On Saturday night we put Marc to sleep – usually he cries for a moment then lays down and goes to sleep. When someone says usually it means that not what happen and that is the case here too. He cried for a minute or two and then I started hearing the crying getting closer, which I thought was odd. In to the living room walks Marc, no longer crying but still catching his breathe… he waddles around and pulls himself up onto the couch as if we were watching his TV show (Yo Gabba Gabba or Jack’s Big Music show or Dora) and not mine.
He did it again on Sunday and Monday so it wasnt a fluke thing and that gives us a few less options. The options we’ve come up with is to convert his crib into a toddler bed, leave his crib as is and try a crib tent, try to reason with him to stay in the crib (good luck with that one), and try to bribe him into staying in his crib (once again good luck with that one).
My wife and I have been talking it over but we’re not really sure which direction is the right way to go here. If we go with the toddler bed there are chances he’ll up in bed with us (which I hear is a whole horror story in itself). I also read on some Doctors blog that sometime crib tents can make the child fearful of confined spaces (sounds pretty horrible to me too). The discussion is on going and we both know you cant pause time to figure it out. We’ve been letting him get to the point of almost climbing out before we get him. Then he ends up staying a couple of hours with us.
No matter how much we love Marc he’s still a bed hog! Who usually ends up sleeping horizontal when we’re both vertical. I’m not sure which direction we’ll go in but it’ll be a fun ride – right?? What do you think we should do? Do you have another suggestion for us to try?
How about handcuffing him to the crib… just an out of the box thought 🙂
Your son is only a few months older than ours… but I'm hoping we have a lot longer before we're in the same boat!!!
Tie a brick around his ankle…..it worked on my kids. 😉
Baby Cage.
I would go Toddler Bed. It's going to be work keeping him in there, but eventually he'll stay. Experience with two. One more in the upcoming months.
Our oldest jumped out exactly once. Then we figured out that he was using the crib rail to leverage his way out so we lowered it and he couldn't figure out how to do it again.
Showed him!
Toddler bed and eyehook lock on the outside of his door. Painfull for a few weeks, but does the trick.
My friend tried the crib tent and it was horrible…………she hated it, her son hated it……it was a waste!!!! I know it's a cliche but this is just a “phase” that Marc is going through. Whatever you decide, remember to stay consistent and relentless and make sure you and your wife are on the same exact page in your techniques. Good luck!!!!!!
my daughter is 2 and a half. it was tough with us too. we went from the crib to a toddler bed, which she ended up sleeping in our bed nearly every night. so we decided to get her a twin bed with a rail and make a bedtime for her. now at 8:45 she brushes teeth and gets ready for bed. then i read her 2 books (she picks them), and she reads one to the baby in my belly. then she lays in bed, i put on lullaby night time music and lay with her until she falls asleep. she has a little stuffed animal that sleeps with her every night. i was never into letting her cry it out. i want her to feel secure. i think its about routine and just really keeping with whatever you decide to do.
Hi Adam,
Great post. Check out my blog post on “GRADUATION DAY:From Crib to a Toddler Bed” to help you decide if it's time. NOT a rite of passage you wanna rush into as sleep for the whole family is very important!
http://www.safety1st.com/usa/eng/Safety1st-Squa…