Climbed Out of Crib

My daughter was the same age when she strated climbing out. We lowered the matress as much as possible, but quickly found that the way the crib was made gave her a leg up and out. So we endded up converting it to a toddler bed and putting up a bed rail. I was a littl nervous beacue the bedrail didn't run the length of the bed. She moves a lot when she sleeps. So, I would wedge one of her oversized animals in the gap. When she stared pulling it out I put a little step stool there for her to step down safely. She Was so excited. She practiced going up and down. I'll tell you that the first 5 days or so was difficult because she kept wanting to get out of bed after we put her in. But we just kept putting her back in, and she gave it.
ALSO, after a while she started working the door knob. So I put a door knob cover on it and that still works. ( She'll be 3 on July 1st)
I was a little emotional putting her in a bed. (I know that's silly... oh well)
Good Luck!
H. H

Hi M.,

Although my daughter never actually climbed out of her crib, she did sit with her legs sticking out, which eventually led to her legs getting stuck. Because of this, we took the railing off of her crib...the problem was, she still thought of it as her crib. For the next few nights she fell out of bed every night (onto a down blanket on the floor). Thankfully, we had an extra twin bed that we gave her and put a "bed rail" on.
Most people I've talked to say not to put a child that young in a bed but it helped us not to worry at night. With the bed rail in place, she never got out of bed at night and she could still move as much as she needed to get comfortable.
I hope this helps a bit!
S.

Do you have the crib at it's lowest setting?

If so, and you're not ready to have her in a regular bed, you can buy a canopy top - looks kind of like mosquito webbing - that fits over the crib so she can't climb out. I'm not sure what it's called, or where to buy it, but you can probably do a search for "crib cover" or something like that to find it.

A.

My understanding is that once they climb out once.... they'll keep doing it. My little girl was in a big bed at 18 months. I would suggest if your crib goes down to a toddler bed, do that today! I would put up a bed rail on the toddler bed so can't fall out and she can climb out with out getting hurt.
Good luck...
L.

Crib tents are wonderful for this problem!! I nannied for a little girl that could climb out of her crib around the same age as your little girl. Her mom bought a crib tent, hard to put together, but very worth it. The little girl thought it was really neat and it kept her daughter in the crib (which is great for mom's sanity during nap and bedtimes) until she was a little over 2 and a half yrs. old, when she then moved her to a toddler bed. Good luck!

I would say if your crib converts to a bed change it. I bought a bed for my daughter when she was 1 and so did my sister b/c she climbed out of it. You don't want to take that risk if she does climb out of it again, she might get hurt. I have my son in a bed with a rail on it.

Hi! If her crib converts into a day bed, convert it. Otherwise, it's time for a toddler bed (or bigger, with a safety gate). She's more likely to hurt herself if you leave her in the crib than she will in a big girl bed. I have a 4 1/2 year old and a 3 year old. We have a convertible crib so at about 18 months they both went from crib to day bed. Now my son is in a full bed and my daughter will also be in a month or two. Zach was in a full bed by age 2 because his sister came along and we needed the crib. He is the most active sleeper and he has never fallen out of bed. The bigger issue is usually, how to keep them from climbing into bed with you (we're still working on that one!)as a big kid bed allows so much freedom. Good luck!

what i would do is just put her back in firmly and say" IN the crib, you go IN IN IN the crib!"

maybe try a crib tent

I am one to think it's best for a toddler to stay contained in a crib for as long as possible- I don't 'go' for toddler beds, etc...that's just me though...

Hi M.,

My son was quite the monkey also at that age.. actually at 15 months we got rid of the crib and bought him a small nemo toddler bed.. i suggest you get rid of the crib cause she sounds like shes ready for a big girl bed.. also you dont want the danger of her falling with her leg stuck between the railings.. most toddler beds are really low to the floor or have a partial side rail so they dont roll off. my son rolls around alot when hes sleeping and sometimes he rolls off the bed ,,most of the time it doesnt even wake him up and he just sleeps on the floor.. i would much rather have him sleep on the floor then risk the danger of him falling out of his crib, just make sure the room is totally child proof, no blind cords hanging down and all wall sockets covered.. you can also install a gate at her door so she doesnt get out and roam the house while you are still sleeping. hope my advice helps.. good luck to you guys

They say that once they fall or can climb out of the crib it is no longer safe to keep them in there. When our daughter did this, we lowered the mattress as low as it would go and she hasn't tried to climb out since. I know she can reach and I know since she's 2 it's time to put her in a "big girl bed" but we haven't made the transition yet. BUT, if it's as low as it can go for you and she can still get her leg up, I'd just switch her to the toddler bed. I don't recommend converting the crib to the day bed (we tried this) and it is WAY too high. I really don't know what these convertible crib makers are thinking!

If you aren't ready for all that, then you can purchase the tent. It is at babies r us or toys r us in the baby section. I have cats, so when Hannah was an infant we had the tent in her crib. It's mesh netting and you put her matress in it, straping it to the crib. The top has poles that bend in an arch, and you unzip it on top to get her out. I think we just switched her to a twin bed and put up a gate around that time. (We live in a townhouse with stairs, so our concern is that she would fall down the stairs if she didn't have a gate. She's 2 1/2 now and we are moving to a one story, so now I have to decide if she is ready to be without the gate. I don't think so, as I am not sure she will stay in her room if she is without the gate. We will see. Good luck! Jen

Hi M., I put my oldest in a toddler bed at 13 months (she jumped out too) I put my youngest in a toddler bed around 2 years old (once she was potty trained) and have had possitive responses from both children. I also made sure that I told them both to come wake me up in the am and that they are not allowed to come out of their room until they hear me or my husband. Most of the time they come crawl in bed to wake us up. If your daughter continues to "escape" from her room, I'd try a baby gate at her door so she won't get hurt in the rest of the house. She will most likely cry because of the gate and you will hear her. Good luck with your decision!!
Regards,
Cassandra

Time to move her to a toddler bed, what an exciting time!

She may fall, but it's a lot closer to the ground than a crib.

You can buy a toddler side rail for the bed found at target, or babies r us or you can line the floor with pillows which is what I did.

~J.

When mine started jumping out of the crib, I took the front side of the crib off. I have those convertible cribs where you can take the full front rail off and it has a half kind of rail to put on instead. The new side is only half the height of the other one and its only half the length of the front of the crib. The kids can get out easily if they want, but that little half rail is still there to protect them. When my kids started jumping out, I wasnt going to keep letting that happen. (A woman I know, her son jumped out and shattered his elbow.)It will give you a whole new set of problems because your child can wander around, but would you rather her hurt herself by jumping? You will have to face giving her that freedom eventually, whether its now or later. Give it a try and see, some kids respond very well to a toddler bed. Another friend of mine took her daughter out of her crib right before she turned 2, and had only one bad night, and the girl has slept wonderfully since in her toddler bed. It depends on the kid. My twins, they are difficult, they do get up at night, but what can you do? I suppose by the time they are 6 years old I'll be able to get a full night's sleep! :) (I would have kept them in thier cribs as long as possible but I know they would have freaked if I put a crib tent on there.)

Sorry, but I just had to laugh! How cute and funny is that! Thank goodness she didn't get hurt. Don't you wish you could have seen it happen? Ohhhhh boy. My suggestion is to move her to a toddler bed. Until then, put lots of pillows on the floor for a nice cushy landing!

Hi M.,
I think its time to move her to a toddler bed. She won't fall off cause they usually have a railing. Not trying to scare you or anything but you should do it as quickly as possible because you never know that she might not get a good grip to climb off or her foot gets stuck or something & she could hurt herself. Also make sure the railing doesn't have too much space between them where you can see she can't stick her head or anything.
Good luck
R.