4 Hacks to Keep Your Toddler from Climbing Out of the Crib
How is it even possible that the precious bundle you brought home from the hospital is suddenly big enough to escape from their crib? It was practically yesterday that they were a tiny sleeping lump in a bedside bassinet! You handled the transition from a bedside sleeper to the crib, but what comes next and how can you slow down time?
Some particularly precocious climbers begin scaling the crib sides as early as 15 or 18 months! I vividly remember our middle son (still our most physical child!) appearing in doorway to the kitchen one evening well after bedtime when he was around 16 or 17 months old. I had no warning that he was even close to escaping the crib, and yet, there he was, scaring the living bejeezus out of me when I turned around!
If at all possible, keep your child sleeping safely in their crib until around age three. If you don’t have a newborn sibling that needs the crib or your child isn’t routinely hopping out of the crib, posing a risk to himself, don’t switch to a toddler bed!
Delay, delay, delay!
Buy yourself as much time as possible! Even a few weeks will make the transition easier, so make every effort to keep your little monkey in that crib a little longer.
Let’s take a look at how to contain your little MacGyver to the crib for a little longer:
1. A sleep sack is the first and easiest trick. Toddlers usually swing a leg up and over the railing to jump out, so limiting that range of motion with a sleep sack is a safe way to buy yourself a few weeks to a few months. Of course, bonus points go to sleep sacks for also providing warmth and comfort to our little ones safely.
Halo brand sleep sacks are a favorite at a reasonable price point, but many parents say that the bottom of the sack is still pretty wide.
Woolino ($$$) sleep sacks have a narrower box and will more effectively help reduce that leg-swing capability.
2. Turn the crib around so that the taller back is facing outward and double check that the mattress is set to the lowest possible setting. The extra few inches may be enough to keep your monkey contained.
Some manufacturers may even consider it safe to take the springs out of the bottom of the crib, for you to put the crib mattress on the floor.
Always use your crib as the manufacturer intended.
3. Move any other furniture away from the crib that your tot can use to leverage themselves out of the crib
Maybe this should have been a no-brainer, but this was one of my first mistakes as a first-time mom. I thought to myself and to my husband who cared very little about nursery décor, “Let’s get the crib with the attached changing table! So cute! So handy! Saves space!” Let’s talk about regret when our three boys, who all used the same crib, used the attached table to heave themselves up and out of the crib.
4. Consider ordering a pair or two of these sweet pajamas (and I don’t even know the shop owner or earn anything from the promo, I just genuinely think she is a genius):
Name brand pajamas with a small strip of fabric sewn between the legs to limit range of motion without being too restrictive: brilliant
In the interest of safe sleep, I would recommend not using these prior to 12-months of age. Should the attached fabric somehow come off, it is small enough to not pose a strangulation risk and the AAP generally considers small loveys and other objects to be low-risk after one year. Nonetheless- safety (and liability protection!) first.
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