the outside of her door so he can't get in? than at least she's safe if he's wandering around.

good luck!

One thing a girlfriend of mine did was double gate the door.. so 2 gates, one on top of each other. It scares me as well, locking the door and don't know if I could do that myself but if it protects him, it might be worth it.. I'm no one to speak, our son still co-sleeps with us half the time.. I know people don't agree with it but did it as well with my now 20 year old and he turned out just great.. Good Luck but maybe try the double gate thing??

The fire safety thing is a hard one... i understand the concern, but on the other hand, if there's a fire, I want to know exactly where my kids are so that I can make sure that they get out. I also know a family who had a house fire with disastrous consequences that was started by their 3yo twins while others were sleeping, though... I don't think locking the door is a good solution, though. As he gets older he'll need to use the bathroom at night sometimes, or he may need something or be ill in the middle of the night as well, and wouldn't be able to let you know. I like the idea of a door alarm on his bedroom door, and pretty soon, he would get it that leaving his room was a no-no.

As far as safety for the baby, the crib tent idea is a good one. I had one to keep my kitty out of the crib who wanted to snuggle up to the warm baby. Your 2yo won't be able to unzip it due to the height.

I would also make sure that he has some interesting things in his room to play with and explain to him that unless the grownups are awake, these are the only things that he's allowed to play with.

we use gates to keep our 4yo out of places he shouldn't go if ge gets up early. these give you a lot of flexibility. good luck! sure looks like you have your hands full!

Okay, J., I know this is going to sound really simplistic, and possibly very annoying, but could you bell him? Yes, like a cat wears a bell. Since he's obviously very clever and well-developed in finding a way out, you need to know that he's getting out. If it were me, this is what I'd do:

Buy a couple sets of one-piece zip-up pajamas. Cut off the feet. Put them on him backward. Using a zip tie (which you can purchase in the hardware/automotive depts) attach a couple of jingle bells to the zipper. Or loosely zip-tie to his ankle. Zip ties require scissors to remove, and that's a lot more planning and skill than most two year old's can muster.

Told you it sounded nuts. But believe me, when I lost my son (outside, for thirty seconds, still heart-attack city!) this was the first thing I thought of doing! This way, you can still keep using a gate (which is safer than locking him in) and hear him when he starts his midnight wanderings.

Oh, and if your family celebrates Christmas, he'll be quite seasonal!

Best wishes!

This is a though one, but I have to agree that locking a child in a room can be a disaster in a house fire and I would not even consider that.

An easy and inexpensive solution would be to replace the inside handle on the door with a knob and put a cover on it that he can't operate. This way he will not be able to get out, but the door will not be locked, in case of an emergency.

I personally would favor just locking the doors to rooms that he is not supposed to be in , like the kitchen, but let him play by himself in the childproofed rooms of the house, like the living room - if your house is set up in a way that would allow that.

One more thing, if I kept my child in a room, that he cannot get out of, I would make sure I have a working baby monitor in there, so you know when he wakes up and can help him.