Crib -> Bed help please, please, please

[satsuma]

After a weekend away from DS, he started freaking out at bedtime and jumping out of the crib. We spent several nights trying to soothe him in the crib before converting to a toddler bed for safety reasons. It's been over a week and he still cries for hours until he passes out in front of the door on his blankets. He's not quite two and this is much, much sooner than I wanted to convert to a bed, but I don't what our other options are since he can climb really well. Damn him and his physical precociousness! It doesn't help that I think he would be freaking out in his crib, too, but at least he would be falling asleep in a comfier spot and we wouldn't have to listen to him pound on the door. Any tips for what we should do? We're all exhausted.

[satsuma]

May 12, 2014 14:19:49 GMT -5 @lauralynne said:

Can you leave him in his crib but prevent him from climbing out with say a sleep sack? Or move the mattress to the floor? My son's been able to climb out for a long time but we've dropped one side of the crib to modify it to a semi-toddler bed/crib to transition him. He is still in his crib but can safely get out.

He's never slept in a sleep sack so we don't have one for him. When you say move the mattress to the floor, do you mean take the bottom off and just have the shell of the crib around the mattress? He may still be tall enough to get out. We have the Ikea Gulliver crib so we just took one side off. It's not completely new. 

[jeaniebueller]

What we did when we converted from a crib to a twin bed was did the supernanny thing of walking him back to his bed 100000 times the first night and eventually he got too tired and just stayed in bed and fell asleep. Yes, it did involve tears. It took about 2 hours the first night, 45 minutes the second night, then the third night he got right into his bed and fell asleep. He was only 20 months at the time, so it is possible. My H handled it because I was being too big of a softie and he would walk him back in the bed and tell him that it was night night time and then would sit just outside the door, wash, rinse, repeat, every time he got out of bed. Hang in there. The transition is tough but you have to stick with it.

[satsuma]

May 12, 2014 14:32:01 GMT -5 @lauralynne said:

some cribs you can set the mattress on the floor without hardware and the rails are long enough that it still contains your baby. If he's still tall enough to get out, you may just have to figure out how to comfort him through the transition. Lay or sit with him while he falls asleep in his new bed. Maybe let him pick out a new animal to sleep with as a special treat, can he verbalize what might help?

In the beginning, I was trying to do this, but sometimes he would try playing with me and it would take over an hour. Do I just have to suck it up and keep him in bed till he learns to sleep there?

[satsuma]

May 12, 2014 14:44:53 GMT -5 jeaniebueller said:

What we did when we converted from a crib to a twin bed was did the supernanny thing of walking him back to his bed 100000 times the first night and eventually he got too tired and just stayed in bed and fell asleep. Yes, it did involve tears. It took about 2 hours the first night, 45 minutes the second night, then the third night he got right into his bed and fell asleep. He was only 20 months at the time, so it is possible. My H handled it because I was being too big of a softie and he would walk him back in the bed and tell him that it was night night time and then would sit just outside the door, wash, rinse, repeat, every time he got out of bed. Hang in there. The transition is tough but you have to stick with it.

I've heard of doing this to kids who leave their rooms, but you would do this when he left his bed? Was the door open? 

[satsuma]

May 12, 2014 14:37:45 GMT -5 Jennyanydots said:

Is there a specific reason you don't want him in a bed?

I'm cool with letting him CIO in a crib. He's just young to be in a bed, but I think that's what we're stuck with. 

[Deleted]

B is only 11 months but he's been sleeping on a crib mattress on the floor since 6 months. He just started crawling a little over a week ago and sometimes he will crawl to the middle of the room and then cry because he's tired and wants to be back in bed. I just go in there, pick him up and plop him back in bed. (We've never done CIO, not even for 5 minutes because I have issues.) He sleeps great in his bed most of the time although we're dealing with the crawling transition right now so he's woken up maybe 2 or 3 times this week shortly after put down. His room is baby proofed up the wazoo as well.

[jeaniebueller]

May 12, 2014 17:57:37 GMT -5 satsuma said:

May 12, 2014 14:44:53 GMT -5 jeaniebueller said:

What we did when we converted from a crib to a twin bed was did the supernanny thing of walking him back to his bed 100000 times the first night and eventually he got too tired and just stayed in bed and fell asleep. Yes, it did involve tears. It took about 2 hours the first night, 45 minutes the second night, then the third night he got right into his bed and fell asleep. He was only 20 months at the time, so it is possible. My H handled it because I was being too big of a softie and he would walk him back in the bed and tell him that it was night night time and then would sit just outside the door, wash, rinse, repeat, every time he got out of bed. Hang in there. The transition is tough but you have to stick with it.

I've heard of doing this to kids who leave their rooms, but you would do this when he left his bed? Was the door open? 

Yes, we did that every time he got out of bed. We kept the door cracked, partially because we were also transitioning to a new bedroom and didn't want it to be like we were shutting him in there. We would put a baby gate outside of his door so that he couldn't leave his room.