What do you do when the little one crawls out of the crib
What have you done when you were in Barbara's situation? It seems her little one is working on her escape routine. Barbara writes:
My 20-month old daughter figured it out last week when she was mad at me for not letting her go outside in the rain with the dogs. But, since then it hasn't been a problem and she's gone down for naps and bed just fine. Until today. I put her down for her nap and turned around to turn off some lights and when I looked back she was hanging off the top rail. Luckily I caught her before she hit the floor. I tried again, but she started right back up. I ended up pulling out the pack and play, which is slightly taller, and it seems like it might be working - she threw her leg up but wasn't able to get it over the higher ends and didn't try the sides. The issue is that I borrowed this pack and play from my sister-in-law and was thinking I could return it when we see her in 2 weeks.
I'm hoping this is a one-time thing, but what if it isn't? We have hardwood floors which wouldn't be great to fall onto. Do we go to a toddler bed and if so, how do you make sure she stays in it and goes to sleep when we leave the room? Any other ideas? And yes, when we lowered the crib we did drop it to the lowest level.
We used a crib tent with our daughter, until we felt she was ready for the big girl bed move. Now that she's in the bed, she surprises me by staying in, even after she wakes. We did install a lock on the outside of her door, just in case, but we've never had to use it. We also use a sticker chart as an incentive for her to stay in bed. If she fills up her chart, we'll take her to ice cream (or some other fun outing).
Posted by: Charissa | February 23, 2007 at 12:36 PM
It sounds like it's time for a big girl bed. We treated it as something to be proud of earning...lots of excitement but also a privlege. Our little one never gave us problems once the new bed was introduced. He loves "his" bed.
Posted by: Alice | February 23, 2007 at 12:46 PM
Barbara, this is exactly when our son climbed out of his crib too...We were pretty freaked out about it because we obviously didnt want him to get hurt, but we also really didnt think he was ready for a big bed. We ended up taking the side rail off of his crib (check and see if your crib is capable of being set up that way--it looks like a little toddler daybed now) and it's worked out perfectly. He thought it was pretty cool that he could get in and out by himself, and there were definitely a few days that he played in his room before he fell asleep, and a few nights when he fell asleep by the door but other than that, it was a really easy transition. Now we're starting to think about a twin size bed for him, and I think it will be an easier transition than if we were just trying to move him from a crib directly to a twin. Good luck!
Posted by: NoPo Mama | February 23, 2007 at 12:58 PM
I had the same experience as NoPo Mama, except my son figured this out shortly before his first birthday. Once he bit his lip crawling/falling out a few months later, I knew it was time to remove the front rail. I placed a lower bed rail on so he could crawl out without hurting himself, but wouldn't roll out of bed during the night. Some cribs are capable of adding a rail that matches the crib. It took a few nights, but each time he climbed out, I walked him back to bed. I recently moved him into his own bed (he's just a bit over 2) and he is excited to go to bed at night (yeah!! no struggle!).
Posted by: courtney | February 23, 2007 at 02:39 PM
Your little girl is growing up! She is ready for the next step (although you're probably not, LOL). With my son, we removed the side rail of his crib. Sure it was hard keeping him in there, but that is just part of the adjustment. If your crib won't allow for the removal of the front rail, you can just put the crib mattress on the floor or go ahead and get her a real bed (a toddler bed isn't necessary). In either case, do a double-check of your child-proofing to make sure she's safe if she wanders around at night. We put a gate at our son's door, to make sure he couldn't go too far. Good Luck!
Posted by: Audrey | February 23, 2007 at 04:00 PM
I'd get her out of the crib ASAP. I had a friend whose son broke his leg crawling out of his crib and falling onto a carpeted floor.
Posted by: rebecca | February 23, 2007 at 05:04 PM
We put a twin mattress on the floor until it looked like our son wasn't rolling around the bed a whole lot. To keep him in his room, we put a child-proof door knob protector on the inside of the room. It didn't take long for him to figure out he couldn't open the door once it was shut. We don't have an issue with him staying in his bed at night anymore. Good luck!
Posted by: Hope | February 23, 2007 at 07:50 PM
We transitioned our daughter out of her crib when she turned two, for two reasons.
1. We thought that sometime in the next six months or so, that she would be potty trained. Therefore, we wanted her to have the freedom to come and go to the bathroom.
2. She began to show interest in climbing up the side rails, so wanted to transition her before she actually figured out how to crawl out of her bed.
We moved a twin mattress into her room - no frame, but just on the floor. Our crib has a removable side, but we didn't feel like spending the extra money for a side rail. One night I asked her if she wanted to sleep in the twin or in her crib. She chose the twin. She slept wonderfully the first night and did not try to get out.
However, each night, she would wake up earlier and earlier and crawl into bed with us. By the time she was getting into bed with us at 11 pm, we had it. It's not that we don't enjoy a good snuggle, but we have a hard time getting a good night sleep with her in bed with us.
Solution - we moved another twin mattress into the room. Whenever she would wake up in the middle of the night and come into bed with us, we'd put her back into her bed, and then one of us would sleep in the other twin. We had to do this for maybe 5 nights. Since then (about 2 months), she hasn't gotten out of her bed. We do our regular routine (bath, books) and then she falls asleep on her own.
Once, she rolled off the bed onto the wood floor in the middle of the night and started to cry. Afterwards, I put a large pillow against her bed to prevent her from rolling off. I also put a plush rug next to her bed.
One other note, a friend of mine bought crib tents for her twins. Unfortunately, they quickly figured out how to unzip them. One morning, one of her boys fell while trying to climb out of his crib and got a huge bump on his head.
Good luck!
Posted by: Melinda | February 23, 2007 at 09:39 PM
We booted our daughter out of the crib when she was 18 months - she slept in the crib mattress on the floor to begin with. She rolled out of bed every night for a few nights, but usually didn't even wake up. We got her a normal human-size bed (whatever they're called - twin?)with no safety rail at 24 months, and she's never even come close to falling out. For a while we put the crib mattress on the floor next to the big bed in case she did roll out, but it was never necessary.
Posted by: Sara | February 24, 2007 at 09:01 AM
When my son was just under 2, we put a twin bed/boxspring on the floor (no frame) and got a bedrail. He loves that he has a "big boy bed" and also since we have a baby on the way, we talk about the crib now being for the baby. He loves to climb into his own bed at night, and we haven't had any major problems with him getting out and running around. This is surprising, as I expected he would be out of bed the first time we tried to put him down, but that didn't happen (we did it first at night, not nap, so maybe the dark helped).
However, just to be safe, we made sure to have a good gate at the top of the stairs, and keep it closed when he's up there. He's run into our room a few times in the mornings, but usually he calls for us instead. It's been a great situation, and he sleeps so much better than he ever did in the crib. I was totally worried about the abrupt transition from crib to a huge twin bed, but honestly, he didn't seem to mind one bit, and in fact, really enjoyed getting a "big boy" bed. We did some fun things like getting him a special pillow for the first time, and getting some new fun sheets, things like that got him very excited about it.
Posted by: Laura | February 24, 2007 at 09:13 AM
We put our daughter in a toddler bed at 18 months. The advantage to those is that they take up the same amount of room as a crib and use the same mattress, but they usually have some kind of raised side that goes along half of the length of the bed so they don't roll out, but they can get in and out of it very easily so they feel a little in control. We thought she'd hate it (she was sleeping with us prior to that and had never liked her crib), but she loved the fact that it was her bed and liked the size and coziness of it. If you keep an eye on craigslist you can usually find several on there for decent prices. I think it's a good transition before going to a twin bed. Yes, sometimes they'll get out of bed, but that's just part of learning how to go to bed, and I liked knowing that she could come to me if she needed to.
Good luck!
Posted by: tory | February 24, 2007 at 10:00 AM
Our daughter has been sleeping on a twin futon on the floor since she was 13 months (she's just turning two now). We child-proofed the room and got a pressure gate to use when necessary.
It hasn't been a perfect solution - yes she does get out of bed and fool around (mostly at naptime), but it's better than what we were going through with the crib.
Posted by: lydia | February 24, 2007 at 08:08 PM
I was wondering if anyone has any naptime solutions. Our toddler just hopped into his toddler bed the first night we set it up, and slept great. We'd expected to have a transition period, and introduce it to the room before he used it, but he just climbed on and said "good night!" So nighttime sleep is not a problem. We continued putting him in the crib for a while for naps, and usually he would play a while then fall asleep. But his protests started being more vigorous and longer, and I began to fear that he'd hurt himself with his kicking the crib (never figured out how to climb out - which was great). So we just started putting him in there at naptime and shutting the door, and unfortunately he now only naps about 2 days in five, and usually not until he's scattered all his books and toys all around the room and played for upwards of an hour. We have a pretty clear bedtime routine for him - is it too late to start one for naps? Other suggestions to keep him napping?
Posted by: Betsy | February 25, 2007 at 10:07 PM
Sorry to take so long to reply. I did end up with the one with the innerspring and find it to be very comfortable (yes I spend a lot of time on it myself!). We had a standard mattress that came with the crib for a couple of weeks and when the organic mattress finally arrived I was amazed at the difference. It is very comfortable.
Posted by: best memory foam mattress review | December 29, 2012 at 04:56 AM