Time for a Toddler Bed? - Los Angeles,CA

18 months is a little early but if she can get out of her crib she probably will continue to. My son transitioned to a toddler bed on his 2nd bday and did really great. He loves it and we probably won't switch him to a twin until he is about 4. He gets in and out of bed on his own and we have never had a prob with him rolling out or anything. He has a Thomas the Train bed so it is a little wider then the traditional toddler beds. We put a safety gate up at his door at night so that in the mornings he can't roam the house. It works like a charm and makes me feel more comfortable then keeping his door shut. Some morning he wakes up and calls for me to bring him milk and other mornings he gets up and starts his play day in his room! I would recommend a toddler bed and you can find them used for a great price at local childrens resale shops or sites like craigslist.

My kids were both in a toddler bed at 18 months because, they kept flipping themselves over the side of the crib and landing on the floor. We made the room safe for them to be in alone and bought those child proof door knobs for the inside of the door so they could not get out of the room at night. Put a baby monitor high so it was not reachable and they were both fine. We did put a tall gate up in the door at first but that was a pain and the door knobs worked better.

Please don't worry so much about "containing her." Eventually you will have to go through the stage of working with her to teach her to stay in her room (if not necessarily on her bed) at night. It must come, so now is just your time -- she decided it for you by climbing out of the crib. You will not be able to contain her at first; that's just the way it is, so prepare yourself for nights of returning her to her new bed over and over and over. That bed can be as simple as putting her crib mattress on the floor, which might be safer for her since she's a toss-and-turn sleeper who might wiggle right off a single bed or toddler sized bed.

It is tiring to make this transition, but it beats rushing her to the hospital with broken bones. I've posted this before but say it again here: My friend's 18-month old broke her arm the first time she climbed out of her crib; she fell from the top of the crib rail. If she had landed on her head or neck, she might have been killed. Put up the side of your child's crib and really look at the distance from that top, raised rail to the floor. That's a long way for a small child to fall, and falling on the wrong thing like the head could be fatal.

She will get up. I wouldn't discipline her harshly because she is too young still to understand why you're angry or disciplining her just for her getting up and down. In her mind, if she can move around, why shouldn't she? Put her to bed with the full routine and leave and tell her you will check on her in five minutes, then in five minutes, stick your head in the door - don't go all the way in -- look at her and say a very quiet good night. Come back in 10 minutes for a silent check, then 20 after that, etc. if she's still awake. She'll know you're there amid the changes to her room and routine. If this isn't for her and she pops right up and walks around, you 'll have to return her to bed EVERY time but do it silently -- don't engage her at all, talk to her, fuss at her. Just say "We stay in bed once it's bedtime" the first time only and walk her back to bed. She will take time but will learn that getting up does not get her any reaction, talk, or attention from you. It is tedious and tiring but is a phase that will pass if you can stay calm and not let bedtime be a fight. You might check out what supernanny Jo Frost has written about bedtime routine changes like leaving the crib.

But as for keeping her in the crib, crib tents, etc -- no point trying to corral her. Move on to this next transition.

It would be a good idea to discontinue her sleeping in her crib as soon as possible. Around 10,000 babies and toddlers are injured each year from cribs. I would get a toddler bed , that way you can use her same baby crib mattress in the toddler bed, then she will be comfortable. And the toddler bed is low to the ground with safety guard rails, there are some good ones in many colors at www.toddlerbedandmore.com. , there are toddler tips there as well for transition into toddler beds. You will have peace of mind and she will feel safer too. Good Luck!

You can get a crib tent and zip her in. http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?sku=15029064&... My daughter liked it when we said it was like camping :) I agree, don't waste money on a toddler bed. If you want her out of the crib, go for a mattress on the floor initially. My second child never slept in a crib at all (slept in our bed) and knows she is not supposed to get out of bed.

Good luck

when my son first jumped out, i was surprized and considered buying him a big boy bed (single bed) - but on the advice of other moms decided to put him back in the crib and continue to tell him "no no - you will get hurt" type stuff and return him to the bed. He still would jump out now and then, but he stayed in it for another year probably - then to toddler bed at about 2.5 and now he will be three and he needs a regular twin bed.

My advice - stick to the crib as LONG as possible, it is nice to have your child contained at night - now my son is potty trained and roams through the house at night (I found him on the couch one morning and it scared the heck out of me). I also would skip the "toddler" bed - too costly for 1-2 years worth of use max (especially if your crib does not ocnvert).

Good luck.

IMO 18 months is a little young to transition out of a crib. You can wait and see if she'll do it again, it may have scared her enough that she'll stay put! If she does, have you considered a crib tent? I've heard of moms that had great luck with those, although I haven't used one myself. My daughter just turned 3 and is still in a crib. We moved about 6 weeks before her birthday, and that was a hard transition for her, but I didn't want to move to a new house and get a new bed all at the same time (also, we're in a 2 story now, and like you I am concerned about sleepwalking, etc...especially in an environment with stairs!). Anyway, the 3rd and 4th nights we were here, she was so mad that she cried until she threw up and crawled out of her crib several times - this from a girl who'd gone to bed without so much as a whimper from about 8 months old! We told her that if she went to bed without crying and stayed in her bed, she would get a sticker on her special sticker chart (which adds up to a small reward after a certain number). Worked like a charm.
That said, 18 months may be too young to try instituting a reward system...but it may be worth a shot! And check out crib tents if you aren't ready to move her yet. Most of the things I've read recommend waiting until after the 3rd birthday to transition if it is at all possible.

Take care!

I'd wait and see if she keeps doing it. Then go to a twin bed. Yes, toddler or transition beds are a waste of money. You can get a mesh drop rail for a twin bed that will prevent her from falling out but she'll still be able to get out if she needs too.

Good luck
S.

Bummer for you. You can wait to see if it happens again, if you think it may have freaked her out enough to not want to try. With my first, she was in a crib till she was 3. Then we went to the twin bed with a huge long bedrail and the bed against the wall on the other side. My second monkey, however, we did not risk it. She went straight to the crib mattress on the floor. She rolled all around the whole room in her sleep but eventually got it. You can possibly gate her in her room at bedtime, but if it is full of toys, you will have to deal with that. Our kids had no toys in the room, so it was pretty boring in there, so they went to sleep. Good luck.

When my son turned 2 we went on a vacation and my son would no longer sleep in his crib once we got back. We ended up taking the side off of his crib and converting it to a toddler bed. It took months for him to be comfortable and not cry, but it had to happen at some time.

There is really no way to restrain them, other than putting a baby gate up. We would just put him back in his bed.

keep her in as long as possible then transistion to a twin bed. i would suggest putting pillows along the side of the crib just in case she does it again. just continue reinforcing the crib is her bed and she needs to stay there. she should forget about the bed in a couple weeks at most.

We had to put my son in a bed at 14 months! No matter what we did, he found a way out of his crib. We got him a "loft" bed from IKEA, that's for young children. Since he is obviously a little guy still, we just put the mattress on the bottom, which is pretty much on the floor. He is a wild sleeper, too. A toddler bed would have been way too small. His bed is a twin. I would think you could put a twin mattress on the floor, until she is old enough to really get in and out of a taller bed. As far as keeping her contained, we have a baby gate in his doorway. We really put it there to keep the dogs out, but it also keeps him contained. We are right across the hallway and hear every single thing, and have a monitor. It has worked very well. I should mention his room is VERY baby proofed and there is nothing he can harm himself with.

My DD launched herself a couple of times, but we were able to lower the crib. If you aren't ready for a toddler bed, consider a net or something to keep her in. My FIL talks about how, way back when, they used an old screen door and a couple of bricks to contain him.

Could you also cordon off a sleep area with one of those plastic corrals or large area gates? Just put a mattress on the floor with that around it?

Hi K.! That's about how old my DD was also when she took her first dive out of the crib. Same thing... the mattress was on the lowest setting. Side was up (before they were all recalled). Still, the little monkey jumped out & fell. We switched her right away to a twin bed. No transition beds, toddler beds or anything else. We bought (at Walmart) 2 of the protective side thingies so she didn't roll out of the bed. We put one up on each side (her bed was in the middle of the room). If you're able to put one side against the wall though then you'll only need one safety thingie. But it worked great. We made sure we got into a bedtime routine right off the bat & didn't stray from it. You will have your nights where she wants to get up. Cross that bridge when you get there. I also, was afraid of having an 18 month old runnig free if she woke up first so we put up a baby gate in her door way (making sure nothing was in her room to get hurt on). Then we made sure we used the baby monitor so we could hear if she had gotten up. Good luck mama!

We got my son a twin bed at 18 months old. At 15 months he could climb out of his crib with no problems. At 16 months I saw him climb up to the top of the crib and stand with one foot on each rail and start to jump from the very top of it. That's when we said good bye crib. My son was daring enough to jump off it and I was more worried that he would hurt himself jumping off his crib than wandering the house (we have a small 1 story house). We just put up a baby gate in his doorway, the cheap extending kind you can get at Walmart. We started with the twin mattress on the floor and once he stopped rolling off it at night, we put up a low wood frame.

He is now 6 and we still put up the gate in his door. I think it's kind of a security thing for him. He knows that once the gate is up, he needs to stay in his room. He will even tell us to put the gate up.

I was never found of trying to cage my son in his crib with a crib tent...just my opinion. And knowing my son, he would have figured out how to pull a hole in it or dismantle it completely within a few days, so that would have been a total waste of money for us. But I know it has worked for other families....just not ours.

We also chose to forego the toddler bed with our kids. Why spend $80 on the toddler bedframe that will only be used for a year or two? And with my son being so tall, he would have outgrown it in less than a year.

Both my kids were/are wild sleepers...always tossing and turning. It takes a few weeks for them to get used to being on a regular bed, but once they do, they are good to go.

I say, wait a couple more weeks to see if this climbing out phase passes your daughter. If she continues to climb out, then get her a regular bed.

We were in denial the first few times too. Our daughter was not even 1 year old, when she started climbing out.

If she continues to do this, she could really hurt herself so yes, you may want to put her mattress on the floor in a corner so 2 sides are up against the walls, till you decide on a toddler bed or a twin bed..There are lots out there and also lots of used ones on craigslist since kids do not stay in them for very long..

We actually had a Queen sized bed for our daughter.

We told our daughter she would need to stay on bed till we came to get her out. She would call out when she was awake,. We live in a 1 story home and had it all child proofed, so we did not worry about her getting up and then out of her room. It was a few years before she asked if she could get out of bed in the mornings.

Some people will use 2 baby gates one on top of the other in the childs doorway, so they do not get out of their room.

I'd say it's a bit too early to take her out. My son was about that age when he first figured out how to get out of his crib. It was a novel thing, and lasted about three days, and then he went back to staying in his crib to sleep. If I'd put him in there so I could safely get a chore done, he'd pop right out and be underfoot, but if it were nap or bedtime, he'd stay.

I second the vote for the crib tent if she keeps climbing out. I haven't used one, but several of my friends did and it helped a lot. My son was almost 2 before he decided that he absolutely would no longer sleep in a crib, and at that point he climbed out within minutes of being put into it. Over and over. For a week.

You could always get a step stool for her to get onto and off of the twin bed that's currently in her room, and if you want her to stay in her room after she wakes up you could put a baby gate at her door.