We knew it was coming, but yesterday she realised she could escape. We were up with her for two hours later than usual and she came running into our room an hour earlier. I'm 28w pregnant with number two so am not thrilled any tips? Advice? She has pretty high sleep needs but I'm worried this could mean the end of naps too especially on days my parents have her as they won't want the faff...
@jaychildofchrist This seems so controversial on this sub and I don't know why, but 2.5 isn't too early to put them in at least a floor bed. Honestly, it isn't as scary as people think, and if you're waiting for a sign, well...here you go. From my perspective, I'd rather my kid fall off a mattress or the bottom of a bunk bed than fall trying to get out of a crib. There's plenty of advice for transitioning from a crib to a bed available online.
The most important thing is to make sure the room is really safe and put a cover over the doorknob. And maybe break that camera back out (if you've done away with it) for those times you hear an unsettling thump. I've heard other advice like making sure fun things like toys and books are out of sight, but we didn't have a problem with this.
@mikeydb Exactly this. My daughter was very close to climbing out of her crib at 18mo. We converted to a toddler bed, put a camera back in her room, took some additional safety precautions and added a cover to the handle so she couldn't roam at night. It was such a smooth transition.
Falling while climbing out of a crib is very dangerous. Rolling out of a bed is much less so. The low height and part rail of a toddler bed reduces that risk even further.
@mikeydb As soon as they start climbing out of the cot they need to have a bed, whatever form it takes. No question about that.
The issue is that the child will be excited about the change and will be very unsettled for a while. My son took about 6 weeks to get over it before he started sleeping properly again.
OP - get a gate for the door, but I'm afraid you'll have a rough period coming up. Considering your current pregnancy, would your husband be able to do nights?
@justin83 Right, it’s one of those many necessary evils of toddler parenting. Nobody wants these shitty transitions, but we have to accept them or who knows what kind of weird human we’ll end up raising. A teenager in a custom-made queen-size crib?
@jaychildofchrist Definitely get her out the cot and into a toddler bed. At the minimum, take the side of your cot off. We had an incident with a child that fell out a cot that ended in a trip to the hospital. All was well but not an experience I'm keen to have again.
If you're trying to keep her in her room then a stair gate on her door. It's my experience that children of that age will not understand the concept of time or that they need to stay in their room .
@jaychildofchrist Our kid was ready for a big kid bed just before 2yo. It worked out because six months later we gave the cot to their new sibling and enough time had passed that they didn't care that the baby got 'their' cot.
If she's climbing out, you have to move her. We went straight to a single bed, chose the lowest one we could find and did it. We didn't use a bed rail and theyve only fallen out once. We did have a little regression when their sibling was born where they woke up once a night and came into our room but they easily went back to their bed.
@jaychildofchrist My 2.5 year old has been getting out for a while but only once we came in, and then recently a light bulb went off "oh I don't need to wait for them" and he started barging into our room at 6am (usually sleeps until 7/715) saying "good morning time! Wake up time!" After a couple days/a week of him coming out and us explaining to him he has to wait for us, and he seems to have gotten it. Also, we put started putting him right back in the crib for about 20-30 minutes (when it was super early - before 630) so he doesn't associate him getting out with him getting what he wants (the first couple times I brought him into bed for cuddles and I loved it but I knew that wouldn't help)
any tips? Advice? She has pretty high sleep needs but I'm worried this could mean the end of naps too especially on days my parents have her as they won't want the faff...