What a Night!

This is pretty common really. You'll just need to spend a few nights putting him back in bed over and over. He'll eventually get the idea that he must stay in bed. My son has gone in and out of fazes like that. You just stick with it. If you give up even once then it will take much longer for him to learn. It sounds to me like he might as well be in a regular bed now since he can get out of the crib anyway. Good luck.

Wow, that sounds like a challenge! I haven't had that problem yet but I know others who have. One family I know had great success with a crib tent. You might try that or it's time for the big boy bed. You can gate his room (but maybe he'll be able to climb that too? Good luck! You might also put a mattress/pillows, etc. next to the crib if you're going to have another night without a change just to protect him from a fall.

that almost brings back memories. That is great he sleeps in there already but now having him stay in is the problem. The best thing is be consistent!!! very important, since he will be testing your every move right now to see if he can get what he wants. if putting him in his crib, and going back and forth from your room to his isn't working on a weekday ( next day work) i suggest standing at his crib side once you lay him down, and no eye contact. he will get up and try to get out, then without looking at him lay him back down, no talking either, the less going on the better. this is where it gets exhausting. he will try to get out over and over, but you need to keep putting him back in. once he goes to sleep you know you have conquered this night. you don't always have to stand in the room with him. stand at the door and once he gets out and makes it to the door, put him right back into the crib with no eye contact and no noise until he falls asleep. it may seem like forever but i went through the exact same with my boy and it was so worth the work a the end.

I'm with Kim. A big boy gate. A child proofed room. And a VERY secure gate to keep him contained.

(My oldest started popping out of his crib at about that age.)

I'd have to say unless you want to keep up with this new game for as long as it might take it's time for a toddler bed. That will take some training as well to keep him in it. Good Luck on your decision, my oldest was about 14.5-15mo old when we switched due to him climbing out every few minutes. We chose the toddler bed route for safety reasons being that that is what about a 4ft drop to the floor. So far so good with our second he is 13mo now and though he tries every now and then to climb his pack n play its never whole hearted and he hasn't even tried climbing out of his crib. Again good luck.

bib boy bed and a gate! he is far safer in a big guy bed than in a crib he can fall out of. my daughter started getting out of her crib at 18 months and my pediatrician told me to switch her. once we got her into her big bed, she only got out on occassion. we gated the top of the stairs so she could not go down them and it worked really well for us. my brother had the same problem with his daughter and they completely child-proofed her room and put the crib mattress on the floor until they felt she was ready for a big bed. then they closed her door so she could not wander the house at night. of course, they could hear if anything happened with a monitor. it seemed to work for them too. good luck!

My daughter who is 2 now, also was a climber, right out of the crib. I put up baby gates so she could only get to my bedroom and turned off all the lights in the house, except for on the pathway to my room. If your rooms are too far apart you could put up gates or something keeping him in his room. He might not stay in bed but when he can't leave his room he might just put himself back to bed. When my mom had problems with my little brother staying in bed she would sit there with him and make him stay in bed. Exhausting but I guess it worked.

well, first of all - you don't want to risk him injuring himself one of these times when he gets out of the bed, so yes.. find an inexpensive toddler bed that will use the toddler mattress - or put the mattress on the floor until you can get the toddler bed frame (one of my daughters did this at about 18 months! and the second time she did it in one night I just took the mattress out and put it on the floor - then got out the old toddler bed frame later.

and he will probably get up several times, too.. but at least he wont' risk injuring himself. You will have to come up with a strategy for training him to stay in bed.

The first place to start is to stick to a routine for getting ready for bed. Do the same things in the same order every single night at the same time - or as close as you can get to it every night to establish that he is getting ready for bed. You may want to add to his routine things like lavender scented baby bath and lotion, we also used aromatherapy oil on our son's feet, he liked the gentle massage, offer him chamomile tea or warm milk and a protein snack (some cheese, turkey slices, peanut butter on crackers), soothing music or a "white noise" in the room (a humidifier, fan or one of those waterfall things), reading books (no rowdy ones), prayers or whatever else that is calming before bedtime and tell him "we are getting ready for bed" and let him know what you are going to do next i.e. "after your snack we are going to brush your teeth" so he knows.

once you have him in bed, you might need to stay with him for a while until he falls asleep, and you may only need to do this for a few nights in a row until he gets the idea. If he gets up, you firmly say "no, you have to go to stay in bed" and put him back. If he cries, be tough - and go back in 5 minutes, then 10 minutes, then 15 minutes - if he is crying this whole time, he ought to cry himself to sleep by about the time you are going to wait 15 minutes to go back in there.. if he stays in bed and cries.. If he keeps getting up, you may need say "you can read look at a few books in bed if you like, but you cannot get up. Or even offer him a soft cuddly toy he could sleep with.

These strategies worked pretty well with my one (out of five) that gave us this very same problem at this young of an age.

best wishes.

Our son figured out how to get out of his bed around that age- so we started by just leaving the side of the crib down (seemed safer than the big leap from the top!;)). By his 2d birthday, we were advised to go ahead and put him in a big boy bed because of some other (minor, but annoying) behavior issues. So we did. And he stayed in bed and everything settled down again. I was really surprised. We went to mattresses right on the floor without a bedframe... We were also advised to put a baby gate on his bedroom door to limit his territory, but he only ever went into our room.

I haven't had to use one yet but I have heard of these crib toppers that go over the top like a tent to prevent them from climbing out. Unfortunately that is all I know. Maybe a general search will turn something up.

good advice with a baby gate. Personally, my son was so social that if his door was open (for a baby gate to be in it) he talked non stop at me. We got a safety knob that made it so he couldnt open his door, but we are in a small apartment and could hear him very well through it. Our crib converted very easily to a toddler bed by just dropping the mattress as low as it would go and taking off one side of the crib. He did fall out a few times before mastering staying on while sleeping so the floor mattress might be better. My boy moved into a toddler bed at about that time because I didnt want him falling trying to get out. I found him stuck dangling and screaming several times. Good Luck, Jen

With my 4th baby I gave up on trying. We made a"bed" on the floor next to me..a sleeping bag and pillow and just let my little girl come and join us when she wanted too. She slept near us for 4 years!!! she is 12 now and I wish she would come and snuggle with me like she didi then.!

I think he's discovered that he can climb out of bed. Putting up a gate is a great idea! And always immediately put him back in bed will teach him that going to your room doesn't have a reward. I don't think it matters if you put him in a big boy bed. He can still get up in the night. His sleeping habits will change throughout his life.

It might not be for everyone, but my son LOVES his crib tent....we sort of helped him get excited about it, "Oh buddy, you get to sleep in a TENT", like that...but it didn't take much talking him into it.

I ordered it after the first time I heard that thump. While we were waiting for it to come, our son didn't try to get out of the crib anymore...I think he scared himself.

He's almost 2 and a half now, and he knows how to reach around and find the zipper, but, knock on wood, he hasn't gotten out of the crib since that first time. He only unzips it when we come in to get him. (last night we thought we could hear him "playing" with the zipper through the monitor, but he was totally zipped up when I went to get him this morning, so who knows?)

I got it because I wasn't ready for the transition to the big kid bed yet. I didn't think he was quite ready back then either. I think all kids are probably different, and moms usually have a pretty good instinct about it.

Same thing happened one night with our now 2 1/2 year old. We went out the next day and bought a crib tent. It was great and we knew he was totally safe and there were no toys or anything to distract him from sleeping. It was worth every penny. On another upside, he hated the crib tent and decided that he wanted to sleep in a big boy bed rather than be in a crib tent. He still never gets out of his bed until we come and get him and sleeps even better in a big boy bed. I wouldn't try to get him to sleep in a big boy bed until he is ready and it sounds as if he isn't quite yet. Safe yourself the trouble and buy a crib tent.

Buy a baby gate to keep him confined to a safe area at night. I think they make something to go over the top of the crib to safely confine the baby. But if you're not comfortable with that then it sounds like it's time to move to a toddler bed.

My older daughter would never stay in a crib (she'd scream until she threw-up). She slept with us until she was 12 months old. We transitioned her to a mattress on the floor in our room and then moved her to her own room. We made her room child-safe, closed the door and used a monitor. I think that it may a better option than worrying about your child getting injured climbing out of the crib. Good Luck and I hope that you get sleep soon.

YAY!!! Its growing up fun!

First - get his crib matress on the floor until you get a big kid bed so he doesnt get hurt. Then get a baby gate for his door (until he masters that) and or close the door to his room at night. Door knobs are harder to turn. Baby proof your house - get a stair gate and enjoy the milestone!

My sons crib changes into a youth bed. I started in stages I took one side of his crib off and put the gate in the doorway. I started reading a couple stories then gave him a kiss and hug. then walked out the room, I left the light and music on. He would start to play with his toys and I told him if I could hear him playing he would have to go to sleep. That would last maybe 10-15 minutes, he would get back in his bed and go to sleep. I no longer have the gate on his doorway. but do put it at the top of the stairway to help keep him from falling down them. By the way my son will be 4 in a couple months.
good luck

My brother has a son with Down's Syndrome, and his boy is eight years old. Kids with Downs have very different sleep patterns; he can wake up twenty times in a night, no joke. I stay with my brother and sister-in-law very often and for long stretches sometimes, so I help out. Here are some tricks that have helped us:

-- Of course, as other people have said, gate the steps. You might want to gate his room, but I know some people are uncomfortable with that.
-- Big boy bed.
-- Have a routine before bedtime and do it every night. We read a book, turn the lights out, turn the night-lights on, say prayers together, take a sip of water, sing the goodnight song, kiss goodnight, and out the door.
-- When he gets up in the middle of the night, I take him immediately back to bed, make him lay down. I don't let him play or keep his hands under his head, where he can prop himself up to talk and stay awake longer. I make him put his head down. Then I lay down next to his bed and put my hand on his back and begin breathing audibly very slowly. Seven seconds in, hold, seven seconds out. I make sure he can hear me breathing slowly. His breathing almost always chnages immediately, and his eyes begin to droop. Never takes more than ten minutes to put him back down, and I can go back to bed.
-- The dog helps us too. We noticed that my nephew doesn't get out of bed to wake us when the dog sleeps next to him. He wakes up, talks to the dog a bit until he gets sleepy again, and goes right back to sleep. This wouldn't be a practical option with a puppy or an untrained, new house-dog. In fact, it might not be practical for you at all. Just one more option.

I hope any or some of this helps. Good luck.

- J.R.

Maybe try closing his door? That's what my sister has to do.. sometimes they end up falling asleep on the floor, but oh well. Hopefully he is just excited that he can get up and out and it will be a phase that passes.

when the 4th wall of the crib came off, we just put up a gate across his door, and that seemed to work ok. And he graduated to a big boy bed shortly thereafter. He needed the gate for the duration of our stay at that home, since he didn't have a doorknob. Now that he's got a room with a door (and knob) he's graduated to just having his door shut, though at times it's a game getting us to come in frequently for different demands. Anyway, more info than you needed...good luck

I would definitly put him in a big boy bed. If he's climbing out you don't want him falling and getting hurt. To keep him in his room try putting up a baby gate. He might be able to scale over that as well, but you never know it might work.