Tired Mom needs help keeping toddler in a crib

[busymomma123]

My DS 19months has started climbing out of his crib this week. We have it lowered as far down as it will go. DH says we should go ahead and put him in a toddler bed, but I have mixed feelings on it. My other two (who were not climbers) never went to a toddler bed until they were at least two. They slept through the night no problem. He never started sleeping through the night until just a couple of months ago. Thats when this tired mom just started letting him cry it out. No flames please. Up until now he would wake up periodically through the night cry for about a minute then back to sleep he would go. Now he just climbs out of his crib and comes into our room. He's been doing this this week at least two times a night. Now that I remember what its like to get a good nights sleep I don't want to go back. If anyone has any advice on this I sure would appreciate it. Thanks

 

[CEDmom]

I know they sell tent like covers for cribs that would likely keep him in but that might cause more grief with crying than it's worth.

Our DD started giving us trouble about sleeping in her crib when she was about 22 months so we just put the mattress on the floor. When she was about 2 1/2 we got her a twin size bed. She still came into our room sometimes but there wasn't any middle of the night crying.

 

[KristinU]

What about going to a toddler bed and then making sure his room is ultra baby/toddler-proofed, then put on one of those door knob covers? That's what we did when DS was climbing out at 24 months.

Good Luck!

 

[wrldpossibility]

Hello, fellow tired mom of a 19-month-old! My youngest is 19 months, and we are currently going through the same thing. In fact, a few weeks ago we switched him to his "big boy bed". Even though my other kids moved to a bed around the same age, I had mixed feeling too, since he had just started sleeping through the night as well! I have to say though, we've had great success!

You just never know what will happen. When we set up the bed (a twin bed, we skipped the toddler bed stage), with new sheets and a real pillow, he was thrilled! I didn't think he'd even understand, but he couldn't wait to sleep in that bed. The first few nights, we'd lay him down and if he got up (which he did), we immediately put him back in the crib. After a few nights and naps, he never has gotten out of bed before morning again. Of course, this only worked because he really WANTED to be in the bed, and because we were 100% consistant with the "punishment" of going back into the crib. Just a few days ago, we finally took apart the crib, and put it in the garage. Now we can travel without the port-a-crib...whoo hoo!

Anyway, that's just our experience, so you may want to give it a try. We didn't think our little guy was motivated to do it until we tried it. Good luck!

 

[pixiepower1971]

When my DDs got to that stage we put them in toddler beds, safety proofed their rooms and put a gate they couldn't climb over at the door. It workded well for us. A few nights they did fall asleep next to the gate but quickly learned that they liked their bed better.

Good Luck!

 

[kellyg403]

We did the same, changing to toddler beds. I was always so afraid once they started climbing out of the cribs that they WOULDN'T come in my room and they would be getting into things in the house or fall. Hard the first few nights and dh would not let them into our bed. So we compromised and if they got out of bed more then twice we made a area beside my side of the bed and they would sleep there on the floor...but it would only last a few days and they stopped waking up during the night.

But, my ds is 10 and during the summer after dh goes to work sometimes he still gets up and comes into my room and wants to sleep there or watch tv.!

 

[belle&beast]

When my DDs got to that stage we put them in toddler beds, safety proofed their rooms and put a gate they couldn't climb over at the door. It workded well for us. A few nights they did fall asleep next to the gate but quickly learned that they liked their bed better.

Good Luck!

This is exactly what we did with DS at about 20 months. He climbed out so easily, it was scary. We converted his crib to a toddler bed and never had another problem. He even called for me in the morning to get him out of bed! I used a gate just so I knew he was staying in his room, but it turned out to be unnecessary. Good luck!

 

[luvmyboys]

We switched DS 2 to a toddler bed at 18 mos since he could climb out of his crib & we were afraid he would injure himself. For the first few months, everything was great. He would lay right down for naps & bedtime & not wake until morning. Right before he turned 2, something changed, and now he gets out of bed several times. Not in the middle of the night, but at tuck-in time. We just super-proofed his room, put door knob covers on all the other doors upstairs & installed a permanent baby gate at the top of his stairs. Now, though he gets up & plays for a bit, he eventually puts himself back to bed.

We just listen to the baby monitor to make sure he isn't up to anything too mischievious.

Maybe you could try the same thing, keeping your door shut so he can't get in? I know many people disagree with this strategy, but honestly, I am a person who cannot function (which includes being a happy, fun mommy) without rest. Once in a while I can handle, but not every night. I hope you find something that works for you! Good luck!

 

[disneymomto5]

I have the baby tent on my daughter's bed. She is an escape artist and no gate, lock or crib is going to prevent her from going where she wants to! I'm not ready for her to be up all night climbing the cabinets and getting into stuff so she's staying in the tent for now.

 

[lexmelinda]

Our son appeared downstairs one morning around the time he turned 18 months and my husband drove immediately to Babies R Us and purchased one of those mesh tents that go over the top of the crib and it was marvelous. He is a willful little creature and trying to keep him in the bed through conditioning would have been torture for us all. Another issue was that our son's bedroom was on the second floor of our house and we did not want him trying to navigate the stairs in the dark in the middle of the night to get to our bedroom.

 

[WantToGoNow]

My dd started refusing to go in the crib at 17 months - she'd scream and scream but never tried to climb out. My son was sleeping on the top half of bunk beds at the time so we removed the crib and put her on the bottom bunk. She loved it. We did use a safety rail for about 3 months and then took it off -- she only fell out twice. We have always shut the bedroom door so that's what they're used to and she can't open the door yet (sticks from the humidity in the house). It only took about a week before she was staying in the bed and sleeping all night.

 

[laughinplace199]

DS started climbing out of the crib at 19 mos. also. I reluctantly purchased a crib tent and told him it was his "camping tent". He loved it and never attempted to get out of the crib again!

At 2.5 yrs old we got him a twin bed. He was very happy to have a big boy bed, but he was sad to see his "camping tent" go. We also put a gate on his door when he started sleeping in the big boy bed.

Good luck!

 

[PaulaSue]

OP let him sleep in your bed.

 

[runwad]

I have 3 kids and they all got out of their cribs and came into our bed around 17 or 18 mos, I'd just get up and put them back into their cribs. They'd lay down and 10 minutes later, here they come again, boy I'm tired but I got up and took them back to their crib again, sometimes we might've went thru this 5 times a night but I always took them back and FINALLY they learned they weren't coming in my bed, I just can't sleep with those little hedge hogs up against my body. Be firm it's tiring but eventually they'll get it and stay put. Now can you tell me how to get them to not wake up at 6 and 7 am on the weekends and come in my bed to wake me up? My 5 year old still does this

 

[Alex2kMommy]

Our oldest boy wasn't much of a climber, and we switched him from crib to a real bed (with toddler bedrail) at age 3. I didn't want to spend the extra $ on a toddler bed (and special sized bedding) when in a few years he would be in a regular bed anyway.

DS2 is still in the crib (it has 3 mattress heights, and the bottom one is pretty low.) If he does start climbing out, I think I'll just put the crib mattress on the floor until we get him a regular bed. (He also cries for us around 2 or 3 a.m... and yes, we do reluctantly bring him into bed with us. If you don't do it, don't ever start it!)

 

[fakereadhed]

OP, I feel for you. Middle dd would not stay in crib, not sleep either. We put the tent on her crib, she chewed through it and we found her on top of it.

Sounds like you want your child not to come in your room at night, so I would suggest putting mattress on floor and totally childproofing the room including windows,blind cords,etc. Then either put extra tall or double gate in doorway, or knob cover on inside of door. Maybe if they can't escape from the room they will go back to bed and sleep.

BTW, dd did not sleep more than 3-4 hours a night until age 8 when peds gave her sleeping meds so the above would not work for her, but maybe it would work for you.

Wishing you a good night's sleep

 

[disneychrista]

IMO, once the "baby" starts climbing out, it is now a safety thing to switch to a toddler bed.

 

[momimouse27]

My ds, who is now almost 4, started climbing out of the crib at 1 1/2. The second time he did it, he broke his arm. So we decided it was time, but since he is a little houdini(we had to put keyed locks on our doors!) we had to make sure he couldn't roam at night. So we put a baby gate-make sure its the kind with the "up and down" bars, my son could scale the ones with criss cross opening-on his door. The very first night he got in his toddler bed, he climbed up on it and has loved it ever since. Now that he is almost 4, its time for a "big boy" bed.

 

[brymolmom]

OP let him sleep in your bed.

I think she said she wanted sleep not getting kicked all night.

My dd was 2 when we converted to toddler bed so she wasn't so young - BUT- we had the same fear - she has the personality where she wakes a lot and we figured she'd be in our bedroom 20 times a night if given the freedom. However, we've found that she is not worse than she was in the crib (not necessarily better - she justs doesn't need too much sleep).

We started timeouts with dd at 15 months (she's very 'challenging' ) - and we had to start doing discipline overnight the same as we do during the day. We would threaten timeout if she didn't stay in bed, etc. I think she only ended up there one time and that was it. Not to say - she still doesn't wake up occassionally, but she is mostly well behaved when she does (ie: goes potty and then back in bed).

All of the pp's suggestions I like - the gate on the door, 'locking' in the room, just bringing him back to bed 50 times a night (at first - until it gets better) - but I do think it's a good idea to move to a different bed.

Good luck!

 

[justhat]

I am so glad I found this thread!! My daughter has been in a toddler bed since she was 14 months, so over a year, but we moved 2 months ago and now we have the problem of her waking during the night and coming to our room. Problem is that our room is upstairs, hers is downstairs. So we had a gate up in her bedroom, but she would either climb over it or push against it till it fell down, then cry for me at the bottom of our stairs, when I'd walk her back to her room and she'd go back to sleep. But I'm pregnant and exhausted so this middle of the night stuff was driving me insane. I decided to ignore her one night, which was the biggest mistake of my life cause then she climbed up the stairs and when she got to the top she fell down the whole flight. Yes, stupid me for not having a gate, I know. Well now we have gates (this was a week and a half ago) and my husband finally installed them tonight, but she's been in our bed since then cause we were afraid of her falling down the stairs again so now I know it's gonna be torturous getting her back in her room. So thanks for the ideas about how to keep her in there, and letting me know I'm not the only one!