Wandering During the Night 23-Month-old

My 18 month old son is in a bed on the floor. We put up a hard mounted metal gate across the doorway so he can't get out and wander. It's worked really well for us. The whole room is his crib. I got the gate at Right Start. I think it was about $60 and just screws into the doorway. It has a latch you can do one handed.

Good luck

I've put these door locks on our lever-styled handles. They work very well, albeit they can be hard for adults to unlock at times [ ;-)]. You can find them here, but they are cheaper elsewhere (like on ebay)... http://www.onestepahead.com/jump.jsp?lGen=detail&item... They're called "KidCo Door Handle Lever Lock". Make sure you get these and not a different kind. I made the mistake of buying some once that didn't allow you to open the door from both sides (what's the point of that?- couldn't use it on the front door or anthing). Just make sure you put the locking side on the inside of his bedroom :-). Good luck! You could always buy a crib tent and put him back in his crib- just another thought.

We found our 20 mo old wandering the house at 4am last week. Got some of those door knob covers. The first night he woke again at 4 and stood at his door banging on it and screaming off and on for an hour and a half. Next night he gave up little sooner. Next night we didn't hear a peep. Haven't had a problem since. They make a device that keeps lever knobs from opening. I don't know if Walmart would have them, but you could certainly find them at Babies R Us or onestepahead.com.

If the covers didn't work, I was fully prepared to purchase a new door knob with a lock and install it backwards (so I could do the locking and unlocking from the outside).

I have a friend who installed a screen door hook at the top of her son's door (on the outside, of course).

Of course, a baby gate is an option, but if he can make it out of a crib, he can probably get over a gate.

Gosh, we have the same problem. Our son just turned 2 in Nov. Once asleep, he is ok, but getting in the bed and staying in bed is another story. Now he does wake up at 3:00 or so and trys to come downstairs. We put a baby gate up at the top of the stairs, b/c i'm afraid he will be groggy and fall down the stairs. So that helps. But we still can't keep him in the bed. I do close all of the doors to help keep him safe. I will be checking back to see if someone has some other suggestions that I could use too. D.

put a kiddy gate up at his door. That should keep him in his room.

I agree with a baby gate, or maybe just getting the round pair of door knobs just for his room so you can put those door knob covers on. We have the same problem now. :) Door knob covers work for us.

I hope you get your problem solved!

L., there are a couple of things you can do.

First, you can buy a lever lock that will lock those lever type doorknobs. You have to install it, but it's really easy. I bought mine at Walmart or Target.

Second, if you don't like the idea of locking the door, you could also temporarily replace the lever doorknob with a round doorknob (I bought one at Walmart for about $8) and get one of those things that just makes the knob spin without catching, so the baby can't open the door. Of course, one of my sons learned to open that around 23 months, so I can't guarantee it. But it makes the door fine to open from the outside, just not by a small child from the inside.

Also, you need to make sure that your outside doors are locked securely so your son couldn't make an outside trip during the night. We had one night wanderer when we moved into our house, so we put a hotel-style lock at the top of our front door in order to prevent him from opening the door.

Hope this helps! I know how exhausting and frustrating it is to have a night wanderer. Good luck!

Hi there! I have twins who turn 2 on Saturday. We put them into toddler beds @ 1 month ago. In addition to "double up" on baby proofing, we had to find a way to keep them into their room.
1. We anchored EVERYTHING to studs. Even the beds. If not, then they were moving the beds to try and climb onto the dressers.

2. We put up a baby gate in front of their door. And to make sure that they didn't mess with the door, I put a latch to keep the door closed (with a small crack).

Having a latch was important for me because I didn't want little fingers getting caught in the door. And... I know some people will say that having the door secured shut is a fire hazzard. But it is the same restrictions on them as if they are in a crib. And I am more worried about dangers around the house.

Good luck!!

I've read a lot of responses on this issue lately as this could be our problem soon considering our son's age. I like the baby gate at the bedroom door, but get the extra tall one so he can't crawl over it. If he chooses to get out of bed, allow him to. He'll probably end up asleep on his floor next to the gate. It'll be a passing phase at some point where he'll grow tired of the short journey around his room and eventually will just stay in bed. Good luck.

HI L.,
WELL I HOPE THIS HELP IN ANYWAY....WELL MY BROTHERS SON GOES THROUGH THE SAME THING AND THEY TOOK HIM TO THE DOCTOR..THEE DOCTOR TOLD THEM THAT HHE IS SIMPLE ACTING OUT HIS DREAMS WHILE IN THE STATE OF REM..HE ADVISED TO BUY A CHEST RESTRAINT. YOU PLACE IT ON YOUR SON LIKE A VEST AND THE STAPS ATTACH TO THE BED.. HAVE YOU SEEN THE MOVIE MOMMY DEAREST...IF YOU HAVE ITS EXACTLY LIKE THE ONE HER SON WEARS.. I HOPE THIS HELPS

We have a gate on our 2 year old's door. Our master bedroom is downstairs and she is upstairs so I worried about her falling down the stairs at night. It works well, if she wakes up she stands at her door and cries and I get up and put her back to bed.