My 20mth old son has decided this weekend that he will not stay in his crib and thinks it is fun to contantly climb out of it, and it was making me really nervous when i'd hear the thuds and him runnnig around upstairs.. so, we took the side off, put on the child rail so it's now a big boy bed. Once he is finally asleep its fine, it's getting him down... I just need to hear other stories from moms who've been thru it, because he used to go down so easy and go right to sleep, now with this new bed i sit there in his room till he falls asleep, which he really doesn't want to go down. So, I try not to talk to him much, and I just make sure he doesn't get out, and eventfully he goes to sleep, but it takes forever and boy he's trying everything to get out, but i don't give in..im not mean..just firm..i really don't use many words, so he doesn't get to wound up, but at the beginning stages..he's really hyper so I will say, lay down, lets go to sleep.. or no..but once i get him settled, i just pat him or lay down by his bed and pretend to sleep, trying to ignore when he's trying to get attention or stall... We have kept the same routine, brush teeth read a book then it's night night time. I feel like once he's used to it it will be a faster process, but reassurance and/or stories from other moms is always really nice.! Thanks!!
Thanks SOOO much for all the responses, I really appreciate all the input from you guys, very helpful and I love the stories. I don't want to jinx anything but things are really going well! Those first 3 nights of me laying in there was so silly, I think it was more for my guilt and worry than anything. Tuesday night I gave a big kiss and hug and said night night and started to walk out he freaked out screaming for me, but I said night night and closed the door he ran around and yelled for me (i watched on the video monitor) he'd go to the floor, bed back to the door..lasted about 6min, and he got back in bed and settled down and figeted and fingally went to sleep. Wed night.. did our routine, he knew when i hugged and said night night he said no momma and clung to me, but I still got up, he beat me to the door so i carried him back kissed him and shut the door, he stopped crying by the time I got down the stair, but he slept on the floor all night, not sure why? Luckily i had a pallet made in case--so anyway, last night was even better, did our routine, he did the pouty face and hugged me big i said night night big boy, love you. walked out, he stayed in bed and no crying! I am feeling alot better about things, I know we'll have ups and downs but things are looking good, he's such a brave sweet boy. I cant' believe he's so big already!! I guess Im glad if he was gonna do this, at least it was 6wks before the new baby, gives us time to work with it!
Thanks again!
he is still so young you could try a crib tent. I put it up at 18-19 months for my 2 older boys. The first couple of nights they weren't too thrilled but then they loved it. It became a little haven for them. I'd keep him in the crib as long as I could, especially with another one coming!
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Best wishes,
J.
try reading many more books to him while he's laying down in his bed to calm him down a lot more - at nap time and bedtime at night. Keep up with putting him back in bed every time he gets out and hopefully one day he'll stay in and get used to it!!
Everything will be fine. He's just having fun right now in his new big boy bed. Give it a week or two and it won't be new anymore. He'll just go on to something else to jump in and out of! lol Do what you are doing... keep the same routine and he will bore of the "new" bed soon enough.
We had to transition our 22 month old to the toddler bed when she climbed/fell out of her crib about four months ago- she just did it once, but is a VERY curious little girl, so my husband and I didn't want to chance another climb/fall. She has a crib that converts to a toddler bed. She transitioned very well the first week- she had a cold, which made her very tired at naptime and bedtime. The second week was much harder and naptime continues to be a challenge, but we keep trying! She normally goes down for her nap around 12-1 and it usually lasts 2-3 hours. We go through the same routine as we do at bedtime- change diaper, brush teeth, read stories, say prayers, and a kiss goodnight, BUT naptime just seems to be a challenge. She will run around her room, stand up in bed, read stories (look at the pictures!), and/or kick the wall. We did take EVERYTHING that could be a safety issue out of her room- including the monitor (don't need that cord out!) and we do keep her door closed and we plugged up all the outlets. She recently just started to empty out her dresser drawers- fun clean up, which she helps with! I'm at the point where I just let her "play" quietly in her room for an hour or so and if she naps, good, if not then at least she got some quiet time and so did I. Some days she will nap, but after about 20-30 minutes of kicking the wall, running around,etc. She does do this at bedtime too, but it only lasts about 20 minutes and then she falls asleep. Just keep up the routine- you're doing a good job and don't get stressed out- if he's tired, he'll fall asleep. I think this is pretty normal, especially at this age- they're getting more and more independent! Good luck!
We are going through this right now!
Monday, we took the front of the crib off and converted it to a toddler bed. Over the weekend, he started crib jumping.
We followed the 'no-emotion, silent return' back to bed. Why? If you talk with him, yell at him, beg with him, you are giving him attention which will only A) wake him up even more and B) reinforce his behaviors to continue to get out of bed in an attempt to get your attention. We also combined this with a 'star chart'. Every night he stays in bed, he gets a star. When he gets to 5 stars, he will get to start using his brand new Thomas bedding. The chart works WONDERFULLY! We ask him "What do you have to do to get a star" and he replies "Stay in bed".
Night one = 2 1/2 hours of getting out of bed. Until daddy came in and relieved me, that is. Once daddy took over he got out like 3 more times and called it quits. Hmmm.
Night two = Daddy was on duty. He got out one time because he has totally peed a gallon in his diaper and asked for a change. Daddy went in and changed him. No return trips.
Night three = If it ain't broke, don't try and fix it right? Daddy was on duty again. He didn't get out of bed once. Well...we don't count the time at 12:30 when he fell out of bed and I went in to help him get back in bed.
Moral of our story? For whatever reason, he responds well for daddy so daddy is in charge of this transition. Once it is no longer a novelty, I'll go back to helping with bedtime. On the bright side, it is totally cool to have my husband be the 'master' of a childcare technique; it is like their special little thing :)
A baby gate might work for you, but for our son well, he just jumped over it.
I am also expecting (end of December) and have two more weeks left until I go back to work as a teacher. Quite frankly, I am a little relieved that he initiated this change in sleeping arrangements NOW, when we have time to catch up on sleep and before the baby comes.
Good luck to you! It might be a few days or weeks of transition, but he'll get it as long as you are consistent!
My son climbed out of the crib at 18 months....we did the same, converted the crib to a toddler bed. To be honest....it took us about 6 weeks to really get back into a routine where he would settle down into his bed after our normal bedtime routine. Just stick with it. It will get better...
We put our son in a toddler bed at 15 months. He climbed over/fell out onto the hardwood floor and I thought for sure he had a major head injury. I certainly wasn't going to wait for it to happen again. But our crib is up higher --- not one of the ones that converts to a toddler bed. I talked to many parents and our doc at the time and everyone said to skip the crib tent--they figure out how to get out of it quickly. So we went to ikea and I let our little guy pick out a bed with a cool tent on the top, sheets... Then we put a gate on his door and took all the toys out of his room. We moved all bedtime activities to the bed (storytime...) And I did sit next to him until he fell asleep for the first month or so. He would wake up at night and since he couldn't leave the room, he quickly just realized he had to stay in bed. He would call out for me, I'd go in there and sit next to the bed until he fell back asleep... Basically after 2 months or so, things were working smoothly.
I think Carolyn P has the right approach. Right now he's excited about the newness of everything and I'm sure that is contributing to his difficulty in settling down. So make the bedroom a place for cozy quiet time and sleep Take the toys out and stick to your routine. I don't think you should set the precedent of staying with him until he falls asleep. I would get him settled in and check back on him a set number of times and generally follow the approach of Carolyn. I'm sure he will get used to the new environment and get on a good schedule. I definitely think you did the right thing transitioning to a toddler bed now. Good luck.
We're new at this since we just moved our 19 month old son to a new room/twin bed with safety rail two days ago. We put a safety cover over the doorknob so he can't get out because we don't want him trying to get down the stairs by himself especially during the night. So we follow the exact routine he's had forever before bedtime, put him in his bed, and close the door. We have a monitor in there so we can hear (no video though) what's going on. It's been glued to our ears when he's alone in there!
Before we moved him, we figured he'd get out of bed, so we went through every inch of the room to make it as safe as possible for him when he's in there alone. We played in there for weeks before we moved his things and him. The day we moved him, we put up the safety rail and showed him many times how to get off the bed by scooting around it, not climbing over.
Bedtimes have gone pretty well so far- he's cried for about five minutes both times and then fallen asleep. He wakes up at his usual (early!) time in the morning. Last night, he was up in the middle of the night for a few min. but went back to sleep quickly. Naps on the other hand haven't been as great. They've been shorter and it's taken him awhile to get to sleep. He climbs out and plays in his room for about 45 minutes before getting back into bed and falling asleep. I'm hoping that gets better soon- he needs that sleep!!
Good luck with your transition!
we put a safety door knob thing on to prevent unknown accidents at night, and him getting out of the room. for us it didn't matter, he stayed in his bed. it was much easier than i expected : ). its not on there anymore
Hi A.,
I am still working through the transition with my son. I did find that the first several nights, my son slept by the baby gate blocking his door. I did not want to stay there until he fell asleep since I want him to be able to learn how to relax himself without my being there as a comfort. Like you, I am due with number two in the few months and needed to make the transition as well. I do find now that we are a month into the transition that bed time is much easier now. We have our routine, teeth and books, then I give him a kiss, turn out the light, put up the gate and he is absolutely fine with it. I felt terrible at first about letting him cry it out, but it worked out okay in the end.
Good luck!
Hope it gets easier soon! We are just about to start this with our 2 year old (her b-day was July)...we tried at 17 months to avoid buying another crib for our now 8 month old with NO LUCK (she snuck out during nap time and decided to tip toe around- ha!)! This time we are buying a little toddler pillow, giving her a grown up blanket, etc. in hopes she "gets it".
My sister in law has a rule with her daughter...they would let her alone in her bedroom after their bedtime routine to fall asleep on her own (which is the ideal) but if her daughter left her room, they would take her back -- up to 3 times. If she stepped outside the room a third time, they would shut the door (they usually leave it open and ajar a bit) and hold the knob until she stayed in her bed. They transitioned her at 18 months because she is VERY TALL and fell out of her crib on her head (no permanent damage- luckily!). It is not a perfect science -- she is usually good about it at home (never gets to the 3rd time usually) but at trips away from home she often comes out to see what the noise is...we go to a Lake home as a HUGE EXTENDED FAMILY (like 24 of us) a few times a year. Also, they have a count to 3 rule for time outs too so maybe it helps to just be consistent with things (my sister in law is a teacher and has a child development-based PhD).
Best of luck!
