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He began climbing out of his crib (after seeing his older brother do it ) last week, using the bed next to it. We thought it was a fluke, but we should've known better...even without the bed, he can still cimb out, super fast. We found him running up and down the hallways the other night, not afraid of the dark at all, and he quietly called my name. Now if he's slightly disturbed in sleep, he gets out, whereas just a month ago, where he'd just get himself back to sleep because he knew he couldn't leave his crib... So at 2am he runs around, even grabs one of the cordless phones, presses buttons so it lights up as his flashlight. He tries to wake up his brother but luckily, he gives up pretty fast.
Going to bed initially isnt too much of a struggle, but it's the 1am-4am attempts to leave. We've decided to switch to a toddler bed for safety but now he'll really be able to run out of his bed even more quickly. We don't even trust a baby gate to keep him in his room because he's such an excellent climber (he's 30 pounds and strong!). He'll just climb over it. We just calmly say "night night" and put him back into his crib/bed but he just waits until we walk away, even if we wait there for 10 minutes, to run out again. He's very savvy!
Any ideas?? I know this is a rite of passage as we went through this with DS #1 (altho with far less crying which is good) but we got up 11 times one night with DS#1 (a 3 hour effort to get him into bed). We have to figure out a better way with DS#2!
First install a split door so you can close the bottom half or both halves if you can to keep him in his room. You and other parent takes turns. When he gets up, replace him in bed. Close door. Rinse, repeat with consistency until he understand he MUST stay in bed.
I've heard of people installing screen doors on children's bedrooms to keep them inside. I preferred to train my children to stay in the crib by standing just outside the room doorway and then appearing and saying NO everytime I heard them start to climb out. But I did it immediately after the first time each escaped from the crib, you've probably let this go way to long for it to work for you.
IF you have allready moved him to the toddler bed, I would not get the 'net'. I like the chain on the door idea. But if he's that cleaver/strong. you Better us long screw of he will pull the chain tight out of the Door Jam.
Hey Hopes, actually unlike DH who would walk away immediately after shutting his door, I stay by the door and open it, catching him in the act mid-climb and say "No" firmly and he cries a bit and lies back down. I've done this for the past several nights, just standing there as long as 20 minutes, until I'm sure he's down for good. If he's really upset, I rub his back for a little bit and then I tiptoe out. It's just when we're asleep in the middle of the night that I realize he may have been up for awhile. He learns very quickly so in the middle of the night last night, he didn't come to me right away. He went to get the phone first so it was the beep of the phone that really woke me up. Otherwise, I don't always hear his little feet on the carpet.
Wow, I've never seen this - this might help us. We converted to a toddler bed already but we're thinking he's not ready (or we're not ready!) The open slot now just encourages him to just roll right out of bed and run away. We could easily convert it back to a crib and use the tent until he understands bedtime a bit better.
The chain on the door thing would scare me. He would probably just scream and feel like he was locked in jail. But if it would work then maybe try it.
The screen door sounds good that way he can see out but cant get out.
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) last week, using the bed next to it. We thought it was a fluke, but we should've known better...even without the bed, he can still cimb out, super fast. We found him running up and down the hallways the other night, not afraid of the dark at all, and he quietly called my name. Now if he's slightly disturbed in sleep, he gets out, whereas just a month ago, where he'd just get himself back to sleep because he knew he couldn't leave his crib... So at 2am he runs around, even grabs one of the cordless phones, presses buttons so it lights up as his flashlight. He tries to wake up his brother but luckily, he gives up pretty fast. 
We have to figure out a better way with DS#2!
