Question:
Ditto to not putting a lock on a door just to avoid a mess. — May He be with us all, Lynn. Mom to Jenna (4-4-94) and Mathew (Aug. 5-95)
Response:
Janice – If your son can’t climb out of the crib, why move him into a big bed? They’re babies for such a short time. If he’s not ready for all the new "responsibilities" that come with moving into a bed, why not wait? At this age when they’re so curious about the world, we as parents already are forced to say "no" enough. Why create another situation where you must say "no" even more — no pulling clothes out of the drawer, no leaving your room at night, no climbing into the dresser drawers, no , no, no! My advise is to let him continue to sleep in his crib until you’re concerned he will begin to crawl out very soon. Then move him into a big bed. Let him have the security of his crib as long as he can. Enjoy him — he won’t be little for long!! Deborah
Response:
- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text ->>My husband and I are thinking about moving our 20 month old son out of >>his crib to a toddler or twin bed. He can’t get out of his crib yet >>but we know that he eventually will. Our concern is once he is >>sleeping in a regular bed he will be able to wander around the house >>at night and possibly hurt himself and/or make a mess while we are >>sleeping. I’ve heard of putting a child proof cover on the inside >>door knob but is that safe? Then how would we keep him from pulling >>all his clothes out of his chest of drawers or pulling out all his >>toys at night? Any suggestions? >Safety is one thing, but what does it matter if he pulls his clothes or >toys >out? >Linda >It could be a safety issue if he is able to pull all his clothes out and >then all the drawers out and get in the drawers resulting in tipping the >chest overtop himself. Most likely that won’t happen. I can see being >concerned and the last thing you want to see is a big mess in the a.m.
I can see it for the safety issue, I made sure to put a low dresser in my childs room because I also worried about him pulling the dresser over on top of him. As far as the mess issue? Well, I don’t think they come any neater than me – I crave having everything in it’s place – but I’ve had to let go of that since I’ve had children. Actually, everything is still in it’s place at my house but only after it’s all been out of place. My older son, when he was little, loved to pull every book out of the bookcase on a daily basis. I really enjoyed those stages and they *do* grow past it. I don’t think you should ever consider using any kind of lock on a door just because you don’t want to deal with a mess. Linda
Response:
>My husband and I are thinking about moving our 20 month old son out of >his crib to a toddler or twin bed. He can’t get out of his crib yet >but we know that he eventually will. Our concern is once he is >sleeping in a regular bed he will be able to wander around the house >at night and possibly hurt himself and/or make a mess while we are >sleeping. I’ve heard of putting a child proof cover on the inside >door knob but is that safe? Then how would we keep him from pulling >all his clothes out of his chest of drawers or pulling out all his >toys at night? Any suggestions?
My son is 24 mo old, sleeping in his toddler bed since 19.5 mo. I put a baby gate on his door, and have a blue night light on in his room. He has never tried playing with toys, or taking his clothes out at night… He does occasionally end up on the floor though-even though we have guard rails on both sides of his bed. Does your boy usually pull his clothes out of the drawers in the day-time? If not, I wouldn’t let it concern you too much. Sincerely, The Mommy Person Mom to Allison (4) and Noah (2) Reply to pell9 at pldi dot net
Response:
Morgen is 28 months and occasionally asks to go in her older sister’s bed at bedtime, but just to read stories as it turns out. As soon as stories are over, we go back to Morgen’s room, sing songs, and plop into her crib awake. A few times, when being cared for at grandmas for example, she has fallen asleep in beds, but only after a lot of romping and squirming – apparently due to the novelty of it. I have no intention of putting her in a bed (which stands at the ready in the guest room) until she asks, but I don’t think I’ll bother with a gate because she could climb over it anyway. – Ron Low Levity is the dearth of gravity. Brevity is the height of clarity. non-commercial e-mail always welcome
Response:
- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text ->My husband and I are thinking about moving our 20 month old son out of >his crib to a toddler or twin bed. He can’t get out of his crib yet >but we know that he eventually will. Our concern is once he is >sleeping in a regular bed he will be able to wander around the house >at night and possibly hurt himself and/or make a mess while we are >sleeping. I’ve heard of putting a child proof cover on the inside >door knob but is that safe? Then how would we keep him from pulling >all his clothes out of his chest of drawers or pulling out all his >toys at night? Any suggestions? >Safety is one thing, but what does it matter if he pulls his clothes or toys >out? >Linda
It could be a safety issue if he is able to pull all his clothes out and then all the drawers out and get in the drawers resulting in tipping the chest overtop himself. Most likely that won’t happen. I can see being concerned and the last thing you want to see is a big mess in the a.m.
Response:
We moved our son out of his crib when he was about 20 mos. and we put a gate on his room. That way he can open his door and alert us if he needs something or he can play in there while I take a shower and I know he isn’t wandering all over the house. I have only found the clothes all pulled out twice and he is now 34 mos. His big thing now is climbing up on his diaper pail to reach things on his dresser. Yikes! We’re still trying to resolve that one (just in case you’re wondering I haven’t removed the diaper pail because I’m afraid he’ll start using the drawers to climb and that seems alot more dangerous). Anyway, back to the bed. We had the bed in our son’s room for a few months before he started sleeping in it. We read stories in it, he practiced climbing in and out and we talked about how he would sleep in it soon. When we made the switch we just took the crib apart (with him saying bye bye) and moved the bed into its place. He couldn’t wait to be allowed to sleep on it! The gate went up the same day. My daughter is 17 mos. old and I plan on doing the same thing for her. She shouldn’t be too much of a problem she desperately wants to sleep in her brother’s bed! Good Luck Jane
Response:
does he wake up during the night now? if he doesn’t, you are worrying about nothing. If he does, so what? don’t lock your child in a room with a closed door!! If you are so concerned about him running around at night, just put a baby gate in front of his door. Is he allowed in his room by himself now? Does he pull all his clothes out? Usually all my kids want in the middle of the night, is to get in to bed with us. lizo – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text ->Our concern is once he is > sleeping in a regular bed he will be able to wander around the house > at night and possibly hurt himself and/or make a mess while we are > sleeping. I’ve heard of putting a child proof cover on the inside > door knob but is that safe? Then how would we keep him from pulling > all his clothes out of his chest of drawers or pulling out all his > toys at night? Any suggestions?
Response:
>My husband and I are thinking about moving our 20 month old son out of >his crib to a toddler or twin bed. He can’t get out of his crib yet >but we know that he eventually will. Our concern is once he is >sleeping in a regular bed he will be able to wander around the house >at night and possibly hurt himself and/or make a mess while we are >sleeping. I’ve heard of putting a child proof cover on the inside >door knob but is that safe? Then how would we keep him from pulling >all his clothes out of his chest of drawers or pulling out all his >toys at night? Any suggestions?
Safety is one thing, but what does it matter if he pulls his clothes or toys out? Linda
Response:
> My husband and I are thinking about moving our 20 month old son out of > his crib to a toddler or twin bed. He can’t get out of his crib yet > but we know that he eventually will. Our concern is once he is > sleeping in a regular bed he will be able to wander around the house > at night and possibly hurt himself and/or make a mess while we are > sleeping. I’ve heard of putting a child proof cover on the inside > door knob but is that safe? Then how would we keep him from pulling > all his clothes out of his chest of drawers or pulling out all his > toys at night? Any suggestions?
We moved both our boys out of the crib at 18 months as much due to my own paranoia as anything. A cousin broke his leg at 14 mo. trying to climb from his crib. I didn’t want our boys to suffer that pain. We didn’t have any trouble with either of them going anywhere except our bed. They weren’t interested in pulling things from drawers or risking going down the stairs in the dark. What we found was that they weren’t likely to do anything at night that they weren’t prone to do during the day. Since niether of them care to be in a room alone, their response to waking in the night has always been to find us. That was our kids, though. I would hesitate to ever prevent a child from leaving a room. It just isn’t safe. If there are stairs he doesn’t need to go down, then consider putting a safety gate at the top (the kind you screw to the wall, not the spring-loaded kind). Take precautions within reason. Good luck! — Charles I. Letbetter, Editor CATCH Online Magazine http://www.pagebrothers.com A new way of looking at parenting
Response:
My husband and I just moved our 18mo old daughter into a toddler bed. She also had never climbed out of the crib. We didn’t know how she’d react, but surprisingly it has worked great. When Lexi first saw the bed she ran over and climbed on. We told her it was her new bed for sleeping, and she layed down on it. (It wasn’t bed time yet, but we wanted to prepare her when she wasn’t tired and cranky) At bed time, we tried to put her in the bed, but she fought it, climbed right down, and cried. We left her room while she was crying (there’s a gate by the door) and within 30 seconds or so she had stopped! We checked on her 15 min later and she was in her bed with some toys sleeping. The next day naptime and bedtime went smoothly without a tantrum. She wakes up in the morning talking, and doesn’t climb out until we come get her. (She tends to wake up with toys in her bed that didn’t start there, but she obviously goes to sleep ok.) We also make sure there’s a night light on so if she does wander in her room, she can see a little. Our case may be unlike most. It seemed to work really well, but I don’t know if it’s because she’s always been good when it’s bedtime or if she just really likes her new bed. (We got her a bed that looks like a car and she thinks it’s great!) Good luck!! Denise Mother of Alexis (6/9/96) >My husband and I are thinking about moving our 20 month old son out of >his crib to a toddler or twin bed. He can’t get out of his crib yet >but we know that he eventually will. Our concern is once he is >sleeping in a regular bed he will be able to wander around the house >at night and possibly hurt himself and/or make a mess while we are >sleeping. I’ve heard of putting a child proof cover on the inside >door knob but is that safe? Then how would we keep him from pulling >all his clothes out of his chest of drawers or pulling out all his >toys at night? Any suggestions?
Response:
My husband and I are thinking about moving our 20 month old son out of his crib to a toddler or twin bed. He can’t get out of his crib yet but we know that he eventually will. Our concern is once he is sleeping in a regular bed he will be able to wander around the house at night and possibly hurt himself and/or make a mess while we are sleeping. I’ve heard of putting a child proof cover on the inside door knob but is that safe? Then how would we keep him from pulling all his clothes out of his chest of drawers or pulling out all his toys at night? Any suggestions?
If you like this post and would like to receive updates from this blog, please subscribe our feed.