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I am foreign to a child being in a crib at age two. As soon as they could walk, I put a toddler bed in their rooms and the minute they could climb both on and off that bed, usually around 9 or 10 months, then the crib was removed. The benefit of this is that instead of feeling trapped and trying to get out for a year or more, they do not associate that feeling and trying to escape with bedtime so they would go into bed on their own without a fight. I always thought cribs were dangerous after a child could walk because they now have the muscle strength and any day they will be getting out and falling on their heads.
This was the exact reason both my boys (now 7 and 10) were transitioned to toddler beds about this age. Funny for me, I had to wait till they "escaped" before I thought it necessary, because like some parents experience they don't want to stay in their beds at night and want to mill about the house, etc... This is a transition period though and does not last long, as long as you are bale to put some type of routine in place. It is very necessary for bedtime. I am not an exceptionally rigid or structured parent but bedtime has always been the exception to that, and my children have benefitted from it. I am always amazed when people tell me their children just go to be "whenever", with no set bedtime agenda or time. Mine have been going to bed at 8 to 830 since they were infants and it remains a good school for my household.
Here's a funny story if you don't think your child is ready to be in the toddler bed: My DS#2 was/is small for his age, so I thought I could get away awhile longer with keeping him in the crib. It was right at age 2 that I started to feel this way and kept him in his crib. Needless to say, I put him don't for a nap one afternoon, only to hear him howling and howling. I am sure you all know kids this age will cry just because they don't want to do something, so I ignored him, and went about my business. The normal course of events would be he would quit crying and go to sleep. 15 minutes later he was still crying, so I peeked in the door to see my son dangling off the headboard of the crib clinging for dear life. I am sure it wouldn't have killed him to fall, yet I am sure you don't want your kid jumping out on their head either. Let's just say, that evening i took the crib apart.
My DS #2 climbed out of his crib at 12 mos so we put him in the toddler bed with a gate across the door. We lived in a 2 story house and his room was right in front of the stairs so we were worried about him getting out of bed and tumbling down the stairs in the middle of the night.
DD #1 never got out of her crib and neither did DS #3, they were there until nearly 3yrs old.
DS #4 at nearly 2 yrs can get out of his crib but listens when we tell him to stay put. The only time he tries to get out is in the morning when I'm taking too long to get him out of there. So we are going to put him in a toddler bed very soon, once we figure out where to put it. He sleeps in our room because we did not trust DS #3 to share a room with him, but we are hoping that he is ready now.
We will still have to put a gate across the door because although it is a different house the younger boys room is still right at the head of the stairs. Which is going to be tricky, for the 4yr old and going potty, having a gate up.
2 years is about the norm for a toddler or twin bed, I think. I used a crib tent to keep mine from climbing out before that. And, they got up many, many times each night when transitioning to a bed. We just stuck with it, and calmly put them back each time.
The trick is to get a gate tall enough and with just bars instead of one of those crisscross wooden ones. My problem was with #3 he was a master of saftey devices, he always figured out how to open them. We had to resort to using a shoelace and double knotting it to keep the gate shut, he never did figure that out.
I used it at her door because she wouldn't stay in her room for bed. After a week of her crying herself to sleep in front of it, I tried negotiating with her.
I told her I would take the gate away, if she would stay in her room after bed time except for emergencies and to go to the bathroom. I also told her if she couldn't do that, the gate would have to stay.
It took a few reminders (she was 2, after all), but it worked out pretty good and she was much happier with just playing quietly of her own accord than being trapped in her room.
We still put the gate at the top of the stairs for a while, but now we only use it to keep the dog from messing up his arthritic legs going up and down them.
This was the exact reason both my boys (now 7 and 10) were transitioned to toddler beds about this age.
I'm confused...which age, under 1 year or 2 or older? The fall from a toddler bed is much shorter than the fall from a crib.
I helped raise two brothers and now have three of my own kids. The one thing that strikes me is the not wanting to stay in bed stuff. That is because they have spent so much time trying to escape the crib. The sooner you get them sleeping the the toddler bed, the less you want to call super nanny for help to keep them there. Never had a problem with our kids getting out of bed, crying at the door, trying to escape bedtime. There was no association with those emotions and bedtime. It is so much more emotionally healthy for your child, just by thinking what they are feeling and addressing it right away.
It's the same thing with meal time. The second those kids are standing up in the high chair is the second you put them in a chair at the table in a booster seat. They feel big and like it. They respond to you better. Ours were less than a year, sitting at the table being able to feed themselves with a fork without making a huge mess. It drives me nuts when I see parents, who aren't afraid to hand their three year old gum to chew, have to sit and spoon feed them still because they don't want a mess, or bottles after they are a year old, or diapers beyond age 3. It's not that hard to teach them if you just give up some of your convience to put the needs of your child first. Sad, so sad, that our culture accepts this.
I'm confused...which age, under 1 year or 2 or older? The fall from a toddler bed is much shorter than the fall from a crib.
I helped raise two brothers and now have three of my own kids. The one thing that strikes me is the not wanting to stay in bed stuff. That is because they have spent so much time trying to escape the crib. The sooner you get them sleeping the the toddler bed, the less you want to call super nanny for help to keep them there. Never had a problem with our kids getting out of bed, crying at the door, trying to escape bedtime. There was no association with those emotions and bedtime. It is so much more emotionally healthy for your child, just by thinking what they are feeling and addressing it right away.
It's the same thing with meal time. The second those kids are standing up in the high chair is the second you put them in a chair at the table in a booster seat. They feel big and like it. They respond to you better. Ours were less than a year, sitting at the table being able to feed themselves with a fork without making a huge mess. It drives me nuts when I see parents, who aren't afraid to hand their three year old gum to chew, have to sit and spoon feed them still because they don't want a mess, or bottles after they are a year old, or diapers beyond age 3. It's not that hard to teach them if you just give up some of your convience to put the needs of your child first. Sad, so sad, that our culture accepts this.
---Not sure, if your comments were for me..but that was my post not the OP's that you were responding to. My first went into a toddler bed at 18 months after escaping the crib. The second one was much smaller and I thought I could keep him in awhile longer (no escape attempts), and yes I admit it, it was because I did not want to deal with that transisiton of making him stay in his bed...especially for me as a single parent of a toddler and a preschooler (2.5 years apart and raising them by myself). At any rate the transitioning only took a week or 2 (can't clearly remember it was so long ago, just know it wasn't that bad). Just making sure the consistant routine and continually redirecting him when he decided to mill about the house. It works, you just have to do it consistently.
Hoping to keep our LO in her crib as long as possible! Something that has helped a lot is her zipadee zip. It's prolonged her from climbing out and she sleeps so great in it. I would definitely recommend it! We started using it very early, after she needed to transition out of the swaddle. Hoping this helps!
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