AAAH! What now?

[bigmamakelsey]

Poor DS jumped out of his crib yesterday and bit his tongue It was scary, and he bled quite a bit. He's ok now though, but I'm wondering what action to take. His crib is on the lowest level, and I truly don't believe he is ready for a toddler bed. I don't see what would stop him from crawling out and opening the door. He still wakes at night (not cries, but rolls over and fusses) and is pretty resistent on taking naps, though he does fine at night when I lay him down. I just think that he would wake at night and waunder the house, or refuse to nap. He also likes to sleep RIGHT up against his crib bars at an angle, so I'm also afraid of him falling out of bed. Not that a fall that low would hurt him, but I'm afraid it might scare him and make him resist sleeping even more. Obviously, his safety and well being is the most important thing, but I'm just not convinced he's ready for a big boy bed. His crib converts to a "toddler bed" but there really is no protective railing at all one one side. Opinions?

[mibarra]

You can buy a rail to attach to the toddler bed. If he's jumping out you can't leave him. You could try a halo sleep sack to see if that helps...

[tallanvor]

My older two both went into a toddler bed at a year and did fine. Sure, they got up on occasion, but that's why they made baby gates and safety thingies for doors -- to keep children from wandering.

As for the falling, you could just put a mattress on the floor instead of doing a toddler bed.

[Arabesque]

We have rails on the bed, and a baby gate across the door. DS only recently started opening the door in the morning when he gets up.

[KatrinaLoves]

Originally Posted by mibarra You can buy a rail to attach to the toddler bed. If he's jumping out you can't leave him. You could try a halo sleep sack to see if that helps...

A friend of mine had success with that.

No advice from me though. I've never had to deal with it myself. I do, however, have a scar on my lip from my tooth going clean through it when I climbed out of my crib 25 years ago!

I hope you find something that works well!

[JennyAnneC]

Originally Posted by tallanvor My older two both went into a toddler bed at a year and did fine. Sure, they got up on occasion, but that's why they made baby gates and safety thingies for doors -- to keep children from wandering. As for the falling, you could just put a mattress on the floor instead of doing a toddler bed.

I 2nd this. Ds1 was moved to a toddler bed at 19 month because he climbed out of the crib. We had a safety thing on the door handle and a gate at the end of the hallway before the stairs. Sometimes he slept in the bed, sometimes on the floor. In the video monitor I saw him fall off the side while he was sleeping. Toddler beds are low to the ground for a reason. He just got back in bed when that happened. During nap time I did the usual routine of books, tucked him in and left the room. Sometimes there was a protest but I said that it was nap time and left. He would cry for a bit, play for a bit, then fall asleep.

[TalkinBoutMyGirl]

There is always the crib tent if you go for that sort of thing. But I think he is old enough that you should be able to teach him to stay in his crib. DD climbed out of her playpen once. I was shocked because she isn't a climber. I asked her to show me how she did it and she did it again. This time she smacked her chin on the side...I did feel bad. But she never climbed out again. Your son may be traumatized enough to not do it again. If your worried put a gate at his door in case he does try again.

[bluedaisyma]

I would convert the bed and gate his room. FTR, DS (22 mo) has always been in our bed and he never tries to get off the bed (even though he can) when he wakes up.

[Fashionably Green Baby]

My DS os 8 months older than yours and he has been in his toddler bed for about 11 months (YDD is almost 10 months so he got kicked out of the crib in preparation for her arrival) and he has done fine. Yes there is a learning curve and he does fall out of bed sometimes and he runs around his room before he decides to actually lay down for nap etc but it isn't too bad. I did put one of those door knob safety things on his door though because I worry about him coming out at night and me not hearing him. That has worked so far. ODD sleeps in the same room and she knows how to use the door even with the safety thing so if there was an emergency or she needs to go to the bathroom she can get out, it just keeps DS from being able to wander out.

[socalledauthor]

I'd wait and see if this is going to keep happening. Biting his tongue might just be deterrent enough to keep him from trying again for awhile. My son climbed out of his crib about 13 months or so... But he never even tried again. He's not a climber, so I don't think falling to get out crib has any appeal to him.

Sometimes once is enough to decide it's not worth it.