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

[cmarsh31]

We just put a mattress on the floor and a babygate across the door (plus made sure his room was completely childproof). I woke up when he did, so it wasn't really a big deal. Much safer to have him getting out of bed near the floor than risking falling out of the crib and breaking his arm, or worse.

[misskira]

Originally Posted by cmarsh31 We just put a mattress on the floor and a babygate across the door (plus made sure his room was completely childproof). I woke up when he did, so it wasn't really a big deal. Much safer to have him getting out of bed near the floor than risking falling out of the crib and breaking his arm, or worse.

Yes. Plus with the toddler bed, when he gets bored of wandering with nothing to play with, he eventually lays back down in his bed.

[tallanvor]

Our older two were in a toddler bed right around a year and we never had any issues. They'd climb out of bed a few times the first week or two, but once the novelty wore off they were fine. And we didn't actually put a gate in their doorway, but in the hallway so they could come to us if they wanted/needed to.

[mamaspice]

Originally Posted by cmarsh31 We just put a mattress on the floor and a babygate across the door (plus made sure his room was completely childproof). I woke up when he did, so it wasn't really a big deal. Much safer to have him getting out of bed near the floor than risking falling out of the crib and breaking his arm, or worse.

Yup, this is what we have too. It's like one big crib!

It will probably take a while for the novelty to wear off so give it a fair chance before you decide if it's working.

[mrspopo]

Not sure what we'll do with DD who seems to be very close to being able to climb out. I do know they sell a mesh thing that zips over the crib to prevent kids from climbing out. It was on a show about the octuplets when they were younger, and I saw it on another documentary about multiples (those kids were like 4at the time!). I'm probably going to go to a toddler bed soon (I think a deeper crib would just delay the inevitable), but I'm really nervous about babyproofing that room. We do have another on the way, so we are going to need that crib soon.

[Teexie]

I have a couple of friends who use sleep sacks on their toddlers and it works to keep them from swinging their legs over the top (I see a PP said that didn't stop her kiddo though!).

[mama_to_DJM]

All 3 of mine climbed out of their crib right around 18 months, and we had to switch them to a toddler bed. Once they know they can climb out, what's to keep them from doing it again & again? And like a PP said, it's hard because you typically don't see them doing it, so you can't tell them no, as a preventative measure. They can get seriously hurt by falling that far.

[sisu]

My DD started climbing out of her crib at 8 months, I wish I could have found some way to convince her to stay in the darn thing. OMG, it was scary as heck for me.

We just decided to let her sleep with us until we can get her to sleep in a toddler bed. She's almost 13 months now, I think she'll be sleeping with us for awhile longer.

Sounds like it's time for a toddler bed or a mattress in the floor and some heavy-duty baby-proofing. My DS would lay down and stay in bed at that age - we didn't officially get him a big bed until he was 2, but when we were traveling or visiting family it wasn't a huge deal to get him to sleep in an open bed.

Good luck!

[CASMama711]

Definitely time for a toddler bed! It will be safer than having him climb out of his crib and if he's climbing out and wandering around the house already then the things he might get into in his own room once he's in a toddler bed won't be any more dangerous than the situation he's currently in with access to the entire house. Just babyproof his room as much as possible and put a gate in the doorway.

[abunchoflemons]

I think ready for toddler bed... mine I could turn so lower side at wall .mine is climber but little so not able to climb out higher side..... I would try toys in room & gate maybe....I heard one put several gates all the way up in doorway.