My daughter has started climbing out of her crib. So far I have tried putting her back in every time she gets out, which works sometimes, but mostly she just thinks it is a game and giggles like crazy. I have also super-child-proofed her room and put a safety gate on her door, and she has very peacefully fallen asleep on the floor in front of the gate a few times, at which point I put her back in the crib. This method has worked the most quickly, like in as little as 5 minutes, but it just doesn't seem ideal to let her fall asleep on the floor. Once she is down for the night, she stays down until morning, so I don't have any middle-of-the-night issues (knock on wood). The method that was most recommended by both books and friends was putting her back every time she gets up, but I don't know how to prevent it from becoming a game. I try to be boring and calm, but my daughter thinks it is hilarious to climb out of her crib and have mommy put her back in. She can climb back in on her own, but she won't. So... that is about everything... I would love to hear ideas or encouragement! How long does this phase last, anyway? Thank you!
Thanks to everyone for all the advice! We converted her crib to a day bed, which she seems to really like. We are still working on getting her to go to sleep in it though...perhaps that will be my next question posted!
Crib tent or switching to a toddler bed. I know a child who broke an arm falling out of a crib the very first time he climbed out.
Sounds like it is time for a "Big Girl" with a side rail only. My son did the same thing (but at 15 months! We converted his crib into a daybed with a side rail when he was 18months. Super baby proofed and gated the doors. For safety sake it may be that time. Otherwise I do know a few people who have put the crib net on their cribs...I was never quite comfortable with that, but you gotta do what works for you. Good luck!
Unfortunately.it's not a phase. She is done with the crib. Once she learns to climb out, she is simply not safe anymore. Childproof the room and buy a bed.
You can try a tent, but you really should take the crib out, and put her mattress on the floor until you can buy a bed. She isn't safe right now.
My son got quite good at climbing in and out of his crib. One time we were getting ready for a long road trip to visit grandma and we put him in a small travel playpen next to his crib (we left the crib gate down so he could climb out without falling as far) to get use to sleeping in it before we hit the road. Next morning we found him sleeping in his crib - seems he liked it better than the travel playpen. She might be ready for a toddler bed, but she might like the old crib better once she has a choice.
I have a daughter about her age and although she's not climbing out of her crib yet, we are going to put her in a toddler bed or a regular bed with rails in the next month or so. Sounds like my be your girl is ready for that too. Good luck and let us know how it goes.
She's ready for a toddler for twin bed. That is when i got my daughter a toddler bed. If she can get out the most you can do it make it safer. You will get the same thing except it's safer and after a while she will get to where you can say "stay in bed here is a book"
sounds to me like she is ready for a big girl bed. You have already childproofed the room and have a gate to prevent her from wandering the house, so you are halfway there already. I prefer transitioning to a toddler bed since it is a lot closer to the floor. My 2 1/2 year old loves his little bed.
I believe that crib tents just put off the inevitable a little longer. She needs a toddler bed (or mattress on the floor or whatever variation works for you),and she needs it now. I know a lot of parents hate the thought of giving up the crib because it means establishing the new routine of staying in a toddler bed, but do it for her safety. My friend's child broke her arm when she fell from the raised top rail of her crib as she climbed out. Stand next to the crib, with the side up, and think for a minute how high up that raised top rail is for a small child -- she could fall on her arm from that height or, much worse, onto her head. The challenges of a new bed routine are nowhere near as bad as a trip to the hospital. Make it fun for her and emphasize how grown up she's getting. And be prepared to spend your nights for a while returning her to the new bed over and over, with calmness but firmness. She will get up and down, she will experiment with seeing how many times she can test you by getting out of bed, but you have to go through that stage eventually, so why not now, before she's hurt?
Crib tent!! I have twins that did the same thing and I got two crib tents and managed to get another year out of the cribs!! You can get them lots of places, we got ours at Babies R Us. We told the boys they were camping and made it really fun and they had no problem with it until they realized they couldn't get out (you will need to safety pin the zipper once it is zipped shut - otherwise they can wiggle their little fingers in and unzip the tent from the inside!). But that only lasted one night with no real issues anyway. After 2 weeks of having the tents on and zipped, we didn't even zip them anymore since the boys stopped climbing. If they even tried or acted like they were going to try to climb, then we'd zip it up for that night. It worked wonderfully and I know so many other moms who have used these as well and we all can't recommend them enough.
Oh, and I don't buy into the idea that if they are climbing out then they are ready for toddler beds. When the boys were 3 1/2 we finally put them in big boy beds and we still had a hard time keeping them in their beds and in their rooms so I'm sure it's not easier with even younger kids!
Good luck
T.,
She is definitely ready for a toddler or twin bed. It is unsafe for her to be climbing out of the crib every night, because an accident could occur.
Take her to the store with you and have her involved in the process of buying the bed. This may make it easier to transition her.
Good luck!
Sounds like she's ready for a big girl bed!
Maybe its time to change crib to a bed.
I always heard when they start trying to climb out, switch to a different bed. My son swithed to a toddler bed at 1, and never tried to climb out of it when he was tired. He also didn't always climb in it when he was tired. My daughter is 17 mo and we just started putting her down for some naps in her toddler bed, and she does fine. She's still not trying to climb out at night, so she just has two beds currently. Whatever you try, good luck!
Hi - my kids are both teens but both went through this - the younger one actually climbed from the crib on to the top of her dresser and slept there! We finally put the crib mattress on the floor and let her sleep there for a week or so and she was very happy. We then got a toddler bed, which worked just fine. This was my first lesson in picking my battles - if she wants to sleep on the floor, let her - it does no harm and gives her a sense of control and choice. She will grow out of it and you'll on to something new! Good luck. Mother of two well-adjusted teen girls.
It may be time to get her a toddler bed. That seems like a better solution than letting her climb out of the crib and maybe falling and hurting herself. This way with a toddler bed, u can let her pick out her own bedding; my son picked out elmo and we called his room elmo's world. He was more compelled to stay in his room and his bed. Good luck.
Have you ever read Dr. Weissbluth's book, Healthy Sleep, Happy Child? If not, you may want to check it out. It has been so helpful to me. I only have an 11 month old, so we aren't as far down the path of climbing out of the crib yet, so I can't offer any personal advice. However, he did recommend, that when children start to do that, that you can attach one of those screen like canopies on top where they can't get out. I can't remember what you call them. Someone is borrowing my book right now. It is the same thing that you use if you have cats and don't want them jumping into the crib. He also said that some children start to figure out how to unzip or remove them. He then recommends putting duck tape over those areas so they can't. Again, I am not speaking from experience, and have never seen one of these products, so I am unsure as to how they work. But, I am sure I would be willing to try it if climbing out of the crib was becoming a game for your little one. Hope this helps!
We've been using a crib tent for my son for the last 6 months and it's worked great! We were concerned that he'd feel trapped in his crib (he honestly was just not ready for a big boy bed yet) but the opposite was true. He LOVES the tent and happily gets in his crib for nap and nighttime. My only concern now is that he's going to want a tent on his big boy bed when we switch him to that :) If you do end up going with a tent, message me and I'll give you some tips on how to rig the velcro so she can't undo it from the inside of her crib.
sounds like she is ready for a bed.
try a crib tent. we converted to a toddler bed and I still can't get my son to sleep in it (he sleeps on the floor by the door and insists that we lock him in). I don't know if I would go the put her back in every time route. We tried that for about 3 rounds with my son and every time he got out it was with more force and he was landing on his arms. I was really worried that one time he would break something.
