Climbing Out of Crib and Resisting All Sleep

Well, all I can do is share my experiences and hope they help. I used a crib tent with my first when she started climbing, and she stayed in the crib for months after that. I don't see any advantage in putting a toddler in a toddler bed if you can keep them in a crib. I've got a 22 month old still in a crib with no tent - she hasn't tried climbing yet. We'll see, maybe I'll be shopping for a crib tent soon!

Hi S., I think part of the problem is your daughter is testing the waters to see how much power she has over you and your husband, another thing is small kids who sleep away from home, sometimes have trouble reajusting depending on how many nights they slept somewhere else, my advice to you is until the other bed gets here is take the crib down and place the crib mattres on the floor, put her favorite blanket/stuffed animals and let her sleep like that until her bedgets hear, we started all 3 of our kids (now grown) on the crib matress on the floor before going into twin beds, it worked perfectly. J. L.

Not to freak you out but when my daughter was 21 months old she climbed out of the crib and got caught and nearly died. Luckily she's fine but she was terrible about staying in the crib. We just let her sleep with us. I would until I got a toddler bed. The paramedics told me that lots of babies are injured from climbing out of cribs between the ages of 1 and a half and 3 and half.
S.

For your own piece of mind and your daughter's safety, I would definitely go for the crib tent. Then you don't have to worry about what your toddler is getting into when you are not in the room with her. All of my children have LOVED the crib tent and used it for a long time. We took someone's suggestion of putting it on the floor and letting them crawl and play in it first before actually attaching it to the crib and that worked for us. They are available at BabiesRUs and Walmart.

Hi S.,
I unfortunately have some experience here. Our son just turned 2. In December at 22 months he learned to climb out of cribs while we were vacationing. Once we got home (also in a higher crib like you) he began climbing out within the week. The night he climbed out 12 times we finally gave up and converted his crib to a toddler bed. He did not get hurt but decided it was only a matter of time.
You may want to go ahead and disemble the crib, putting her mattress on the floor until you receive the toddler conversion. The danger of her breaking a limb climbing out is so dangerous that waiting for the conversion may not be worth the risk.
Make sure the room is as safe as you can keep it. My son's new thing is to empty out every dresser drawer to the middle of his room. So we make sure that there is nothing dangerous in any drawer he can reach.
He also wants us to stay in the room until he falls asleep but we learned the mistake of that with our daughter who is now 4 1/2. At bed time we follow this routine in his room: Read 3 books then it's lights down low and we turn on the lullaby music. He gets 3 songs with one of us in the room then we leave. At the end of the 1st song we say that was one, you get 2 more. End of 2nd song, that was 2 this will be your last song. At the end of the third song we kiss, hug, tuck in and leave the room. We have a baby gate on his room as he hates the door shut. We have about a 70% success rate. Most nights he is fine but there is that 30% he will come to the door crying out. We follow the cry out method at this age and it worked for our daughter and appears to be working for him. My husband says I'll be back in a little bit to check on you and he think it helps, but when I say that it doesn't make a difference.

Hope this helps. Feel free to email me directly if you have any other questions on our method and good luck!

Hi S.,
I to have a 21 month old (almost 22 month) who is a difficult sleeper. It is all about control, my daughter will go to sleep at night with no problem. (in her crib, 3 books, shut light and out the door, she goes right to sleep) But, nap time is a different story. She wants me to stand there until she falls asleep.(control control!) I always to the same routine for naps, she is just not as tired, so she fusses more. Of course, when she starts crying I will give in and stay in the room.
I'm not having the same problem as you, my daughter doesn't climb out, she just screams until I take her out and into my bed (when she wakes up in the middle of the night) Another problem I have. Again, this is my fault and have created this habit for her. I know this.
I live with my MIL and feel terrible when my daughter cries and wakes her and my husband up (who wakes up at 4:00 am for work) I know I have to do something about it, I just can't stand to hear my baby cry.
I'm sorry I don't have any advise for you, I just wanted to tell you that yo are not alone with your sleepless nights.
Good luck!

Get a crib tent. I got one at Burlington Coat Factory about 7 years ago. Otherwise, look online for one.

S.,

I would suggest going to Wal-mart and buy a toddler bed. They are about $50 dollars or more depending on what you get and also get her a nice bed set, maybe let her pick it out. She might sleep in the bed then since she helped pick it out. My son didn't sleep in his crib. He would only fall asleep in our bed but once we got him the toddler bed he loved it. He even asked to sleep in his bed. He even likes his room a lot better and spends more time playing in there.

P.S. My son's crib had the toddler bed option however it is still pretty high and we were afraid of him falling off. With a regular toddler bed it is much lower and we don't worry about him falling.

WE JUST went through that same thing. We ended up taking the screws out of the crib and putting the wood frame on the floor and set the mattress on top of that. It is REALLY low and after trying a few times to climb out, she just couldn't since it was so low. Of course, I can only get her out if she's sitting up because it's hard to lean over, but I knew she wasn't ready for a toddler bed (we have the conversion too). I felt this was our only option for a good nights rest. She cried it out for a week and is now okay with going to bed again, phew!!! And, I know she is safe since her little head can barely peek over the edge!!!

Hi S.,

Sounds like it's time for a regular bed for sure! For now, put her crib mattress on the floor and make it up like a bed. You might just have to be a really patient broken record for a while--if she gets out of bed, put her back in. If she gets out of bed, put her back in. If she gets out of bed, put her back in.

You can always do really short time-outs at this age too or take something valued away for a short period of time to underscore your point that when she's in bed, she's to stay there.

Don't worry--this will happen. Our son was sleeping in a big-boy bed at 22 months. It took less time than I thought it would for him to learn to stay in bed. (And like you, I did not sleep next to him).

Good luck!
:-) D.
P.S. If she gets out of bed, put her back in.
P.P.S. The baby-gate on the bedroom door is not a bad idea, either--we did that sometimes. Just make sure that there is nothing in her room that she could climb on and/or hurt herself with.

I have twins 2.5 years old. They tried climbing out of the crib about three months ago, and I told them that if they tried climbing out, that they would fall on the floor and get a big ouch. They have not tried again since, but I know it is going to happen very soon. We know it is going to be hell because as it is, they do not want to go to sleep no matter what time of the night it is. They usually go to sleep at 10:00 or later and still cry when we put them to bed. We are not looking forward to this.

The crib tent was a life saver for us.. He was scared of it the first few minutes then he loved it. We had it on almost a year try one..