(Nearly 2 years later, he is still in here)Pssst! Hey there. I don't want to jinx it, but (talking out of the side of my mouth) Lukas will be 3 in a couple of months and he is still sleeping in his crib. Yes, In his CRIB.
It's true. I'm not sure how long this will last but up to this point our son, who by the way is turning into a champion climber on the playground, has not yet made an attempt to throw his leg over the side of his crib rail and exit the confines of his cozy sleeping cell.
However, times they are a changin. As he has gotten older, it has become ever harder to get him to sleep by his 8PM bedtime. Sometimes he will lay there and talk to himself for an hour or an hour and a half before finally dozing off. Other nights he will go right to sleep, but he still hasn't once become so frustrated that he has decided to go all Houdini on us and jump ship.
Yet!
We know it is only a matter of time. It's like the BIG ONE. We all know it is long overdue, but there is no way to predict when it will hit. We could be sound asleep in our bed when we hear a loud bang and feel the floor rumble. I'm sure it will be a chaotic moment. Hopefully though, we will get some sort of warning prior to our big one hitting. Perhaps the cats will begin to act goofy. Maybe stop running under my feet at inopportune times, or actually want outside to hack up their hairballs. Who knows?
We do have had a toddler bed which has been waiting in our garage since last Fall. All we have to do is dig it out and haul it up there once it becomes necessary. You may ask: Why wait for necessary?
Well, Mrs. LIAYF and I both love our sleep. And now, once Lukas is in his crib, he stays there. But once the big one hits...all bets are off. It's hard enough to convince our little guy now that he shouldn't plead and yell and beg for more stories once bed time comes along. Take away the fences? Let's just say it'll be somewhat chaotic around casa LIAYF for a while afterwards. Perhaps I should prepare more.
Maybe get the Benny Hill music queued and ready to play.
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We kept our youngest in a crib for as long as we could, but there were way too many close calls with him trying to climb out. We finally relented and switched him to his own nice low-to-the-ground bed. So far, mostly so good.
Agreed, we found a futon was a simple and safe solution. However, for keeping the child in, you're on your own!
We kept our son in his crib for as long as possible since he wasn't trying to escape. When you do set up the toddler bed, I'd vote that you put a gate up at his door to help contain him. Just in case he's a wanderer...
With Boy #1 it came fast and hard for us. One night we heard him yelling and I came running into his room to find him hanging from his crib like he was hanging off a cliff.
It's better to make the transition before you get to that point. The key is a baby gate at the ready for the door. Because once he's in that bed -- he's mobile ... in the middle of the night.
My middle son would likely still be sleeping in his crib if he in there!! The other two boyz -- no. My oldest was climbing out of there before he hit 18 months and my little one hated his crib from day one.
Good luck -- hang in there and just know that kids and sleep is an evolving "problem" no matter what the age.
Mine didn't stay in the crib all that long. At least, I don't think so. It's all fading now.
That is great parenting in my book.
We failed somewhere along the way as our youngest boy was flying out of his crib as soon as he could walk. The next 2 years were like wrestling getting him to stay still long enough to sleep. Now at 3.5 years he is finally a top notch sleeper in a big boy bed.
DLG escaped from her crib a couple months ago. Although... she fell hard onto the floor when she scaled the side of her crib.
She hasn't attempted to escape again!
Also... it will be hard to transition her to a bed. I'm not looking forward to it.
DLG escaped from her crib a couple months ago. Although... she fell hard onto the floor when she scaled the side of her crib.
She hasn't attempted to escape again!
Also... it will be hard to transition her to a bed. I'm not looking forward to it.
We had to force the issue with our older boy when #2 came along and as much as I worried about it, it was fine. He sometimes gets out of bed but he never comes out of his room. He's fallen out a couple of times, but that's just par for the course. No broken bones. I think it's a bigger deal for us than it is for them.
We got our daughter a bed at 26 months. And she never got out of it. Hopefully you will have similar results. :)
My daughter has been in the toddler bed since she was 18 months because my son was on his way. That was a tough experience. We do have a gate in her bedroom door, but she's loud enough to wake us with ease from a distance of at least 50 meters. What I'm saying is, keep him in there as long as possible. Hide treats under the mattress. Whatever it takes.
All I have heard is keep him in the crib.
I am convinced I will never sleep well again. There is always something with these little ones. I hope you haven't jinxed yourself.
Once our kid transitioned into her big girl bed it has been a roller coaster. We get a month of just pure joy and ease and then two to three months of bedtime chaos. Best of luck.
Crib here too!!! Not getting him out until I absolutely have to!!!!
When my kids graduated to a bed they went wild for a while, but it eventually mellowed out.
The night exploration has long since passed and most nights we get to sleep. Of course I probably just jinxed myself.
Hey, I say live it up while you still can. No sense in moving a kid who's perfectly happy where he is. He probably feels secure all walled in like that. It's just a cool baby fort, right?
Who knows, he could still be there when he's 16! ;)
Minion #2 will be three in a few months, too. He's been in a bed for almost a year. He's an acrobatic escape artist. One of us was going to end up in the hospital - from a concussion for him or a heart attack for me - from his antics. So, we transitioned pretty early. It was relatively painless. ;)
You might be surprised. Oliver moved to his bed aged 3y 4m. Fifteen months later I can count on one hand the number of times he has come downstairs after going to bed. And until the last few weeks he stayed there in the morning too.
Good luck when you go for it.
I read something recently that said the recommendation now is to keep your kid in a crib until 3 years old (if you can). A lot of parents have to do it earlier because their kids start climbing out, which isn't that safe. We tried transitioning to a toddler bed at 2.5 years old and TOTALLY botched it and ended up with a kid in our bed in the middle of the night every night. For like a year. Until we finally bucked up and re-sleep trained him. I say if he's happy in the crib, why not let him stay. I feel like the older they are, the easier the transition will be because they can understand more. If you do it right - make sure he already has his routine before you bring in the bed, then just continue it, it should go pretty well!
Lucky. Our second jumped out before she was two. Maybe you want to put some bars beside your bed to show him that all the cool kids still sleep in cribs.
Keep it rolling.
Our daughter was just shy of two when she figured out how to climb out. We moved her crib mattress to the floor of her bedroom, and she refused to get into a big bed for almost a year after that.
As for the interrupting thing, all I can say is that my daughter STILL climbs into bed with us, regardless of the time, and ignores things like closed doors.
Good luck.
we're 2-1/2 over here and two of the three have jumped ship. in fact, our little girl is now in a "big bed." and when i say big bed...james, it's a big-ass bed, buddy. it was my wife's grandmother's. so it's a four post deal. we got two bed-rail deals up and surround her with pillows.
another great post, my friend. hope you had a great weekend.
Yeah um, I envy you or you can do what we did. Put a baby gate, you know the kind that is screwed to the door frame and swings open by thetuen of a knob that requies th strength of the hulk to turn. That has kept the kids in their rooms while they climb out of bed so we can sleep just a tad longer. Just a thought!
We've been experimenting with the toddler bed at nap time, which has so far been met with mixed response. We still have some child proofing to do in his room to ensure that the bureau doesn't get deposited on the floor in the middle of the night. Good luck.
My son's been in a bed now for about a year and not fallen out once...yet!!
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