What Are My Options? - Ogdensburg,NY

Just because she put her leg up does not necessarily mean she will climb
out. I would not rush to put her in a bed. Way too young.

A friend of mine had her son in a sleep sack all year round. It restricted the leg movements enought to prevent climbing over the crib rail. maybe that will work? good luck.

I think 16 months is too early for a bed. My daughter moved to a bed at 2, and it was not a good idea- she wouldn't stay in it. We ended up putting her back in the crib with a crib tent. My son is still in a sleep sack (19 months) and it has been wonderful. They come in different weights, so he was in the cotton one last summer.

Keep your child in the crib for as long as you can. You never know what she will get into in her room. Plus, if she can climb out of the crib, she may be able to climb over a gate across her door.

Good luck, I know it can be a rough and worrisome transition.

I think that's about when we converted to a toddler bed and put a pillow on the floor because she fell out for the first week or so. On the other hand, my son is almost 2 and we haven't converted his yet. We will in the next week or so since he is showing more climbing signs, but he's always loved the crib more than my daughter did. I think either way you'll be fine. You can always try the crib tent and if it doesn't work then convert the bed. I suppose it also depends on your house design. Our bedroom is right next to our kids' bedroom, so if she got out she would just walk over to us. I would have been more reluctant to do this if she would have had to cross the house to reach us.

We moved my daughter to a twin mattress on the floor at 16 months when we noticed that she knew how to climb out (we didn't catch her at it, but are pretty sure that she climbed out and then back in again!). We also put a gate across the doorway to her room to keep her in a "child-proofed" space. She too is a master at opening/unzipping/climbing/etc. and we had to try 3 different types of gates before we found one she couldn't undo - it's a retractable style that's sort of like a sideways window shade. As someone mentioned in another post, she was able to get under/undo the bottom of the other two gates we tried. She is now 26 months and has recently learned how to open doors with child proofed handles! Whatever you decide now, you'll probably be reassessing every few months as she learns new things... Good luck!

move the bed to the toddler bed thing and put a gate across her doorway so she can't get out at night. I had to do that with our youngest son as he was houdini and could get out of all carseats, cribs, etc by the time he as a year old. We put a gate across which worked till he figured out he could kick the bottom out and crawl out like a doggie door lol. the we had to put a hook and eye lock on his door. babyproof her room (probably already done lol) put the toys in a basket which can be put away in the closet at bedtime and a hook and eye on that. babyproof locks on all dresser drawers so she can't remove all clothing and scatter it and or use the drawers like a ladder to get on top (son also did this we found him one morning sitting on his dresser) and put her to bed at night you will have a few nights where she will get out of bed a dozen times. its all part of the learning experience. you will have nights where you check on her and she will be asleep at the doorway with her fingers clutching the gate. it will pass quickly. good luck

Convert the crib to a bed! We put both of our kids in regular twin size beds at about 18 months. No regrets! We told them each they could not get out of the beds until we came and got them in the morning. My daughter that's four still lays awake playing with her animals until we tell her she can get up!

Sounds like my kids. We are all tall - so by the time my kids were a yr old they could easily get their leg over the crib railing and were trying to get out. I moved my DD to a bed by 16 months. I didn't even bother with a toddler bed - I just got a twin boxspring and mattress and, without the frame or legs put it directly on the floor. I got a railing type thing that tucks in under the mattress to keep her from rolling off and then put a gate on her bedroom door so she couldn't escape from her bedroom. By the time my son was in that stage we had both kids in the same small bedroom with a trundle bed - so his was already low to the floor.

The tent thing wasn't big back then - maybe wasn't even available (my kids are nearly 12 & 15 now so it was a while ago).

Mothers have been dealing with this issue for as long as babies have been in cribs - we seem to have all these new ways to deal with stuff - not sure if any of it works better than others - except for the companie who sell the new stuff. ;o)

Since your crib converts to a toddler bed, I think that would be your best bet. My first daughter was in a regular bed (with bed rails, no boxspring) at 16 months and my second daughter used the crib converted to toddler bed when she was almost two before she went to a regular bed. If you're worried about her wandering you could put a baby gate if you don't already have one.

My son is the master at figuring things out. He figured out how to get onto the kitchen countertops AND get over gates AND get into the 'child proof' cabinets and lots of other stuff. He's one that only needs to see you do it once and he knows how to do it himself. 'Grandma' told me yesterday that he scared the daylights out of her because she didn't realize he could get out of his crib there.

The crib tent still keeps him in.

we have an odd shaped crib too...but the cribtent worked because its pretty bendable. Ours climbed OUT at 16 months (look at my questions, I think Posted something last June) I wasnt going to do the crib tent but then my pediatrician also recommended it...It bought us another year..AHHHHH we just put her in a twin bed on Sunday...she was in her crib in the crib tent til then. And the zipper is on the outside..yeah she may be smart at 16 months, but she is not that smart. My kid didnt even notice how it zipped up or wear the zipper was until Jan.
You cant get the crib tent in stores..you have to order it...I had to get 2. one for her crib and another for when we travel (we travel overnight approx once a month) I bought one online for like 60 or 70 and then found one on craigslist.
I STILL say 16 months is way too young to be in a bigger bed

Once my 4 kids starting climbing out of their cribs, it was time for the "big kid" beds.

My daughter climbed out of her crib as soon as she could walk. After that, it was safer to just leave the crib rail down and she climbed in and out of her crib on her own. Eventually we got her a regular twin bed.

I agree that it's better to move her to a bed than to risk her falling out of the crib. Put a baby gate up on the door. If she can figure out how to get past that, take her door off and replace it with a screen door. Then she wont' be able to get out.

There are extenders to fasten onto the crib railing which makes it higher.
This worked for my daughter.

Updated

This is for the parents of children who use dresser drawers as a ladder. I once read of a little boy who did that. It must have been a lightweight dresser because his weight caused the dresser to fall over on top of the boy. He died from the injuries. This article recommended fastening dressers to the wall so that they can not fall on a child.

I would say try to keep her in the crib a little longer. We put my son in a bed right before his second birthday, but not before trying everything. Around 18 mos, we put our son in one of those baby sleeping bags (they come in large sizes for toddlers-you can get cotton ones for the summer too) over his PJ's, this prevented him from being able to lift his leg over the side of the crib. It worked like a charm for a while. If she can figure out zippers (he did), put it on backwards so the zipper's in the back! I hope this buys you some time. Once my son was out of the crib his naps got more difficult!

At the age of 9 months, my nephew learned how to climb out of his crib. My sister put him in a toddler bed...it was a car or truck one. The point is that although it was a toddler bed, the sides came up and kept the baby from falling out, but was low enough so that if he did climb out, then he wouldn't get hurt. I think he was pretty good staying in his room, but you could always put a gate up in the doorway to keep the baby from coming out of the bedroom if he/she happens to crawl out of bed.

We gave up on the crib at about 17 or 18 months. We were all much happier for it. We were ok with co-sleeping. We put our kids in their own bed at night, and if they found their way to our bed before morning, they just joined us. My husband was out of town last night, and both boys (2 and 4 1/2) ended up in bed with me. I actually like having them in bed with me when my husband's gone. I really feel safer knowing where they are.

We are waiting as long as possible, so we took the center metal pieces out of our convertible Lollipop crib and just put the mattress down on the floor in the middle of the crib frame. It works with this model, but may not with others. I'd wait for transitioning, but I know others who have done it with success. Our daughter HAPPENED to show us that she could climb out with her leg, and we met someone whose son fractured a leg climbing out! Good luck!

I'd go for the crib tent. My son is 3 & quite crafty himself. And being a boy he climbs everything & can be a bit destructive at times. I wasn't ready for him to have the freedom of getting up whenever he wanted & freedom to roam the house or even just his room (he's used his dresser drawers as stairs to get at things he shouldn't, but I thought were safe since they were on a shelf above, I was wrong. But that's another story). So when he started climbing out I immediatedly invested in a crib tent - the $30 was so worth the peace of mind. His crib also converts to a toddler bed & is odd shaped - the backside is higher than the rest, but I used an extention velcro to make the back fit & it works. It ties & velcros in so many places, it would take your daughter forever to get it undone, even if she could reach the ties. As for the zipper, my son figured out if he stuck his hand out the gap in the side he could pull the zipper up in front enough, then stick his hand through the zipper hole & unzip it the rest of the way! So then we used to wrap the zipper pull around the end of the tent so he couldn't do that & it worked. We made the tent a positive thing & he liked "his tent", I guess it made him feel secure.
My friend used one of those sleep sacks, like feetie PJs but instead of individual leg holes it's like a sleeping bag. She used to have to put it backwards on her son, like a previous post mentioned, because he figured out the zipper quickly. But with the warmer weather it might be too hot for your daughter to sleep in. She eventually got a crib tent too.
Good luck!