Good Morning Mommies, My 1 1/2 year old toddler has just started crawling out of his crib. He fell out this morning and had quite a bump. I have heard that crib tents are the answer to this problem. Anyone ever use one? How did it go? Are there any other suggestions out there for dealing with this issue?
Sounds like crib tents are a big hit with Mommies. This is such a big help for me since I have had no experience with them. I will try finding one on Craigs list first as suggested. Thanks Mommies, as always you are wonderful.
My son hasn't crawled out of the crib yet, so I haven't had to address this, but I just wanted to pass this along - another list I am on brought this up and I thought the dangers are worth sharing:
http://www.safetyresearch.net/2009/02/01/crib-tents-anoth...
Good luck!
I used a crib tent at 18 months with my toddler, we love love love it! I debated b/c of the cost and I read some reviews questioning safety (from what I gathered it was not installed correctly or the child was much older, like 3+ and could damage/destroy the tent) but I am so happy we went with it instead of moving him to a bed (which was really our only other option). Some kids have great success with the move to a big bed at this age but our son was definatly NOT ready for that. We have had no safety concerns and my son is excited about "camping" in his bed at night. I highly recommend it!
I loved our crib tent. I started using one when my son was 20 months old and used it until he turned 3 and we transitioned him from the crib to a twin bed. We purchased the crib tent because he threw himself over the rail 3 times in one night. (The mattress was at the lowest setting and the rails were up.) It's been worth every single penny we spent, as I'm sure it saved him from an injury. There no way any child could tear down or get out of today's crib tents -- they wrap around the outside of the crib and under the mattress. No safety issues at all.
I knew that if I tried to transition him to a bed at such a young age, there was no way he would stay in it. My son needs his healthy sleep -- not the nightly bedtime battles so many Moms experience. Around the time he was 2 1/2, I found myself forgetting to zip the tent occasionally...and he never climbed out of the crib! It's as if this tent helped him transition back into the crib, and he loved being in his crib again.
PS...My son's transition to the big boy bed was really quite easy -- very little of the getting up and leaving the room, back-and-forth. Keep your son happy in his crib as long as possible and you'll have much less trouble with the bed transition. Good luck!
We had to recently purchase a crib tent for the same reason. We have had no problems with it since installing it. It went on the crib easily and our daughter now thinks she's sleeping in a "magic tent"! Good Luck!
I used a crib tent and it worked GREAT, until my dd figured out how to open it. It happened when she was about 1 1/2. So be prepared that it might not help at this point, at least not for long.
For my dd, we converted her crib into a toddler bed and had to use the SupperNanny method to keep her in bed/in her room at night.
http://www.supernanny.com/Advice/-/Supernanny-techniques/...
We tried a crib tent with our 2 1/2 year old when he climbed out. I was excited because they had "camping day" at preschool that day, so I told him it was a fun tent like that. It worked until it was time to go to bed. He fussed for a few minutes, then went to sleep. He woke up a few hours later screaming and very angry about the tent. I'm sure this also had to do with a lot of other difficult 2 year old behaviors we were having at the time. We took the tent off and put the baby gate up across his doorway. He continued to climb out of the crib just a few times each nap/nighttime. On his last escape he hit his leg on something and got a big bump and bruise. He hasn't climbed out since. So...I'd definitely give the crib tent a try, but some K. may not react too favorably to it!
Got one at our baby shower 2yrs ago. Mainly to keep our cat out at first. Now to keep our son IN. He's actually very comforted by it now. He won't sleep in his crib without it. It keeps us from worrying so much. We still have a monitor on. So we know when he's ready to get up. We love ours. Wouldn't have it any other way. My brother and sister in law are thinking about purchasing one now. Their son is just now only 4mos, but they have cats. That scares me. But they'll figure it out.
When a child can climb out of the crib it's time to make other bed arrangements. If the crib converts to a toddler bed and you want to do that, I highly suggest that option. If you are going with a twin bed or other arrangement for him, then go ahead and get that set up. Remember that a climber is going to keep on climbing and there's not a lot you can do about it other than watch him constantly or prepare the safest environment for him when he does. Anything that causes him to have to get higher before he falls adds to his danger. This includes the crib sides, a bed rail, etc. If you choose a regular bed for him, you may want to try putting the box spring and mattress directly on the floor for a while and wait on setting up the bed frame. That will put him closer to the floor so that if he falls he's not as likely to injure himself. You could also put a soft cushion of some sort beside the bed so that it would soften any fall he may have. Spend some time teaching him how to safely get out of the bed. One problem parents have with a child moving from the crib to a bed is that now the child isn't contained in bed and may roam the house. Since he's climbing out, that is already the case. Close his bedroom door at night so that he will have to stay in there until you get up in the morning. He may have a problem with that, but you need to be consistent with him until he gets the idea.
Ours was a life saver, However, after a while my daughter figured out how to somehow reach around and unzip it so I put a safety pin across the zipper about an inch up from the out side so it restricted it from unzipping and we were set.
Hello, I have 5 children but have never used a crib tent. I can tell you that once they have learned to crawl out of the crib there is not much one can do to stop them. We did several different things that may be of help.
1. took off the rails and made it a toddler bed/ or bought a toddler bed.
2. got a stack of blaenkets, bean bag, or even a small crib mattress to put on the floor so that they landed on that and were not harmed from the falling.
This is just part of the growing up process and unfortunetly it doesn't happen whenwe desire it.
Good Luck, Nana GLenda
My two year old has been in a bed for about a year because he too started climbing. My little guy is inquisitive enough that he would have figured his way out of even a crib tent. We went ahead and converted his crib to the toddler bed that is still pretty close to the gound that if he falls out, he doesn't get hurt. We usually close his door at night so he will go to sleep. We know he gets up & plays because we find him on the floor in the morning far away from his bed. However, small price to pay & we feel that the more we push the bed, the easier him staying in it will be. Good luck!
We have a crib tent on our daughters crib and it is great!! I got mine used on Craigslist, so I was able to save money.
We originally got one because when our daughter was younger, she would throw everything out of her crib and than want it back. She is now 2 1/2 and she still has the tent on the crib, athough last week we stopped zipping it up.
My daugher will be 3 in October and has a big girl bed in her room, but would prefer to sleep in her crib with her tent....so for now that is what we are going to keep doing...
I have only had 1 climber out of the 3 kids and she moved into a twin bed just after turning 2yrs old. She also would only climb out after she was done with her naps...
If they can get out of their own crib they are ready for a toddler bed or reg bed with mattress on the floor.
I put pillows on the floor around the crib. There was no stopping it once it started so...I just wanted to minimize injury. I also kept the side down low.
Hello Mommy!
I have not read the responses you received! So big Yeeeees! Crib tent was a big life saver for us! My then 16 month old daughter started climbing out of her crib, so we transitioned her to a toddler bed and purchased the crib tent at the same time! Let me tell you, transitionning a 16 months old to a toddler bed was a big challenge, we had to do it though because I was pregnant then and we had to do it before the baby was born! Now that my daughter is 2 1/2 she's still using the crib (with tent) to nap, our nap tap is so smooth as she doesn't try to come out of her room! And the Tent comes very handy at night time (my kids share a room) when my 7 months old son goes to bed first and my daughter is trying to fall asleep in her big girl bed, it protects him from her throwing toys in his bed or trying to get in his crib!
Amazon is the only place I believe you can get Crib tents from! We got the full one that goes underneath the mattress as we read that the other kind (cheaper) can be a trap hazard!
