I have been dreading this day..........the day we go to "big boy" beds! I was just hoping it wasn't this soon. Well, tonight I was putting the boys to bed and Samuel stretched his leg up and over the top of his crib rail and started to push himself over. Of course, I told him "oh no...we stay in our beds". He put his leg down and so far he has stayed in his bed tonight but what do I do now? Is this my sign that he needs to go to a regular bed or do I wait until he actually gets out? But then I'm afraid he might fall and hurt himself trying. Then the next question is what type of bed do we get? Their room is quite small so I think it will have to be toddler beds. But how in the world do you keep almost two year olds in their beds for naptime or bedtime. I can only imagine the struggle we will have getting them to stay in their room at night and in their beds. It just scares me to death to think about it! Please, anyone, can you share some advice and suggestions for me?
My girls just turned two 3 weeks ago and they started doing the same thing as Samuel. They kept getting out of their beds so we figured that it was safer for them to be in toddler beds that to keep getting out of bed and risk hurting themselves. Our girls now prefer to sleep on the floor of their room side by side. I'm choosing my battles wisely and if they want to sleep on the floor of their room I really don't mind. We do take EVERYTHING out of their room and close the closet door so when they are in their for nap time or bed time they aren't playing with toys. (however, today they managed to switch clothes during "nap time" and I didn't even notice for about 30 minutes!) When we put them "to bed" we close the door to the room. We have always done this so it wasn't a new, scary thing to them. When we go to bed at night I open their door and put a gate across their doorway so they don't get up in the night and fall down the steps or get into anything. In the morning they are at the gate calling for us to let them out. Good luck to you!
my twins parenting class teacher suggested that climbing out means time for transition to toddler beds, some other type of bed, or crib mattresses on the floor. i know that some people choose to buy crib tents, but her comment about that was that they were made to keep animals and insects outside of cribs, not to keep babies in.... i'm not there yet but i do think that's something to think about! i know it seems daunting but i'd put pillows on the floor for now and start thinking about what type of bed you want them sleeping in next...... good luck!
I have no advice but I'm looking forward to reading what everyone suggests. My girls just turned 19 months and the other afternoon at my parents' house, we put them down for a nap in the spare room. Char was in the pack-n-play and Emma in the crib. After about an hour we heard a big thud and a lot of screaming, went in there to find that Emma had climbed out of the crib. Terrifying! We switched them and put Char in the crib and all was well for the rest of nap time. She hasn't tried (or at least tried successfully!) to get out of her crib at home. I'm at a loss for what to do. 19 months is too young IMO for toddler beds.
I'd try crib tents. Probably not the best, but better than a broken neck or a mommy going insane because they're not ready for toddler beds.
Has she seen a crib tent? It's not a mosquito net and while they do keep cats out, that's definitely not the main reason they're purchased. They keep legs/pacifiers/blankets in as well as slowing down toddlers who climb out early. My kids climbed out at 15 months. It was a sign that they're strong and adventuresome, not mature. Trying to teach a 15-month old to stay in a bed is like trying to teach a cat to stay off of the couch. Actually, since putting an electrical charge in the floor is frowned upon, teaching a cat to stay off of the couch might be easier. Trust me, tents were the sane & humane choice for us. At nearly 2, though, your kids might be ready and you're the best judge of that. Can they sit in timeout? Do they remember lessons learned for longer than 10 seconds? If so, go for it and just be mentally prepared to march them back to their beds over and over and over and over for a few weeks until they get the idea because they don't have a whole lot of impulse control yet.
I would say that since he is just starting to show signs of climbing out, I would put mattresses or soft blankets around the crib for now until you figure out what works best for you and the kids (crib tents, toddler beds, etc). I think my next step would be a toddler bed. I am not sure how you can keep two 2 year olds in bed, I am curious to see other's advice since we will be doing toddler beds around age 2 ourselves.
:hug: Meara once got herself up on the rail, but I told her to look down and see how far it is. I told her she could hurt herself if she fell. So far she hasn't tried it again. Only you can decide if your kiddos are mature enough for a bed, or if you want to spend the money on crib tents. I have several friends who swear by crib tents and have other friends who moved to a toddler bed without issue. GL with your decision. :hug:
are your cribs the same height all the way around? cuz our back side of the cribs are taller, so i just turned the girls' cribs around, and the front part is now facing the wall. i feel that my girls are just not mature enough for toddler beds yet.
We transitioned to twin beds at 20 months. It went SO much better than I expected! There were days that I had to sit outside their door at naptime until they fell asleep, but never at night. Even when they were awake for a while, they stayed in bed. It CAN be done!! We had mini cribs so my boys were just too big for them, but hadn't tried to get out of them yet. We just put up the bedrails on one side of the bed and the wall on the other. I hope it goes well for you!
if it happened to me-- I'd take out the cribs, leave the crib mattresses on the floor-- take out any furniture/climbing opportunities out of the room, and either put up a gate or something so they couldn't leave the room-- then I'd know even if they fell asleep in the middle of the floor that they were safe and not in harm's way. but- depending on what space is available elsewhere and how clever your kids are- it could change the scenario widely... I don't like the "idea" of a crib tent-- but I don't like the idea of caging up my children like a zoo exhibit either- and I do that... hope you find a workable solution, fast!
We just made the transition this week after DD tried to climb out of the crib and fell. I was dreading it SOOOO much but it was WAY easier than I thought. We went to toddler beds. We put them together during naptime then after nap took them upstairs and made a big deal about the kids 'helping' us take down the cribs b/c those were for babies and made up the 'big kid' beds. The first night and first nap I had to sit outside their door and redirect them to bed several times but since then they have stayed in bed and have had zero issues. In fact they love their 'kid beds' so much its hard to get them out of them to come down for breakfast in the morning. Good luck and don't worry, for us at least the transition was way harder on me than on them!!
