17 1/2 Month Old Climbing Out of Crib

T.:
If anything doesn't work I would put the crib back up and use a CRIB TENT II. It SAVED us and my dd loved being in it, suprisingly!
http://www.pickyguide.com/babies_and_kids/crib_tents_guid...

Wow! She is so young to be out of a crib. I guess I was wrong in letting both of my boys climb out for almost a year before I switched them to the bed. They were so good at it, I wasn't really worried about them getting hurt I guess!

I agree with the post about leading her back to her bed when she gets out. You might even consider a gate in her door or somewhere else so that you can rest easy that she is safe and somewhat contained.

I would NOT stay in her room until she falls asleep. I always recommend Dr Ferber's book Solving Your Child's Sleep Problems. He has ideas for EVERY issue and they work almost instantly.

Best of luck and good for you both for being so aware of her safety!

Transitions are tough, especially a crib to bed transition for a baby so young. I understand completely why you did it. Just make sure her room is baby proofed, put a gate at her doorway and when she gets out of bed, take her back without fuss or discussion. The first time say, it's time for bed - calmly and without anger, just matter of fact. Any time after this, just take her back and put her in bed without talking. Do this as many times at it takes. It is very tough at first, but it works. The other option is, since she is in a baby safe and gated room just leave her be until she falls asleep, where ever it is she falls asleep. Another thing to consider is removing the " bed" completely and just having the mattress on the floor, so even if she rolls off, it's only a few inches and she may not even notice.
I feel for you, she is soo young to be out of the crib! Who wants to worry about this before they are even 2.

I absolutely agree with the PP. Some of my girls were in their toddler bed as young as your daughter. I felt much safer with them in their toddler bed. (they were also climbing out in 2.5 seconds!) We childproofed the room and used a babygate. I would say "lay down" a few times a night for a couple of nights. There were a few nights that i would find them sleeping in front of the door. Don't worry, they get the hang of it very quick. Maybe you can take her out and buy cute little bedding with her and a new stuffed animal to keep her company?

I had to giggle when you said you heard the toy...they are little stinkers at that age :)

Dear T.,
I fell out of the crib as a toddler according to my mom, at a very young age and continued to do it until the bed came. She is ready and from my own experience, I would never put a child back in that crib again. The trauma from a head injury is not worth the chance. When you toddler moves to the bed, try to bumper her all around with pillows and braces for the bed. My husband and I took turns going to sleep with the toddlers and, many times, they ended up in bed with us. At 3 years of age, they are aware of nightmares. If toddlers have sweets before bed, it will not let them sleep peaceably. If my husband and I were busy, like we were during the holidays, I would let our toddler stay in the same room with us and had them lay on a big fluffy pillow on the rug and put on some cartoon for them to watch.
Your active toddler wants to know more about life and there appears to be a lot going on when you have a teenager.
I continue to recommend "How to Teach Your Baby To Read", because pricoscious children make great students, but you have got go give them the stepping stones.
Good Luck, keep her healthy,
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving,
E.

My son slept on a sleeping bag on the floor for a year or more...his choice. (The toddler bed was there but he just wasn't interested.) You may want to give her that option...that way you wouldn't need to worry about her falling out of bed and it may be less scary to her to be ground level.

I see that you've gotten advice about how to make the transition work, but my question is whether you're sure it's time to transition . . . One of my twins was an expert at climbing out of the crib, but we knew that they were way too active for beds (and we did NOT want to lay down with them). I bought a tent style cover for the crib, and he stayed in for another year. When we were ready to put them in beds, we spent a lot of time talking up the change. By the time they switched, they were very excited for their new "big boy" beds, the new bedding, pillows, etc. I don't know what the "experts" would say about reverting to the crib now that you've tried a couple of nights, but maybe you can give her the choice? I can pass along more info on the tent if you'd like, since we were completely satisfied with the safety aspect . . . regardless of your decision, good luck~

It sounds like you have recieved a lot of great adivce and are figuring it all out. I think are right to not go back to a crib. My daughter was out of a crib at 14 months old, not because she climbed out, but because she hated it. She wouldn't sleep in it. My son did fine in his crib until he was 12 months and decided it was time to climb out. So into a regular twin bed he went. I bought him Thomas the train sheets which he adores. He loves his bed. It has taken a while to get him to stay there, and he still wanders to my room during the night. I think it can be more challenging when they are younger but I don't think any age is right or wrong to move out of a crib. I swore my son would be in his crib til he was 3, but I didn't forsee giving birth to a monkey boy that could climb so young! All kids are different and I too was worried about falls. I know some people are okay with it, but it was too stressful for me to worry and so it was better to go to a bed. Good luck with the trasition, it sounds like you are doing great!

I wish I had advice for you but i'm not there yet... Gabby is 16 months old and I wake up every morning worried she is going to figure out how to get out of her crib. She is very tall.
What I wanted to ask you is, does your little girl also act like a monkey in her play area? We have one of those big kitchen/family rooms and i have it gated off from the front of the house but i can't put a gate btw the family room and kitchen bc it's just one big room. Last night Gabby got up on our barstools, and my desk chair which then gave her access to all of my desk supplies. UGH!

Hi T.,
Not sure if this will help you, but this is what we did when we first saw our daughter lift her foot over the rail of her crib. She was around 18 months. We bought her a Princess toddler bedsheet and cover set from Walmart. She LOVES going to bed under her covers. We gave the covers names (Belle is the big pink bed cover, "little pink" is the thermal cover, "Big blue" is the other thermal cover, etc.)The sheets are "little yellow belle"...you get the idea. At bedtime we'd go through the ritual of layering the covers as we called out their names. Our daughter LOVES this each time as if it is brand new to her. In the beginning we kept our door open and she would get up and come to us. We would walk her back to her bed without saying anything other than "Sleepy time" (that is the word that signals bedtime and naptimes). Now that she is 2 1/2 years old; she gets out of bed because she didn't want to miss anything. So, we've put an eye/hook lock towards the top of the door. When she tries to get out we open the door slightly and say "sleepy time" without going into her room. If she tries again we go to her door (not open it) and gently say through the door, "Sleepy time".

This has worked for us. Good luck!
-M

Hi T., You did the right thing...once they climb out of the crib you have to put it away! Finding her on the floor is normal! All three of mine did that when they were first out of the crib. We made sure the room was as safe as possible and put a babygate in the door way (to prevent midnight wandering. pinched in the door fingers and to keep the door open. We used night lights in the room and the hall. The big thing is to keep your normal routine...just like when she had the crib. Make the transition "no big deal". The more you make of the situation the more she will! Children take their emotional cues from us! Best wishes.

Oh wow! I have a daughter the same age and can't imagine what I'd do if she was climbing out. You've gotten some great suggestions already. Some that stood out to me were putting up a baby gate so she can't leave her room at night. The tent over the crib idea sounds interesting. I wonder if that would work or if she would just try to rip it off or be scared by it. Otherwise, if you transition her to a bed, maybe you could just put a mattress on the floor so she can't fall out and hurt herself. Please let us know what you decide to do and how it works out for you... just in case my little one decides to be an acrobat soon!! :)

C.
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