16 Month Old Climbing Out of Crib

I have successfully used crib tents with many kids (pack and play tent for daycare kids, crib tent for my own kids and relatives). I highly recommend them and can't imagine what the negative would be.

My son, who is now 21 months old, has been in a twin bed (a platform, so it's low to the floor) since he was 16 months old, and has been just fine with it. At first, I used a safety rail on one side (the other side of his bed was against the wall), but took it off a month or so ago. Personally, I didn't try a crib tent because I figured that even if he didn't figure out a way to get out of it, I would be buying him a "big boy bed" in a year or so anyway, so why not try a twin bed? I am glad I did, but would recommend a platform bed, or any bed that's close to the floor, to start out.
Hope this helps! Good luck.

My advice, since we went through something similar is to get an air mattress, or another crib mattress to put on the floor. Then you start by putting him "down" in it for naptime. It's a training ground for a "big boy bed". You may have to transition him into a bed before her.

I wouldn't waste my time or money on the tents or other "gimmicky" things, they're just delaying the inevitable.

You may have to "get him down" before her for a nap, or just wait until he gets good and tired to put him down. Either way, it's getting him used to a bed without the risk of a fall or getting tangled in a tent.

My daughter did the same - met me at the door one afternoon after her nap. Never heard a "thud" of her falling out... and we had already dropped the mattress as low as it would go.
We immediately went out and got the Crib Tent - and have no issues since.

She's also a twin - and we haven't had any issues with her brother doing this... but should it happen, I will be buying another crib tent.

My son was climbing out of his crib at a pretty early age, too. We lowered his mattress as far as we could and bought a crib tent, but within a few days he figured out how to force his way out again. We had to switch him to a regular bed.

I would use the crib tent, we used it for my very active daughter and never had any issues with it. There is no way a child could tear it down at 16 mos maybe a four year old but not at 16 mos. I do not think he is ready for a big boy bed because he is not a big boy he is a baby who figured out how to climb. If aside from the climbing they are both sleeping well in the cribs I would not mess with a good thing. We got our tent from One Step Ahead. As long as you zip the tent all the way down and tuck the zipper into the cornor(as it is suppose to) the baby would not be able to reach the zipper.
By the way he is probably not going to be very happy about the tent for a couple of days. He will get use to it. Good luck!

My son started climbing out of his crib around 18mo and we too got the crib tent. We felt it best to try and keep him in the crib until he was ready for big-boy bed .... and had more 'sense' so as not to start roaming the house too early in age development. He is now 2 and still loves his tent. No transition issue for us either. Got ours at Babies R Us ... not sure of the brand but I know there are different styles. The great thing about this is that it fastens around the mattress and with very strong velcro OUTSIDE of the crib so there is NO WAY the babies can work their way out. It was very time consuming to assemble ... but worth it. My son even likes to help zipper it shut! While I am pro-tent ... here are the pitfalls: 1) It is very difficult to 'see' him when we check on him at night. 2) Difficult to 'tuck' him back in or cover him up while sleeping ... because you have to open the tent and the zipper can be a bit noisy. 3) If crying, hard to soothe back down without opening the tent. However, all in all ... worth it for my family.

I think you are absolutely correct -- 16 months old is much too young to transition to a bed.

I started using a crib tent on my son's crib when he was 20 months old in Dec. and he threw himself over the rail. (The mattress was at the lowest setting and the rails were up.) We went out and bought the tent the very next morning. I LOVE it!!! Worth every single penny, as I'm sure it has saved him from an injury.

My son is extremely active and a climber. I know that if I was to try to transition him to a bed, there is no way he would stay in it. The tent will allow me to keep him in the crib until he's much closer to 3 (the age that Pediatricians recommend for crib transition) and I will have a much easier time teaching him to stay in a bed. My son needs his healthy sleep -- not nightly bedtime battles.

Here's a web link to the crib tent we purchased in December.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00014PLAY/ref=cm_cmu_pg...

It is wonderful to sleep soundly, knowing my son is 100% safe again. Please feel free to send me a message if you want any more information about the tent or our experience with it!

PS/EDIT: I saw some other posters' comments and thought I would let you know that there no way a child could tear down or get out of the crib tent we purchased. They must have had some other model.

Our daughter did that about 3 months ago- but has tried to since. The first week after she climbed out we tried to stay in there to put her to sleep. Then we found the reason she climebed out is that she was mad and over tired by the time we put her to sleep. We now put her to sleep 15 minutes earlier and she hasn't tried to climb out yet.

I use to drop the mattress down to it's lowest level (almost the floor). When guardrails are up it will become to difficult to get out. Time to think about seperate bedrooms or parents getting up with him to start his day. It's hard for a sleepy parent but good 1 on 1 time with him.

I wish I went the crib tent route, instead we put him down to sleep with us so he wouldn't climb out and than I placed him in the crib. Now he can't fail asleep by himself and we need to always lie down with him in his big bed now at 3.5.
Check Craig's list for a used one. It would be worth it because you can still keep him in the crimb until he is closer to 3 yrs old, which I would recommend for the same reasons the other mentioned about getting out of a regular bed. My son was 20 mo. when he started climbing and I thought why bother, now I wish that I did!

I too have a little monkey who started climbing out of her crib at 18 months. I went out the next day and bought a crib tent. I bought mine at Right Start, but I believe they also carry them at Lazar's in Lincolnwood and Babies R Us. Here is a link to the one I got on Amazon. My little lady LOVES her crib tent. There was no transition. She is now safe and sound and we plan on keeping her in her crib until she is 3. I actually posted on this site to get feedback and I got all positive feedback about the crib tent. It was also recommended by my ped.
http://www.amazon.com/Tots-Mind-Cozy-Crib-White/dp/B00014...

I would transition them both into a big boy/girl bed. I would put safety guards and if you are lucky they may just stay in the bed because it has a feeling of a crib. My oldest never got out of the bed by himself for quite a while when we first transitioned him. However if they don't stay in the bed you will be working and using a lot of patience to get them to stay in bed. You basically have to stand by their door and every time they get out of bed you march right back in bed and keep telling them the rules about the big bed. It takes anywhere between 5 days and a week for them to stop testing you. The more consistent you are the quicker it wil go. I had my kids in big beds by the time they were two years so your guy is a little young but he will be fine.

I would say that if he is climbing out of his crib...he's ready for a bed. I don't think there will be anything you can do to keep him down. He will only find a way to climb out with the tent , too , and then you have spent the money.

I would just train him to stay in bed like you would have to if he was in a regular bed. Because you will have the same problem once he is in a regular bed...at this point he just needs to be trained.

Hope that helps!