17 Month Old DS Climbing Out of Crib- What to do?

[JackieMarieVDV]

What do you do when your 17 month old toddler keeps climbing out of his or her crib? I've never actually caught him do it yet but yesterday morning I woke up to him playing with his toys in the living room and this morning I woke up to him standing beside my bed saying "mama, mama". I'm afraid he's going to either hurt himself climbing out or get into trouble if I'm still asleep and don't hear him. What would you ladies do? His crib has 2 settings, should I get a crib with a 3rd setting so its a little deeper and more difficult to get out? Or, should I get him a toddler bed? In my opinion he seems young for a toddler bed and I'm not quite ready for it myself.

[savingmomof2boys]

Sounds like it is time for a toddler bed.

[mommy2sammy]

We are struggling with this too. Word of warning, dd won't stay in any bed now. It's a constant hellish battle. We also tried a sleep sack, but she manages to climb and walk in it. :-( no advice, but I share your misery.

[misskira]

We went through this at 13 months. we moved the dresser into the closet and put both boys' mattresses on the floor for about a month until ds2 was able to consistently stay on his mattress. Then we gave them their bed frames back. Ds1 has a twin and ds2 has a converted crib to toddler bed, very low to the floor. The beds are the only thing in their room still, because ds is a monkey and I don't want him climbing and jumping. It's working well enough now.

Eta: their fan and nightlight are on a super high shelf, with an extension cord plugged in the hallway. We used a baby gate on the outside of the shut door (door opens in) since the room is upstairs and ds1 can open the door. With nothing to play with, most of the time both boys go right to sleep. Sometimes ds2 runs around the room or plays with big brother, but usually he falls asleep quickly.

[twood80]

The crib mattress can also go directly onto the floor, which means you don't have to purchase another frame (if your crib isn't convertible).

[luvof3boyz]

Keep them in their cribs til 3! They love the security of it and my boys have NEVER, not once gotton out of bed. In fact at 7 we told our oldest that he could finally get out of bed himself. LOL

When my boys were starting to put their foot up on the side of the crib I firmly said No. I told them they could get hurt. They never tried it and never climbed out of their cribs. Now I am sure for some kids this would totally not work but it did with my kiddos. I would be firm and put them back to bed.

Just my humble opinion.

[JackieMarieVDV]

Originally Posted by mommy2sammy We are struggling with this too. Word of warning, dd won't stay in any bed now. It's a constant hellish battle. We also tried a sleep sack, but she manages to climb and walk in it. :-( no advice, but I share your misery.

This is exactly what I'm afraid of with the toddler bed idea. He loves to climb and is good at it too so I worry if he was in a toddler bed he would be climbing or getting into everything in his room. I would, like some of you have suggested, have to move almost everything out of his room.

Originally Posted by luvof3boyz Keep them in their cribs til 3! They love the security of it and my boys have NEVER, not once gotton out of bed. In fact at 7 we told our oldest that he could finally get out of bed himself. LOL When my boys were starting to put their foot up on the side of the crib I firmly said No. I told them they could get hurt. They never tried it and never climbed out of their cribs. Now I am sure for some kids this would totally not work but it did with my kiddos. I would be firm and put them back to bed. Just my humble opinion.

Normally I would try to establish that he can't do this with a firm NO but I haven't actually caught him do it yet. I just find him out of his crib. He's very quiet and sneaky when he does it, I had the baby monitor on this morning and still didn't hear him get it out. Mind you I am in the first trimester of pregnancy right now and am VERY tired so I may be sleeping deeper.

[jen_batten]

I would get him a toddler or twin bed. I think all my kiddos were in one by that age. You do have to teach them to stay in it, but then you won't have to worry about them falling when climbing out of the crib.

[mommy2sammy]

[QUOTE="JackieMarieVDV"]

This is exactly what I'm afraid of with the toddler bed idea. He loves to climb and is good at it too so I worry if he was in a toddler bed he would be climbing or getting into everything in his room. I would, like some of you have suggested, have to move almost everything out of his room.

For us, dd and ds share a room. Ds was out of the crib and in a twin bed at 18 months to prepare for dd's arrival. He did great, to this day, have never had a problem. The just have different personalities. Now, with dd for travel and safety reasons we HAVE to figure out a way to keep her in a pack and play until the new year. After that I don't care where she sleeps! We have moved everything out of the room except beds, and I keep all diaper change materials on the top bunk. It's a little bit of a pain, but wipes and creams all over the room was much worse ;-)
The thing that makes me insane is that we can't utilize the top bunk because she is such a climbing nut! I store the ladder in another room because I'm afraid she will hurt herself :-(
I'm seriously hoping she will get over this phase in life within the year so that they can have a "normal" room, instead of the stripped down version we are dealing with now.

[c&w's mama]

have to go to the toddler bed. I'm wondering when this will happen to me, too DD was really cautious and knew (and didn't like) that she would fall. DS, I think he'd try it anyway.

At that point, he can hurt himself now so best to figure out how to make it work with him mobile at all times Promise, not too bad. Don't even need to move everything (I was sure DD would empty her closet and dresser and never did. Maybe an extra gate, maybe move a few things. It works- they all get there. Time to move to the big boy bed and you can have him help pack one thing for new baby (if he's old enough yet).

My DD would do her own thing but her bestfriend was in a bed early and was almost too afraid to get out! So one wandered and the other didn't. Never know!