Toddler falling out of Crib

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1

My daughter will be two in a few weeks. She just fell out of the crib for the first time today (it wasn't pretty and I am sure she has no idea what she did or how she did it). She was angry, did not want to go down for a nap, and was screaming and flailing. She basically teeter tottered over the top rail and flipped herself, she did manage to hang on and then dropped to the floor scarring herself. She is smart though, so I am sure this is only the beginning...I know this is only the beginning. I am hoping that when she goes to bed normally, like most days, she will just lay down and go to sleep... today was crazy, woke up at 5 am (not normal) and two year checkup with shots. She also wakes up in the morning and plays in her crib for close to an hour if we let her, is she going to try to climb out now when she wakes up, I hope not. If she does continue to fall or climb from her crib I just wanted to see what other mommies did? I know we can go to a toddler bed, put her mattress on the floor, buy a crib tent, etc... Honestly, I was hoping to avoid all of the above for now, at least postpone. However, I did say once she started getting out we would have to make a decision. Her bed does turn into a toddler bed but we have to order the rails from Romania (3mon. out) and cost $190. But we can also just take the drop side off completely and save the money... so we'll just do that. I don't want to buy a crib tent, read the reviews and consumer reports, and don't really want to spend the $60-80. Our crib does not turn into a full size bed and were hoping to wait until next summer to buy a queen size bed that she can have for a while.
Questions:
1.) Once your toddler fell/climbed out of bed how long did you let it continue before switching beds?
2.) Any serious injuries?
I am only asking because we are not exactly ready to make the change, mostly mom and dad are not ready.
3.) If you had a child around age two when this happened how did you teach them to stay in the toddler bed? How did you do it?
I know if she gets up she will not stay in her room, cognitively she doesn't seem ready. She loves her crib.
4.) Should we remove the toys from her room?

How do we start this process? And do we have to do it RIGHT NOW?

2

Once she can get out of the crib by herself, it's safer to lower the front of the crib than to have her fall from a height after she crawls over the front. Try putting a mattress or cushions in front of her crib, so if she does get/fall out, she won't get hurt. Don't take the toys out of her room. (How would this help?)
You can teach a child to stay in a toddler bed by putting them back in the bed each time they climb out. They'll eventually catch on.
Once she can get out of the crib by herself, make sure her room is a safe place for her to be without your supervision. Continue to use a baby monitor (if you've been using one) so you can hear her if/when she gets out of bed.
I hope this helps!

3

Our daughter could completely crawl out of the crib, no matter what configuration at 1 year so we went ahead and purchased a bed.

We placed the bed up against the wall and borrowed a bed guard for the other side. Set up a baby gate in her doorway.

We did her regular routine, books, music and a night light to put her to bed each night..

Yes she got out of bed for a while, but we would remind her to go to bed. She cried and we would comfort her at first, but we would not speak with her, just give her a hug and put her back in her bed.

In the mornings she would stay in bed till we came to get her. She would read books, sing or play with her plushies..

Yes, it will take a few weeks, but they get it..

4

I would to it NOW. You can take her crib down all together and put her mattress on the floor for now until you get her a toddler bed or twin bed. I would NOT go to a queen size bed for a toddler. That's WAY too big for her. A twin is just fine, with a queen she'll never learn to sleep in one place she'll be all over the place. You can get her a twin bed for the price of those rails. My kids were in a toddler bed by 18 months and a twin by 2.5 yrs. You can get her a regular toddler bed at babies r us for 60$ . Or a "mates bed" ( twin bed with drawers under it) for 150-200. Don't waste your money on the rails.

To get um to stay in bed , you keep takign them back to their bed and tell um to stay there. And you keep doing it until they do. We had a tall gate in front of our kids doors until they started potty training. no don't take the toys out of her room.

5

Our son climbed out of his crib at 16 months. That day we converted his crib to a toddler bed. I didn't want to have to worry about him falling and getting hurt, cause then I would have felt 100% responsible!

We took off the front part of the crib and bought a bed rail at Walmart for $18. It took about 3-4 days of us just putting him back into bed every time he got out. For those first few days, expect to get up a few times throughout the night as well. They wake up a few times at night but usually put themselves back to bed, but when something is unfamiliar they won't go back down. We were more sympathetic in the middle of the night, we put him back in bed and stayed until he fell back asleep which was always less than 10 mins.

For us, nap time was a bit longer of a transition - about 1.5 weeks.

I kept one toy in his bed (as it was in there when it was a crib), and left the toys in his room. At night he doesn't get out to play, but sometimes for nap he will play for 10-15 mins then put himself to bed.

I thought our son would have a terrible time transitioning, but it went pretty smoothly in my opinion and he was only 16 months.

Good luck!

6

My 26 month old son just transitioned from crib to toddler bed a couple of weeks ago when he started climbing IN to the crib head first. We didn't wait until he tried to climb out to change beds. We had a toddler bed in the closet ready for him and I put it together THAT NIGHT. No serious injuries, but we didn't give him time to get any!

He was happy to see the bed when I set it up. Come bedtime, he did not want to sleep in his new bed, but I did our normal routine, put him in his bed, then closed his door. He cried, stood at the door and tried to open it. I let him cry about 2 or 3 minutes, went in there, said simply "It's time to go to bed." and put him back in bed. I didn't bring him back out to the living room, I didn't lay down with him, nothing. (MIL told me that Nanny911 said to say nothing and put them back in bed. I just said a little something). He fell asleep. Next night, the same thing with the crying. The 3rd night, he stayed in bed on his own no crying.

His room is full of toys, but he's never played with them when it was bedtime. Now naptime is different - as I rock him until he falls asleep.He refuses to nap unless I hold him till he's out, so I don't have any insight as to what you should do there.

We've now had issues with him falling out of bed (see a question I posted last week). His first night we did not have any rail or any sort of cusioning and he fell out of bed, crying, but not even waking up.

I looked onilne at craigslist for a used toddler bed that has rails already on them. You can find some in your area for $30-$50. I ended up making my own little make-shift guard, plus we put an extra toddler mattress on the floor in case he falls out. Hard wood floors hurt!

So yes, do it right now. And another suggestion from my MIL was to have the toddler bed set up BEFORE transitioning so toddler can get used to it. But if I were you, I wouldn't risk the possible injuries your daughter may get if she stays with her crib.

7

My daughter transitioned to a twin size regular bed shortly after she turned two due to potty training needs. We needed her to be able to get herself to the bathroom when she needed to and that was impossible being in a crib. She was also jumping in her crib so hard she collapsed the side of it and almost broke it (that was the last day in her crib). No injurries but it scared the crap out of her and my husband and I. Her moving to the new bed meant she was moving her room as well (down the hall to make room for baby # 2 in the nursery). I decorated it pretty and girly and had her toys and books in it. She loved it for about a month and then starte the challenging us, throwing fits, and getting up. We just had to be strict and patient by continuously putting her back in her room and ignoring her fits until she fell asleep. She still battle sus today (she is now 4) but she knows we will take things away and priviledges away if she pushes the limits now.

8

Drop side cribs have been recalled because the side falls and traps fingers, feet, etc. If she climbs over the side, her weight could make it fall. If you want to keep her on the crib, put a couple screws into the drop down rail so that it's permanently attached to the frame.

9

I can't really answer all your questions because we switched our girl at 1 year. I just wanted to comment on her playing in her crib. My baby loves to play on her bed in the morning. She will get a few toys, and lay back down with them playing. We don't keep any toys that require supervision in her room (like the little cars she can ride on, her rocking horse, etc.) so she can't get hurt. So when you do transfer to a bed, just show her she can play on it just like her crib, and she might keep her routine. Good Luck!

10

1) My son fell out once, and never did it again.
1a) no, he never got seriously injured when he fell out.

2) if your child is playing in the crib for 1 hour after waking, let her. My son, was very self-reliant and independent, and entertained himself in the crib before naps and after waking.. for 1/2 hour to 1 hour. He was FINE, and I'd even hear him laughing. We had safe stuffed toys in there with him. He was fine. Then, when HE was 'ready' he'd call for me.
My friend's son was like that too. NOTHING wrong with that. Its perfectly okay for them to 'play' in their crib.

3) I don't know that you can make her stay in the crib... but for my son, he was in his crib, happily, until about 3 years old. And by then, he could climb out, safely.... on his own. He even showed me 'how' he did it, and was so proud.
My son was in his crib, until one day he told us he does not want to be in there anymore. He was 3. Then we switched him to a floor bed. He's fine.

4) Again, in my son's crib, he has baby safe stuffed animals and his lovey, It was fine. In the room, we didn't have anything on the floor or anything unsafe. But again, you teach her to "call you" when she wants out of the crib.... my son did that. And then I was right there. I taught him to call for me.... not climb out. Not safe. Get hurt. Danger. He understood.
Or you put a baby-monitor in the room, so you can hear her.

NO, you do not have to do it, right now. She's young.

all the best,
Susan

11
  1. My son was 15 months when he climbed out. He was sleeping on the floor on the crib mattress that same night.
  2. No serious injury, but why risk it?
  3. For the first month or so I would lie down with him until he went to sleep. It usually only took five to ten minutes.
  4. Why remove the toys? If she has something to play with in the morning, she may let you sleep for awhile before waking you.

I think once they have fallen while climbing out, it's time to move them. Why risk a serious injury?

At 16 months, my son stayed on his mattress and would call me through the baby monitor if he needed me. We set up his mattress and some stuffed animals in a corner and made it very cozy for him. He slept this way for a year until we moved and put him in a regular bed .

12

It depends on if you want to make a trip to the ER or not. She may have already learned that she got hurt and experienced a bad enough experience to not do it again. However that is going to have to be your decision on whether or not you want to wait and see what happens.
My twins were 18 months old and one of them learned how to climb out of her crib and the first time it happened (and the last) she ended up wedging her leg between the crib and the wall and got stuck....I hate to imagine what could have happened had she not screamed hysterically and me walking in to find her that way. I think the whole entire reason she did it in the first place was to try and get to her sissy though because they shared a room and seperate cribs. After that happened we changed their cribs over to toddler beds....they would certainly get out of the crib but usually it was just to climb into bed with the other. I would go in at night and catch them both in the same bed and move them back and by morning I would go back in and there they would be back in the same bed again. I finally gave up and figured you know what who cares....eventually they will get too big to sleep in the same bed together and they were twins so I felt if they needed each other then so be it. They never did try to get out of their rooms though maybe because they entertained themselves until it was time for the rest of the family to get up.
I am a strong believer not to lock your child in their room just to keep them in only because I feel like 1. would you want to be locked into a room knowing that the only way to get out is from the power of someone else? 2. if my child needs me during the night they need to know that it is safe enough to find me at night. 3. it could certainly be a safety hazard (most likely not) but what if?
Why not shut the door at night and once she goes to sleep put up a baby gate? Unless she can climb over that but the baby gate I had was a wooden one that was very tall although being twins mine eventually learned how to work together to get out-lol!
It's a learning process and you have to teach her to stay in her room/bed at the appropriate times. Yes it will be more work but consistency is the key and eventually she will learn. I would rather not take the chance of my child getting hurt and making a trip to the ER than sake of convenience or whatever.
My cousin's baby around the same age as my twins had the same thing happen. She climbed out of her crib but on her way down she hit her tooth on the crib and shoved it up into her gums. She ended up turning out fine but then she ended up having an issue of her sleeping in the bed with her. She is 7 years old now and still at some point gets out of her own bed at night and sleeps with mom all because of that experience. Granted I think a lot has to blame on the mother for allowing it to happen in the first place(the whole sleeping with mommy deal) she should have insisited she sleep in the crib/bed but after her experience I guess they both ended up spooked. She has two smaller kids now whom ALSO sleep in the bed with her as well 5 and 3 -I don't see how she sleeps.....but that is her business not mine. Not trying to scare just telling some personal experiences of what did happen. If she has already attempted it she very well may attempt it again but then again it may have scared her enough NOT to try it ever again. It's really a toss up at this point and has to be your decision to see whether or not which way she goes.
My twins are very strong willed, stubborn, strong minded children once they have made up their minds about something -it is on....and sometimes they don't care whether or not they got hurt in the process or not previously. Perfect example my daughter (same one who climed out of her crib and got wedged) was on the side of the couch trying to jump up to hit the ceiling fan with her hand. She had been told and told on several occassions to not stand or jump off the couch but to no avail she did and when she fell on the floor this particular time she broke her elbow and ended up having to have surgery to put three pins in it and was casted for about 4 weeks. Do you know I still have to get on to that child for doing exactly the same thing to this very day and it happened two years ago and she still has the scars to remind her of it?? Stubborn mule!

13

We changed our boy to a twin bed with a side rail before he was 2 (to make sure he would adjust before baby sister was born). At first he seemed to think he could not get out by himself, I think just use to being in the crib. He did not ever succeed in climbing out of the crib. Then came the time when he started getting out of bed. We put a door knob cover on the inside of his door so that he could not get out into the house without us knowing. Sometimes we would have to escort him back to bed, repeatedly! It takes work, but eventually they get the idea that is where he needed to sleep. "Sell" it to her as a "Big Girl Bed", not a "baby bed". Hope this helps! Good luck!

14

1.) Once your toddler fell/climbed out of bed how long did you let it continue before switching beds?

Immediately. Is she has fallen out, it's already been too long.
Bed tents were made to keep cats out, not to keep children in. If she's already gotten out once, putting on a crib tent will just increase the chance of entrapment.

2.) Any serious injuries?
Yes, broken arms are the most common. I recently met a 12-month-old boy who broke his arm from climbing out of his crib (it was the first time.)

I am only asking because we are not exactly ready to make the change, mostly mom and dad are not ready.

Sorry, but it's past time.

3.) If you had a child around age two when this happened how did you teach them to stay in the toddler bed? How did you do it?
I know if she gets up she will not stay in her room, cognitively she doesn't seem ready. She loves her crib.

I never tried to make them stay in bed - that sounds too much like trying to teach a pig to sing, but you can give it a shot. If the toddler bed is too expensive (and kids have managed to get their arms trapped in the guard rail and fall over the edge, breaking an arm in the process) - there's always the "mattress on the floor" option. If you can get over the aesthetics, it's really hard to beat in terms of safety. It really is difficult for a child to get injured falling the 3 inches or so from the mattress to the carpet. My kid did this a number of times without ever waking up.

Maybe let her pick out some pretty new sheets so that she'll like the bed "the new way"

Also, IKEA makes some very inexpensive (and adorable) toddler and youth beds with several different safety options. (some that convert from toddler to twin size, some that are a twin bed on a fairly low platform and guard rail).

4.) Should we remove the toys from her room?
No - that basically is punishing her for trying to solve her own problems and doing things all by herself. That's exactly what ought to be encouraged at this age (in general).

And frankly, if she usually plays in her crib for an hour after waking up and hasn't fallen out of her crib until almost two, you've had it awfully easy up to now. :)

15

Ok, I have 4 kids and ALL of them started this around age 1! So here are my questions for you...
1. Is the crib set on the last setting? Where you can't drop the mattress into the bottom position?
2. Are there toys, excess of blankets, etc. in her crib that she can use to help her step up to get her leg into position to come out of the crib?
As you know her climbing out of the crib is really dangerous! She can get over the rail, get her leg caught up in the rail and fall therefore breaking her ankle/leg. If there is no way for you to drop the matress any lower I would definitely say its time to make it into a toddler bed! Since the rails for you to do that are expensive you can always but the side piece that they sell at BabiesRus, Walmart, Kmart and BabyDepot. It will keep her from rolling off the side of the bed. Put it on and get a child gate to prevent her from waking up at night and roaming around the house and possibly getting into something and getting hurt. I wish you luck with ur little one and message me if you need any help!

16

You could keep the crib, but knot a sheet onto the top and make your own tent? Once the climbing starts... You could look at CraigsList for used ones as well. Or just do the bed earlier than you planned.

Good luck:)