Climbing out of the cot!

[needadvice]

Help! I have a 20mth old who is trying to climb out of her cot and I'm paranoid she'll hurt herself on the dismount!

There are no toys for her to stand on, but :o she is quite tall for her age and fearless. While she hasn't made it over the railing just yet, it's got to be very close. She gets either the top of her knee on the bar, or a few toes and I keep distracting her when I see it happen. It's OK at night because she's in a sleeping bag, but in the day I'm worried she'll break something the first time she makes it out. And as soon as winter is over and the sleeping bag is gone, I'll be even more concerned.

I really don't want to put her in a bed yet because she's able to open the door of her room and it'll be a nightmare.

Any ideas to prolong the inevitable????

[Supermum]

Hi there

My son was an escapologist so we moved him to a bed and put a barrier up at his door. That was at just fifteen months! We didn't want to move him to a bed until much later but I didn't want him breaking his neck either. We put a mattress on the floor which only took him a week to get used to. I'm not too sure of another way around it. We just made sure that there were no cords, toys with string or anything else dangerous he could get his little hands on if he decided to wander in the wee hours.

Good luck!

[RuthK]

I also put my climbing son into a bed at 16 months, also partly to prepare the cot for his sister who was to arrive 2 months later.

He loved the responsibility of being in a big bed and started sleeping brilliantly. When he went thru a stage of turning on the light when he'd been put to bed we took out the light globe until he got out of that habit and when he kept opening the door to come out, we put a stair-guard against his door.

[talon]

If you have a grobag/sleeping bag for wintertime and that seems to be working, why not invest in a lightweight grobag for the summertime? I have seen them in the latest catalogue.

[Ondine]

Safety will be the big thing with your littlie. Bubs is only going to get bigger and stronger! A big bed is going to be inevitable! There are plently of things you can do to keep bubs in their room, less to keep them in their cot!

Friends of mine had a toddler that liked to wander around at night. Quite often their little girl was found standing in front of the fridge with the door wide open, emptying things out onto the floor. I guess she thought it was a great game!!! I know this idea sounds horrible, it really does work though!! They took the door handle out and reversed it so that the lock was on the outside. She was put in the big bed and there were no more escapes in the middle of the night. A baby monitor was used to hear her if she woke up!

Good luck! I hope your little climber doesn't break any bones!

Ondine

[cwsmum]

My son climbed out of his cot when he was about 18mths old. There was nothing in the cot for him to stand on, he just pulled himself up and then fell over the side :eek: Thankfully he didn't do too much damage, just a scrape on his leg where he had hit the drawers that were beside his bed...they were the same height as the top of the cot mattress so we weren't worried about them being there.

We put a gate on his doorway to try and keep him in his room, I don't believe in closing childrens bedroom doors, but he figured out how to open it within a few mths, so we just made sure everything was safe for him if he got up before us in the mornings and put a locks on the fridge and cupboards to keep him out. Another thing that was suggested to us was to cut the bedroom door in half so that bub is closed in their room, but you can still easily hear them and they can hear you.

We also made sure all the doors were locked so he couldn't get outside, we have a large dog and lived on a very busy road at the time so he was never allowed outside alone.

[mummyb]

one night when our son was 15 months we heard this big thump in the midle of the night we rushed in only to find ds sitting up looking around as if to say what hapened .
we didnt do anything for a couple of months but then it just got silly as soon as he got in he would climb out !! so we got him a bed with a side rail and he has been in it ever since .
he is now 5 and cant wait till his brother is ready for abed so they can have bunk beds and of cause he wants the top one ,now that realy would be a bang in the night .

[j&k'smum]

My little one is 25months and she has been in a bed for about two or more now. I found that she kept banging her head on the wooden slats and this would wake her up. I felt sorry for her and half the time she looked really uncomfortable in there. One day i thought, "Thats it!" and dismantled the cot, put the bed in there with a rail up and hoped for the best. ( of course later after my little brainwave, I panicked and thought," oh my Goodness, what did I do??) I really thought it was going to be harder than it was but it's just great .
She knows that when she comes out, I am just going to put her straight back. But that is something she hasn't done often anyway, only a few times . She normally just goes to sleep. AND hasn't fallen out either.(touch wood!)
And its so cute too when she wakes up in the morning and i can hear the pitter patter of her feet come into my room, and she'll say, "In your bed Mamma". So i lift her up and have snuggle before we get on with the day.
It sounds like your little one is ready for the next stage!! :D

[lani]

Anna moved to a bed at 16 months as she was trying to climb out, I didn't want her in a bed that early and found that we had probs keeping her in bed when she wanted to be up. But her safety was priority so we just learnt to deal with it, if she got up after we put her down we'd just repeat it until she worked out that she wasn't gonna win.

[Melissa1983]

My oldest climbed out of her cot at 15months, and it gave me a fright as i was the only one home, and she came into my room. Didnt know what happened, until the next night i heard a noise comming from her room, as she was trying to climb out. I put her into a bed, and she only fell out once. My youngest is in a bed, as she wouldnt sleep in her cot from 16months. I started her on the floor and then she went to a bed.
Good luck