Mommy Mondays: Escaping the Crib

Now around 20 months Cooper is getting ready to jump ship.  Or…out of his crib.  He hasn’t done it yet, but I fear it is getting close.

Here is proof of my current terror:

Now,  I have no idea how to put him in a toddler bed and keep him there.  The crib we have does convert and would be easy to transition over, physically.  Mainly, I am concerned because I do not want him to flip out of his crib BUT he is not a good listener and would never know that he had to stay in the bed at night.  Or even if he did know, I am pretty sure he wouldn’t care.

I feel like I am stuck between a rock and a hard place.  Everything I have read tells me that if he’s on his way out to switch BUT if he doesn’t stay in the bed he is not ready which leaves me in some sort of an in between place.

Question: I would love so parental advice:  What would/did you do in this instance?!  When did you know it was time?

On a side note (clearly my materialistic side is excited for new bedding, which one do you guys like best?)

OR

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I will announce the Bulu Box winners when I get back from the Tufts 10K which is starting in just a few hours!  #getafterit

12 thoughts on “Mommy Mondays: Escaping the Crib”

  1. You have two choices – a crib tent that will keep him in (I’ve never used one, so no advice there) or switch to the toddler bed. Once they can climb out of the crib, they can hurt themselves doing it. (One of mine was out at 18 months, the other never slept in one, but both of my boys were good about staying in their bed and yelling for me.)

    If you go to the toddler bed, babyproof the heck out of his room and either gate the doorway or put a childproof knob on the door. That way, if he does get out of the bed, he can’t get out of the room and wander the house.

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  2. I switched Elaina to a toddler bed at 1 1/2 because I needed her crib for when Asher was born. A gate in there doorway is a good idea. For my kids I just kept bringing them back to there bed everytime I heard them get out. I tried not to say much just said its time for bed. It can be exhausting but after a while he will stay in his bed.

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  3. I love both bed sets!! So cute! That’s a really tough transition and I wish you best of luck! I don’t have much advice bc I’m not a mom yet! Happy Monday and spalove

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  6. Definitely ditch the crib. A wandering toddler is safer than one flying over the edge of a crib. My son started shimmying up the side of the crib. Slippery socks stopped him for a while. But one day, I heard a horrible THUD. He completely flipped out of the crib and landed on his back. That was the last day in a crib. We only had a twin, but it worked fine. We put up a little bed rail to keep him from falling out.

    Once in the bed, the key was to enhance our bedtime routine. I would lay in his bed to read his bedtime stories. We would also have a ritual of saying our nightly prayers for family and friends. We never seemed to have an issue with him staying there at bedtime. If he got up, we simply put him back in bed and told him it was night time. He did get out of bed in the middle of the night (I think it was 4 or 5) and walk down the hall and crawl into bed with us nearly every night. I was ok with this. Waking up to a snuggly toddler was fine by me. We did have to make sure the gate was closed at the top of the stairs, but it was never an issue. He just bee-lined for our bed.

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