So, my daughter turned one about a week ago. Last night, she climbed out of the crib. (Or should I say, the pack n play...thank God it wasn't a crib four feet off the ground!) So, we packed it away, and moved the toddler bed into our room...we had planned on letting our girls share, but I don't feel safe having such a young child in a separate room in a toddler bed. I have a feeling if she woke up, she wouldn't come to me...she'd roam herself right into trouble.
Has anyone else's baby climbed out so early? Any advice on safety from here on out? She still wakes 1-2 times a night to nurse.
And she is so cute in the little bed with her butt in the air...aww.... :)
(And on a side note...we have hard floors, no carpeting, and I don't feel safe letting her climb out of a crib. The crib is gone. What if she had slipped and fell on her head? Just because you don't get hurt the first time, which she didn't, doesn't mean she won't get hurt the next time. My brother in law broke his collarbone at that age, falling a shorter distance. Scary.)
(oh, and her crib was in our room to begin with. We just exchanged it for her toddler bed, which was sitting unused except for play in her sister's room.)
We went to a toddler bed at 15 months, and just used a baby gate on the bedroom door so they could not wonder out. It went fine.
We put a twin mattress on the floor when she was 14 months. Not because she climbed out of a crib, but because that's the only way she would sleep. We had a gate at the top of the stairs. She really hardly ever woke up, and if she did, she would call for us first thing.
She was always a difficult child to get to nap, so the teachers at her daycare discovered that she would sleep best on a matt on the floor of the playroom, right in the middle of the noise. If she was in the crib room, she would wake the others. Well, that led to her only sleeping on the floor. It worked fine at home, too. Once she learned not to roll off, we added the rest of the bed.
Time for the toddler bed or a twin bed (or a twin mattress on the floor). If you are worried about her roaming at night, then unless you have a reason to worry, I wouldn't. What I found, at least with our kids, was that until they were confident and comfortable enough to make the long walk down the (straight) hallway to our bedroom to my bedside in the dark, alone, (we didn't keep a nightlight on in their rooms--but there was one from the refrigerator in the kitchen halfway down the hall)... that they just sat there on/in their bed. IF they woke up at night (which was a rarity around age 1), they just sat up in bed and cried. They never got out of the bed.
Now, when they were closer to 2 yrs old, they would get up and come down the hall and stand beside the bed (I always "felt" them there before they got into the bedroom good -- "mommy ears", lol. But if they got out of bed during the night, it wasn't because they were bored and looking to see what they could get into unsupervised. It was because they had a bad dream and wanted me to comfort them, or they felt ill and wanted me. I didn't gate the bedroom door, but we were in a one story home... so if that isn't the case with you that might change things for you.
Leave her in the toddler bed or get a crib tent. If you go the toddler bed route, you can put a baby gate up at the door. That way she's confined to the room, yet you'll still be able to hear her if she needs you. Move the toddler bed back to her room. There's really no sense in having her sleep with you if she's not already used to it. You're going to have major issues breaking her of it when she's older.
We just switched our 16 month old to a toddler bed in her own room. She was always a good sleeper and the toddler bed was converted from her crib so it was still very familiar to her. It has been a week of her in her new big girl bed and we are just JUST getting the hint that bedtime is bedtime and not to get up and mess around with everything. Im sure she will get it soon enough, but like others have suggested, with her being that young I would just put a mattress on the floor for her to start and lay out a blanket or mat beside the mattress incase she rolls off
Good Luck
YES! Our child could climb out by the time she was 1.. She could scramble over so quickly.. she was like a monkey,it was amazing. we have still photos, try to get video..
We took down the crib and placed the mattress on the floor and placed a double gate.
We soon after purchased a bed and placed it in the corner of her room.
She learned to just stay in bed till we came to get her. We also had her on a sippy cup by the time she turned 1 so if she woke up, we just gave her, her cup changed her diaper and patted her back to sleep all with the light totally off and no conversations.
When my son started getting to the point where he could fall out of the crib we transittioned to a crib mattress on the floor and then to a twin mattress on the floor and finally twin mattress and box spring. We used a baby gate over the door to the room so he wouldn't travel.
Err, what exactly do you think would have happened if she climbed out of the regular crib? My kids started climbing out of their cribs almost at the moment they walked. Not one of them had any harm come from this.
Mine always slid down the bars but occasionally they dropped. It is only a few feet. If you jumped down three feet do you think you would be hurt? Kids won't be hurt either.
Don't get me wrong when my first fell a whole one and a half feet out of his baby swing at three months we called 911. After the paramedics laughed at us while looking him over, then explained that it doesn't hurt them any more than if we fell a foot we felt pretty stupid for panicking.
Relax, put the baby back in the crib.
