!8 month old tried to climb out of crib last night when I put him to sleep. I told him no and explained that he had to lie down. He is a good sleeper and he usually listens but now i am worried that he is figuring it out. I can take off his bumper but what else can I do to insure he will stay in there throughout the night? Thanks!
Time to take the crib apart and make it a toddler bed. Much safer! Once they learn to climb...its all downhill from there!
L.,
It'd be funny if it weren't happening to you!
Make sure the mattress is on the lowest rung so that it will be as low as possible. Hopefully, it will make the crib harder to climb out of.
When my first boy was about that age, he grabbed a floor lamp I had between the end of the crib and our rocking chair (used for reading night-time books in the rocker...sweet, ah, that time was so blissfully sweet...oh yeah, he's 19 now and not so sweet...just reminiscing there...) Anyway, he got ahold of that lamp post and swung out of that crib like Godzilla swingin' off of the Empire State Building! I busted him one naptime and you should have seen the look on his face...
He was the only one of my 3 boys who tried that...
I survived (sigh...)
C.
hello there!
talk to him again and again every time with different wording but with the same main idea.Tell your son you are there for him. tell him to call you before he comes out of his crib, reassure him you will go to him. do tests on this practice how it is actually done. so he can see how you are there for him.
Or maybe it is time for avery small bed. my daughter bought a crib from IKEA that we will be able to extend into a small bed. Even so, my grand daughter is only 7 mos now. she will be able to climb down her bed and come to mommy's if there is a nightmare or anything. right now she sleeps on her crib and all is fine.let see how it turns...Have you childproofed your home already?
by talking to your child you are doing the best a mom can do keep up the good work!
Another alternative is to lower the crib rail on the one side so you will not have to worry about him falling as he climbs over. My first son actually did it about 10 months and we just lowered the rail for safety. If you do this, use the door gate to keep him from wandering.
H.
Two words: crib tents.
I just went through this and was dreading the day they could climb out. I did buy the crib tents at BRU. Not all of
them carry the tents. They are very expensive $69. The
second day my son broke the zipper on the tent so it
was basically useless. It was going to cost too much to have fixed so we went to mattresses on the floor. The transition hasnt been easy, but I know every child adjusts differently. I just wish you look during this transition period. I do agree with the other Moms, if he climbs out, for safety reasons you need to remove him from the crib.
T.
Uh oh. Time to take down the crib.
Hi, L.
Almost all kids try getting out of the cribs at this age; it's what happens next that varies:) If you are consistently putting and talking to them back to sleep in the crib, it will most likely be just a phase, and before you know it, they may go back to sleeping in their cribs happily as ever. Some parents would replace the crib with a bed. Personally I think that 18 months is too young to sleep in a bed. If you go that route, please get a gate for his bedroom door, or if it's upstairs make sure the stairs gate is secure. I believe that kids master how to climb in and out of their crib before they master how to wander about their house in the dark safely. An alternative is to get a crib tent. My older one, a boy, figured out how to climb out of his crib before 14 months, but with consistency and persuasion, he grew out of that trick and stayed happily in his crib till he was completely ready for a bed. My younger one also mastered the climbing trick when she was about 16 months old. Even though she can do it safely, we decided to get a crib tent so she doesnt wander about in the house before we wake up . Some people may not be happy with their purchase, we are 100% happy with ours. It is light weight, secure, and she actually likes it. If you are interested in buying one, I would recommend going on line and purchase it from the manufacturers' distributor - a small company, but much cheaper than either Amazon or BRU. We didn't get Crib Tent II (because it completely surrounds the entire crib), but opted for the cheaper, but in my opinion better, Original Crib Tent. It was $38 plus shipping I think, and for us it was well worth the cost. On the website you can also see a video of demostration of how to set it up.... you can then decide if you want it, and which one works better for you.
I would start by taking the bumper off so he doesn't have the extra leverage. If he's continuing to try to get out, you're going to have to move him to a bed (or a mattress on the floor) for safety reasons. You can also put a baby gate in the doorway so he has nowhere to go if he does get out, and maybe then he'd see there is no reason to leave the crib.
The crib tents are good for keeping them in the crib, but I have heard of kids who were able to pull them down and get tangled up inside.
We had to use a crib tent. Told her it was like camping. My sister had to safety pin her zipper closed from the outside because her twins figured out how to push open the zipper. Toddler beds seem like a waste of money to me - in another year and a half he can be in a big bed. And a toddler bed won't keep him in, only safer if he gets out.
Hi L., I don't know if this is an option for you or not, but i took my kids out of the crib around that age. I took the crib down, laid the crib mattress on the floor put their stuffed animals around it, and this how I slept them before putting them in twin beds. At 18 months old most tots are not ready for explanations, if no doesn't work then you have to reinforce the no with some type of discipline. Hope this helps. J. L.
Hi
YOu could try a crib tent. Available at Babies R us, and online. Try ebay, amazon, one step ahead etc
GOod luck
At 16 months my son was able to climb out of his crib even with the mattress at the lowest level. My son has always been a crafty one, so I knew buying a crib tent wouldn't work for us. He would have that thing figured out in a few days. Since my son has always been very tall for his age and always into climbing and jumping off of things, even at that young age, I knew a toddler bed wouldn't cut it for him. So we just put him into a regular twin bed at 18 months. I found a solid, low to the ground wood frame at one of our local thrift stores for $40 and spent $600 on a good mattress set. He is now 4.5 and still in his bed.
The only real con of this is that he wasn't potty trained before he got his twin bed. So unfortunately he's had many pee accidents and the mattress always smells like pee no matter what I do (really soaking the pee spots good with vinegar and water over night and air drying helps). But it doesn't bother him, so we'll just keep it for another few years and then replace it as needed.
Hi L.,
Can you lower the mattress on the crib? My crib had 3 levels - so you want to put it on the lowest level when they can climb. It you've already done that they have extensions you can put up to make the sides higher and they have a net/tent you can put over the crib. You can try the toddler bed but it's hard to keep the kids in them. If you don't want your son walking around at night try to keep him in the crib as long as possible. My son climbed out once but he never did it again so your son might not either.
Good luck.
