She gets up

Have you heard of a crib tent? My daughter was not ready for a toddler bed, and safety was an issue with her climbing out of her crib. The tent kept her confined to her crib, and since she had nothing to play with there, she learned to fall back asleep on her own. I did keep one of her infant toys attached to the crib that had a light on it, so she felt like she had some amount of control. Good Luck

Thanks for the reply. I have heard of those and haven't tried one yet. I may do that, but am concerned that she will yell to get out, or thrash around in it. How did your daughter adjust to it?

I don't have any advise but I have a funny story to offer...well, it's funny NOW anyways. When my, now 12 yr old, son had just turned 2 yrs old he did the same thing as your daughter. He would get out of his crib at all hours of the night. Well one night he was on the prowl around 3am and got into a canister of flour on the kitchen counter. Yes, a canister of FLOUR! When I found him ALL I could see were his little brown eyes....everything...and I mean every crack, every inch of furniture, every electronic devise, everything! in our livingroom was covered in flour! He said in the sweetest little 2 yr old voice "look, Mommy, I made snow for you"....arrrgggg! He was so proud of himself...LOL! I don't think I even punished him...I just sat down and cried...and cried. It took years, literally, to get all the flour out of that room. Toddlers :) Edited to add that I haven't heard of the crib tents, but it sounds like a good idea under the circumstances.

Sam, what a sweet story! I have a nephew about the same age as your son who did the same thing with baby powder. My sister said she was cleaning it up for years too...it got in cracks of a table and they could never get it out. Fortunately for me, my daughter (so far...cross my fingers), doesn't get into things like that. She just plays in her room. I woke up the other night to hokey pokey elmo. Then I put her back to bed and was awakened later by the sound of blocks. I also hear her singing and "reading" books. It is kind of funny, but not so funny at the same time ya know...I'm kinda tired in the middle of the night. I asked my husband what we should do and he said get up and play with her! I said I'm not playing blocks at 4:00 in the morning! :) Last night was the first night in about 5 nights that she didn't get up, so we'll see how things go. I may end up trying of those tents. :rolleyes:

Do you have a convertible crib that changes into a day bed? If so, I would try to take the front off and see what she does when she can also GET BACK IN bed! She may get out, but when she realizes she can lay back down, she may just do that! It is worth a try, at least! I was so scared for my hubby to take the front off my son's crib. I had visions of chaos in the middle of the night. It turned out, he loved the freedom to be able to get in and out by himslef, but he stayed put! I only heard him up once or twice at nap time. In fact, he did so well we decided to buy him bunk beds and move the crib to the new baby's room. You should see my little kiddo, in the middle of a full bed. Hilarious! He stays put, though, maybe because he can't find his way out!

Thanks Dawn! Our crib is convertible and initially I was going to do that, but am so nervous about it I decided to wait a while. You bring up a good point though about the ability to get back into bed, because she can't climb back in her crib. I'll give that some consideration. There was one day when it was time for her to be up from nap, so I went o check on her and she way lying on the floor...I wasn't sure, but it kind of looked like she had fallen asleep there. She wouldn't admit to it though! I put her to bed for nap 20 minutes ago and I can hear her in there singing now :rockband: Wish me luck...

When my daughter was about 20 months old she started climbing out of her crib. I was nervous about her doing this in the dark with no supervision so I put her crib mattress on the floor for a few weeks and then put her into a toddler bed and she had no problem. She would get up in the middle of the night and sing or play with her baby but I put a gate on the door so that I wouldn't wake up with flour all over my house (or worse)! Eventually she would wake up and then just go back to bed. She is now 2.5 and we just moved to a regular twin bed (she is very tall for her age and was growing out of the toddler bed). The problem I have now is getting her to go to sleep at bedtime but once she is there she sleeps until morning. Good luck!

Thanks Tina, That's encouraging. I think we'll end up giong to the toddler bed soon.

I too was scared of switching to a toddler bed for my oldest (now almost 3). When I finally did the switch at 2 1/2 she really surprised me. I think she only got up once or maybe twice. I put her right back to bed and she has stayed. She recently moved to a twin bed and has also stayed put. We are actually having the opposite "problem" now. She won't get out of bed and it's making overnight potty training difficult. She stays put until someone comes in the room and tells her it's okay to get out of bed. On one hand I know I'm lucky she's not getting out of bed in the middle of the night, but on the other hand, if she has to go to the bathroom, she's not getting herself up and out of bed in time. Anyway, as for crib tents, I have never used one, however, I did babysit a child who had one and he had figured out how to unzip it and could still get out. Just something to keep in mind. Also, another suggestion is to just keep putting her back in bed. It may take several nights and little sleep on your part, but if she is consistantly put back in bed without any conversation from you - just pick up, put back in bed, leave - she may figure out the bed is where she belongs and is not going to get a chance to play. Good luck to you. I know this is one of my fears for my two year old. She is way to hyper and active to be out of a crib right now because it keeps her in a safe, confined area. I'm dreading the day she figures out how to get out.

Thanks AKMama. Glad to know it's worked for you. How funny that she stays in bed now. We have done the put back in bed over and over and I'm sure we should keep doing it, but after 4 or 5 times at 3 a.m. I'm tired and usually fall asleep. I've actually had about 4 straight days of all night sleep now...so keeping fingers crossed!