Climing Out of Crib

My daughter was a climber too and we got one of those mesh crib tents. It attaches to the crib and you zip it open and shut to get them in and out. She didn't mind it and it kept her safe.

My son moved to a bed at 20 months. However, he is realy good about going to bed and doesn't fight it, so we didn't need the rails to keep him in. He is sleeping in a toddler bed and it has rails on the head portion. He's fallen out only a couple times and that was at the beginning.

IF you can get her to stay in bed when she goes down, she's old enough to sleep in a bed.

If you don't have a bedtime routine, now might be a time to implement one, it may help with her going to bed and staying in bed.

My son started climbing out of his crib around 19 months old. We have a convertible crib so I took the side rail off first. After he got the hang of that we got him a bed. At nap time and bed time he goes to bed and we shut the door so he stays in his room. He usually stays up talking for a while but he always ends up sleeping in the bed. Good luck!

The crib tents are nice, but don't work if you have one of those convertible cribs with the solid back (like we do). We ran into the same situation where my son climbed over the rails and fell over the other side. Luckily no injuries, but that very night we switched over to the toddler bed. We thought we'd have trouble keeping him in there, but he actually did better being in his "big boy bed." So much so, that for a long time, he'd wake up in the morning and ask if he could get out of bed. If yours is hesitant about switching beds, let her help you pick out bedding, etc. If she won't stay in the bed or you are worried about her falling out, you could put a mattress on the floor and super-baby proof the room so the whole room is sort of like a crib. A friend of mine did this and occasionally found her little guy asleep on the floor in various places, but he was safe and sleeping well, so she stuck it out for the couple of months that it happened. It's tricky when they're in these in-between stages. :)

K.,

If you really want to keep her in a crib, there are these nets you can put over the top of the crib. They are designed to keep out cats but will keep kids in just as well.

She really is old enough to move to a toddler bed. If you have trouble keeping in her bed, strip the room and lock the door. Put books, toys, (and the dresser if you have to) in the closet or out of reach. Lock the door or put a baby lock on the knob. Eventually she will get the idea and stay in bed because there is nothing else to do. She may sleep on the floor in front of the door for the first week or so, but you can put her back in bed when she is sound asleep so she at least wakes up in her bed. Be patient and she will catch on.

Happy New Year,
S.

My youngest climbed out at 17 months old! He was definitely not old enough for a bed so we took the metal mattress frame out, cut the crib legs shorter and dropped the mattress down to the floor inside of the crib. With the crib shorter it's easier to get him out and with the legs cut off there isn't any space between the crib and the mattress.
Hope this makes sense to you, if not let me know.
J.

I say get her in a toddler bed asap I've heard of many children who can crawl out of there cribs and end up getting injured very badly. As soon as my kids even attempted they were in a bed both at about 21 months. We put a baby gate on their doorway and had to go in and repetedly lay them down until they gave up and went to sleep it only lasted a week or so and they relized when they got put in bed it was bedtime and I wouldn't give in. It's hard I admit but it has to be done and better done before then after she gets hurt. They do make toddler beds with a rail on the whole one side and front and end and put the open side aganist the wall she will probley still crawl out but it might make her feel more secure about sleeping in it and she wont get hurt.

If you aren't sure she's ready to be in a big girl bed then you can do what I had to do with my son, get a crib tent. Sounds odd and some people didn't think it was very nice, but I was able to sleep soundly at night. They are about $60 and they attach under the mattress (so they can't pull it up) and it looks like a mesh tent that goes up the sides and over the top and there is a zipper door on the outside to get them in and out. My son tried his best to get it off, but it lasted until we felt he was ready for a big boy bed. I found mine at Babies'R'Us.

Yes, I would move your child into a bed or a mattress on the floor. I too would be worried about getting hurt.

We converted our child when she was a few months away from being two. It was a hard and trying process. We tried converting her crib, then we tried blankets on the floor, and we then tried putting her mattress on the floor. She'd keep walking out of the room and we'd keep putting her back over and over again. It was too exhausting so we put up a child gate and she freaked out and cried for over an hour. After a week of hell and her bed frame done being built we resorted to putting her mattress in the frame and we shut her in her room. This way she didn't see the light from our activity downstairs. This was also something my husband did research on. After a month of doing this I suggested leaving her door open so that the cats can come in and see her and she was okay and stayed in her room.

My son did that at 18 months old and we were advised that it was just time to get him out of the crib; it was too dangerous to leave him there once he knew how to get out. It was sad for me to disassamble the crib so suddenly--he was going to be my last child and I wasn't prepared to put away the crib! We started by just putting him on a crib mattress on the floor until he adjusted a little and then we put him in a toddler bed. I know that doesn't work for everyone, but since he was so young and so little that is what we did. We also had one available from our older son. This also isn't a good solution for everyone, but to get him asleep one of us stayed with him. It might take a few weeks for her to adjust, but I've heard a better solution is to just keep taking them back to bed every time they get up. It's difficult for a few weeks (and you all lose some sleep), but it works out best in the long run. Good luck! It may be a difficult transition, but it sounds like it's time for her to be in a bed.

I wish I had a great suggestion for you...My son did the same thing, and I was also more than worried about getting him to bed, and keeping him in bed, once he was in the toddler bed and had the freedom of movement to get out of bed whenever he wanted.

What we did: First, we kept the crib for a while longer, but kept the railing down, under the theory that this would lessen the likelihood of injury, should he climb out again, i.e. with the railing down he didn't have as far to fall, should he fall. Then, once we got the toddler bed, we made a very big deal about how special it was to be a big boy in a big boy bed and how proud we were of him that he could sleep in his own bed all night long. Then we back-tracked a little in terms of bedtime routine. At first we sat with him until he went to sleep, gradually moving the chair further and further away from the bed and towards the doorway. This only took a week or two. I was really surprised- I really thought that we'd have a toddler roaming the house all night every night as soon as he realized he could get out of bed. Compared to my expectations, what we had to do was easy.

We occasionally still wake up in the middle of the night to a small boy running into our room and climbing into our bed- but it's quite rare, and he doesn't roam anywhere else in the house.

Good luck to you!!

IF that baby is that young i wouldnt think they would be able to climb out of the crib at 3 months old. They cant even stand up at 3 months. Maybe if your child is that young I would suggest lowering the crib to its final notch.

The climb could cause a long fall and broken bones. To be safe, move to a bed. If you don't want a toddler bed, go with a mattress on the floor. That's what we did and it's less of a drop to the floor...and more cost effective because you're not spending money on a toddler bed that you won't use for very long. A twin mattress you can use for way longer.

Mine was 1.5 when she started the climb...so consider yourself lucky that she stayed in the crib for that long.

My Son was the exact same age when he climbed out. I had an infant at the time so I really needed him to stay in the crib! I found that the crib tent (sold at babies r us) worked great!! We tried to make it fun like he was camping!! He doesn't always like it but I know he's in bed and safe!!

Now my younger son climbed out at 18 months - so we bought a second one!!

It's been a life saver!! Good luck!