AACCK! They've climbed out of their cribs!

I knew this day was soon approaching. My kids are 2 1/2 and my DD has been flinging her leg over the side of her crib for about a week, but never made it past that point. DS had shown no interest in trying to escape. I told DH this weekend we needed to put the rails on their cribs (they convert to toddler beds) and take the plunge, but we were both really dreading it. :mellow:

Well, this morning I heard the kids chattering away in their room as usual, and then all the sudden I hear the door knob on their door jiggling, and my DS saying "open open." So I KNEW they had escaped the cribs!

DH is now saying he's not sure if he's ready for them to be done with the cribs. They sleep great (usually 11 hours a night), still nap well for the most part, and I also get about 15 minutes to 1/2 an hour of "me" time in the morning between the time they wake up and the time they call for me to come get them. Needless to say, we are not looking forward to rocking the boat by having them out of their cribs.

I am just envisioning a free-for-all party all night long, waking up at 6:30 and wanting out of their room immediately, no more time for me to get up before them and slam down a cup of coffee before going to get them, no more napping - well, you get the idea. :unsure:

Any sage advice from those of you who have either gone on to buy crib tents to further delay the inevitable :ibiggrin: , or those of you who just took the plunge into toddler or twin beds, would be much appreciated.

Am I wrong to be so nervous about the cribs being history? Will they ever go to bed if they aren't confined to their cribs? How did you transition your kids?

 

Hi Lisa,
I'd get the crib tents. We installed them at around 24 months (because I figured we'd get there sooner or later, so might as well do it!) and kept them until we moved to beds at about 3y3m. We've had a very smooth transition and I'm SO glad we waited. Bedtime is still a bit tricky, but at this point they are so well trained not to get out of bed, they just don't. (The worst they do is crawl up to the end of their beds and peer out the door -- which is cute, when it's not exasperating.) And in the morning, we started using the light on a timer about 6 months before we switched to beds, so we just kept right on doing it, and I swear they do not come out of their room until that light goes on.

Crib tents! Learn it, live it, love it!

 

Well this happened to us about 2 weeks ago. I sent my DH out that afternoon to get crib tents and he couldnt find any. BRU no longer sells them. So we had to go to beds. I did find the tents on Walmart.com and ordered them. They are still in the box in the foyer. They are making the transition nicely to beds. I wont say that its easy, but we are doing a lot of traveling the rest of this year and I would rather have them in beds because I know that they will climb out of the PNPs. They do get up earlier and I have to separate them for naps or they will just keep each other up but so far we are dealing. GL with your decision.

 

Alden - Did Sarah and Amy protest when you added the tents to their cribs? I can just see Shayla being really pissed about it. I don't think Dylan will mind; he is pretty laid back.

Rachel - Yeah, I saw your thread earlier about not being sure if you should stick it out or put the tents on. How do your boys go down at night now that they aren't in their cribs?

 

I think you have a right to be nervous. The transition is a bit wacky for a while but I also think it is time for the transition. If they were 18 months, I'd say crib tents but at 2.5, I think you just bit the bullet and go to beds.

 

We got crib tents around 2 y/o, I was also wondering how they would react to them but they love them. I am waiting as long as possible to put them in beds, just dreading it from all the stories I read. I also have been real lucky with most developmental things with my two (easy transitions, very little difficulty) from the decisions I make so I am hoping this is another one! I certainly can't see the harm in it

 

QUOTE(Lisala @ Mar 31 2009, 10:02 PM) [snapback]1252947[/snapback]
Rachel - Yeah, I saw your thread earlier about not being sure if you should stick it out or put the tents on. How do your boys go down at night now that they aren't in their cribs?


Depends on the night. If they napped too long in the afternoon, they are a bit harder to get to sleep. They dont get out of their beds (one of us sits in there in silence) and they eventually go to sleep. If we time it just right, they go to sleep in about 15 minutes. So I am trying to figure out the day schedule right now. Also they dont sleep in anymore. They are up at 7am and that is that.

 

When Emilie did this at 26 months. We just went to the bed. She actually did very well with it. It took about a week or so for her to get used to her new "freedom", but once she got used to it has been smooth sailing. She still to this day does not get out of her bed when she wakes up, she will lay there and call for DH or I. I am really glad we went to a bed. :good: Good luck with your decision.

 

We just dealt with this about a week and a half ago. Joel managed to flip himself over the bed rail! DH found him crying on the floor. And the only way I know how he did it was because Bryan was trying to copy cat!!! YIKES! I immediately ordered the tents. My mom thought I was being ridiculous and I should just move them to toddler beds, but there's just no way. For one, they're not even 2 yet, so really, they're too young. Also, they have VERY different sleeping personalities. While they both sleep well, Bryan NEEDS sleep, and Joel just accepts it. When Joel wakes up, you have to get him right away- Bryan can lay in his bed for 30+ minutes perfectly happily after waking up. If I am not careful, Joel will run into his room to wake Bryan up on days that Joel wakes up early, so I know he'd keep B from getting his sleep.

They did pretty well w/ the tents. It kinda bugged them at first, but it didn't take long. They slept just fine the first night. Honestly, there are things I don't like them- I don't like that I can't reach in and touch them while they sleep very easily and the zipper is kinda noisy, so I always get nervous that I'm waking B up when I go get J out of his crib. But for their safety and my sanity- I hope we can keep using them for another year!

 

We used tents from 15-38 months. BUT, if mine had waited until 2.5 to climb out, I probably would have gone to beds.

I'm not sure there is an easy age for the transition. I think some kids are easier to transition than others. One of my friends switched her daughter to the toddler bed setting on her crib at 2 and then a twin bed at 2.5. She was laughing about how the new bed was taller than the toddler bed and so when she got out of bed, she got caught because she couldn't get back up there and had to call for help. As someone whose children were using objects as step stools at 10 months and climbing up on the kitchen counters at 14 months, I found this hard to wrap my mind around. But, if you're lucky enough that your kids won't get out of bed for some reason (whatever the reason), then switch! Switch now before they change their minds. :lol:

 

I just recently introduced to my son the BIG bed as he just officially turned 2.5 years old 2 days ago. I was getting fed up with him climbing over the crib for months. We didn't have crib tent but he only does it up to 5 times before he fall asleep. I didn't want to spend the money because I heard all the time that crib tent aren't useful at this age. But if he/she was 15 to 24 months I would do it. *We didn't even need bed railing for him only because I know he doesn't move around a whole lot.

I do agree that some do better than others. My daughter tell me she want to stay in her crib. She has not made any attempt to climb or even try unlike her brother. I also heard...the older they are after being 2.5 with verbally communication the easier with bed transition. But I guess every child is different.

I'm happy to tell you that he made NO fuss about the big bed. He love climbing onto his bed. Surprisely he is doing well with nap and bed routine. My husband says....wait until he is 100% healthy when he bouncing around. That is true, I can deal with nap issue since IF he was not to nap at all he would be so tired by bed time.

I wish you the best of luck! I know when I first saw him in the big bed sleeping. I can't believe the 'no more crib' and 'my son is no longer baby'. It was hard the first few days

RJ

 

I actually switched them to toddler beds at around 18 months. The first few weeks were hard and naps were almost impossible, but now they do just fine. I put them in bed, kiss them goodnight and close the door. Sometimes I hear them in there playing for about 20 minutes or so but they don't try to come out of the room anymore and they wait for me to come get them in the morning.

 

QUOTE(Lisala @ Mar 31 2009, 10:02 PM) [snapback]1252947[/snapback]
Alden - Did Sarah and Amy protest when you added the tents to their cribs? I can just see Shayla being really pissed about it. I don't think Dylan will mind; he is pretty laid back.


(Sorry, I didn't check this thread again until just now.)
They actually loved the tents. We talked about how they were going to get tents to sleep in, as if it were a good thing, and they were really excited. We put Amy's up first (I wanted to buy just one at first, in case they hated them) and Sarah was so envious that I had to go order hers the next day.

The only down side to the tents for us was that it added yet one more complication to the routines -- arguing over who was going to zip up the tent (they liked to do it themselves, at least as far as they could reach -- failing that, they always wanted ME to do it), when the tent would be zipped, who got unzipped first in the morning, etc.

But it was worth it to know that they wouldn't climb out. I would still think it was worth it even if we hadn't gotten them until 2y5m. I think having the improved communication skills at 3y3m was really helpful in our easy transition.

After about age 3, they could easily unzip the tents themselves, but still insisted on having them zipped up at bedtime.

 

We did the crib tent thing and have loved it. We got them when the boys were 18 months. I highly recommend the Crib Tent II by Tots in Mind, however, they are hard to find. Babies R Us doesn't carry them anymore and I think you can only order them on Walmart's website, not get them in the stores.