Got a climber?
I do.
My youngest is 19 months old, and he is the kid that will make my whole head turn grey by the time he’s 5 years old.
He is the ULTIMATE climber. He climbs his high chair, he climbs the cabinets, he climbs sofas and tables and fences and fireplaces and anything else he can possibly get his hands and feet on.
When he was 12.5 months old, we had his mattress set to the lowest setting in his crib, and he climbed out. Or climbed onto the top and then fell over the side of it (thank goodness for carpeting, and a kid who never seems to actually hurt himself).
I panicked, and went to the web to find a solution. So many sites said “if they are climbing out, they are probably ready for a toddler bed!”
I’m sorry, no 13 month old is “ready” for a toddler bed. Because no 13 month old should be left to their own devices, to roam a room that likely has even more fun things to climb, or trouble to get into.
And you can just tell a 13 month old to stay in their bed.
Many other sites suggested the use of a “crib tent”.
While I have a number of friends who have used these and swear by them… are you aware there have been a ton of dangerous accidents and they were recalled as a product a few years back? Not safe for your kids, not a great option. Sorry for those of you who use them and love them!
But there were 2 recommendations by some friends, that sounded ingenious – they were minor crib hacks that I could try without spending any money. If they worked – AMAZING! If not, I could keep looking.
Thankfully – THEY ACTUALLY WORK!!
And I’ve tried them on the sherpa of all kids… if they worked for my kid, I have to think they will work for yours.
Only one caveat here… these hacks may not work with all cribs so you have to check out what you’re working with. Thankfully, both worked like a charm for my little climber.
I didn’t do both at once, as each one will buy you some time on its own, so I recommend graduating into each of these steps, when the time is right.
Before I go any further – here is my disclaimer – I am not a professional crib safety specialist – these methods have been tested and proven to work on my own kids, but may not work in all cases. These are offered merely as ideas to consider – please use your own judgement and common sense to gauge whether these will work for your own child, and if there are any safety issues that may present themselves with your current set up. Use these recommendations at your own risk.
Hack #1 – Remove your crib’s mattress support completely, leaving the mattress directly on the floor (important details below)
I used this method when my son was 13 months old and began climbing out of the crib. It lowered the mattress close to 10 inches, effectively preventing my son from being able to reach the top wall of the crib. It bought us SIX MONTHS of safe crib use, preventing him from climbing out!!
The first thing to check before you go for this kind of set up, is that the sides of your crib come down low enough, to keep the mattress in place while resting on the floor. The mattress should not be able to slide out underneath the bottom of the crib – if it does, do not use this method.
Also, keep in mind that your child will be a few inches off the floor, and you should keep anything away from the crib walls that you would not want your child to be able to reach out and touch – including outlets.
Hack #1 – If you have a crib where one side of the crib wall comes up higher than the other – turn your crib around completely so that the high wall is in front (important details below)
About 3 weeks ago when my son turned 18 months, he was tall and strong enough to climb out, even with his mattress lying flat on the floor (at this point we had only implemented hack #1). My son was not napping, and taking an hour plus at night to go to sleep (only because we had to stand outside of his room for that hour and put him back into the crib every time he climbed out).
I was beside myself again, until I remembered one of the recommendations from 6 months ago.
Turn the crib around.
When I had read this one way back when my climbing issues first came up, I totally wrote it off.
Like #1 – that will look ugly
Like, #2 – he’s not stupid, he’ll just climb out the side thats against the wall.
I was SOOO wrong.
Ok, on point #1 – its not the best look for the room, but I’m choosing function and safety over looks.
And point #2, my son is apparently not (yet) a genius. He’s trying to climb towards the door, so he’s climbing out the front of his crib, which now has a super high crib wall. The shorter wall is up against his bedroom wall, so he can’t get his arms over the side to push up like he used to.
I’m thinking this one will buy us at least a few more months, and at least he is napping again.
Safe and happy baby, sane and happy mama.
Of course the one catch with this one, is that you have to have a crib with one side that is taller than the other. If you have a crib where all the walls are the same height, then sorry, won’t work for you.
Bonus Hack #3 – Hack their Pajamas!! Sew in a strip of fabric in between their PJs to prevent their legs from being able to swing up and over the side of the rail
There is a 3rd option that I found recently that looks interesting and promising – at least for the younger babies (although I have not tried this one). I found a seller on Etsy, The Naughty Monkey, who makes these PJs that had a piece of cloth sewn between the legs, that would allow them to walk, but wouldn’t allow them to separate their legs enough for them to swing the one leg up over the side of the rail. I’m not sure it would work for my older toddler, but if you have a very young one who is starting to climb too early – looks to me like a great idea!
If you are a sewer and DIYer (as I know many of you are), would be a simple fix to sew some fabric into their existing pajamas, and give it a shot.
So there you have it folks! These hacks have so far bought me 6 months of my son staying safe in his crib. I know a time is coming soon where we will have to transition him, but he is not ready yet – and these tricks have kept him safe and sleeping well in his crib. I hope they do the same for you!
Any other great ideas or hacks, or feedback on the ideas above… please share in the comments below!
PIN FOR LATER
Thanks for these ideas. I have tried the sewing method and turning the baby bed around to no avail. I will try putting the mattress on the floor if possible. :):)
The mattress on the floor trick bought us the most time, close to 6 months. Hope it works for you!
Mattress on the floor seems to work. Turning the crib and mind you I turned it and put him back in in the dark, took him less time to figure out than it took me to walk down the hall.
These are pretty good ideas. My fear is that my little guy will be attempting to climb out and be so hysterical that he will fall and his leg will be caught in-between the crib rails and something bad could happen to his leg.
I was watching him yesterday and that’s pretty much what happened, We have crib bumpers but he just uses them as a step and that increases the chances of his leg going forward out of the crib and him falling, hard and maybe something bad happening to his leg.
Any ideas?
I am considering taking a comforter and running it along the inside of the crib covering all the rails (securing it on the outside to make it stay in place) creating a nice uniform fabric wall. Obviously I’ll have to do sewing to and work to make sure that there are no ropes or gaps that he can get caught in.
Why do crib manufacturers not make cribs with much higher rails like hospitals have in their childrens’ wards? Has anyone ever actually suggested this?
We had to put the mattress on the floor to keep our special needs son safe… Not because he was climbing out, but because he was too tall and I was worried he was going to tip over the top rail. We put 1 inch x 5 inch boards at the bottom, below the rails, so that there isn’t any gap. I was worried that his weight would make the mattress compress enough that he’d get something stuck underneath the rails. This hack has given us 2 more years of him in his crib. We’re currently waiting for a custom made, twin sized crib to be finished, but he’s been able to stay safely in his crib for 5 years using this hack.
The mattress on the floor is a great idea, along with the suggestion of one commenter about adding boards so there is no gap at all. As for the sleep sack suggestion, my 9-month old could still climb out with a sleep sack on. His upper body and core strength are quite impressive.
They used to sell crib rail extensions that connected to the side rails and shorter ones for the ends. They extended the rail height about 12 inches. I wonder why they are no longer available?
Where can you find a custom twin crib? I need one for my special needs kid but don’t want to pay an arm and a leg for the ones that are made for special needs. Like $6000 is too much for those beds especially when I want to have a place my son can relearn to sleep in his room without climbing out. He currently sleeps in our bed and I am pregnant. We want to get him to sleep in his bedroom before the baby gets here in September.
I have a low vision child..age 3..we are looking for ideas. We are going to try this..my issue is I can’t lay him down like this because I’m 5 ft tall..any ideas?
Put your child to sleep in a sleep bag/sack. It doesn’t have feet, so a child cannot climb with it and it replaces the need for a blanket, too. These are often used new infants, but there are larger sizes, up to 36 months, at least, available online.
My daughter just managed to climb out while still wearing her sleep sack…. She also has a record of taking the sleep sack off and climbing out even though we had put in on backwards. Gonna try to lowered mattress trick I guess.
Try turning the sleep sack inside out
We tried the sleep sack, and he was super pissed that his movement was restricted. Then he got out in one minute flat. I think it’s more dangerous, because it inhibited his movement to land safely.
Depends on your kid. They have enough room that my son was able to climb out of his crib wearing them around 19 months old. We had to take in the sides to make them narrower.
The sack doesnt work for my son. He has figured out how to unzip the sack and there is usually still enough room for his legs to swing over
Sleep sack doesn’t work for anyone. Our daughter got out in about 5 minutes. A few other commenters mentioned Little Grounders and we bought them last week and couldn’t be happier.
That was my idea, too. But busy fingers managed to undue the zipper, and get his legs out, even tho I put it on backwards. I’m thinking of seeing him in it, but it’s a lot of fussing before and after!
Except the sleep sack/blankets can’t really be used in the summer.
If your baby can take the sleep sack off, try turning it around and putting it on backwards. But mine don’t take long to figure out how to climb out with a sleep sack on, anyway!
Love reading this!! Sooooo goooood! Thought I’d recommend The Sleeping Baby Flying Squirrel PJ. The Flying Squirrel PJ fit is designed to be baggy…kind of like MC Hammer Pants! The roominess and coziness of the Flying Squirrel PJ makes it a perfect alternative to loose blankets that can easily be kicked off in the crib or toddler bed! Convenient, fun , and affordable! It also keeps them safely in their crib!
I saw something the other day similar – the woman writing wanted to put the mattress on the floor, but the bottom railing on the crib was higher and left a gap, so they build a small platform out of wood, probably just a few inches high, just to boost the mattress up so it was high enough off the floor to be safe.
I have read this article before as I knew this was coming. Well, last night my very tall 17 month old jumped out of his crib. TWICE. His mattress was already on the lowest setting and I just removed the bottom and put the mattress on the floor. Thank you for this. I am hopeful it will buy us a little more time as I feel he is not ready to be in a toddler bed, unsupervised at night, yet.
Thank you!!!
These tall climbers give us grey hairs, don’t they! 🙂 This trick bought us a good 6 months, so I hope it does the same for you as well!
I tried the sleep sack for my 17 month climber. It worked for a week befor he figured out how to climb the crib with it on. The mattress on the floor gave me 30 seconds before he was off and running! I’m stumped.
Where is this crib from?
This worked for me:
I put zippered, footed sleepers on my kids in one size larger than they needed and used a diaper pin to pin the sleeper toes together. They could still stand up and move around the crib, but they couldn’t lift their foot over the rail.
You can get cute diaper pins on Amazon- http://amzn.to/23L4wCh to pin the toes together, They’re nice to have because you can use them for so many other things.
This is similar to the hack with the strip of fabric sewn between the legs – but cheaper and more practical, since you can remove the pin when you get them out of bed. And you don’t have to make or purchase special jammies. Everyone who has tried this idea has loved it.
Now I have a toddler grandson, and his parents are using the same trick.
little grounders – https://littlegrounders.com – worked for us!
We just put our daughter’s crib mattress on the floor to keep her in after trying and failing at the toddler bed. You are a genius to come up with this!!!
When my now 5 year old was around 15 months he was climbing out as well so I put his mattress on the floor and within a week he figured out how to climb out. I know what I’m about to say sounds cruel, but hes the one that could also open doors and windows and left the house in the middle of the night more than once…. but with the mattress on the floor already we also took one of those everyday wooden expandable doorway baby gates and used bunggies to hold it on the top. hes short so he was still able to stand fully just not get out we also took the door of the hinges to his room and put 3 baby gates in his door way because he would climb over one so we put a second over that one on top of the other and he climbed that so we had three from floor to ceiling. Some one did call child protective services saying it was child cruelty and when then checked it out and saw how much he climbed, they agreed that it was in his best interest and said that it was a creative way to keep him safe
Sounds smart to me!
It’s sad that instead of just raising our kids with their safety in mind we instead have to worry about if someone else will think it’s ok because if they don’t they’ll call CPS… it’s such a “cover your butt” culture here
I think we are going to have to try this!! We have the same problems. Thank you for letting me know I’m not alone!
we think our home is secure for our toddler, and we can always close his bedroom doors.
Currently he is 1,4 years old and a month ago we gave him “freedom”. It is quite an effort to get him sleep, but then he sleeps through the night and does not go around the house. In the morning, when he wakes up, there is no more crying. He quitelty goes around the house and finally find mommy or daddy. I leave in some visible places (that I think would be in his way when we wakes up) some toys with loud music, so I know for sure that he has got up and be aware.
Great ideas
Thank you for this INFO! We tried turning around the crib but we’re unsuccessful BUT placing the mattress on the floor was brilliant. My 23 month old is finally going to sleep after a week. THANK YOU!!
I’ve been so worried about my toddler climbing out of the crib. I saw her trying to make an attempt at it last night, but unfortunately for her, her legs are still a bit to stubby to swing over. I have a feeling I’m going to need to put the mattress on the floor very soon! Great tips. 🙂
What make and model of crib do you own? The type we have does not allow for lowering to the floor.
I’m sure you’ve figured out a solution within the past year, but for other parents… The crib mattress doesn’t actually go lower. You have to remove the metal springs from the crib and have the mattress all the way down on the floor. There will be nothing between the mattress and the floor. You’ll have to find a place to store the springs in the meantime.
I have tryed truning the crib around and she still climbs out so we put the mattresse on the floor and she get out from under the crib and she is only 18 mouths old dont know what to do now need help she wont sleep till she gets out.
I liked your ideas–thank you for sharing them!
My 2 year, 1 month old daughter just started climbing out of her crib, and we’re not ready for her to be loose yet. She sleeps in a sleepsack, but got out by spreading her legs far apart to go up and over. So I turned the sleepsack inside-out, and sewed the edges about 3 inches narrower on each side, curving the edge just like it originally was. So far so good for now…
You are a legend. Thank you for sharing your tips, and for having a climber kid sherpa like ours.
Baby sleeping bags work well too, same effect as number 3. Number 1 looks promising so that’s tomorrow’s test! Thanks.
These are terrible ideas. The day your child can climb out of a crib or playpen is the day you need to stop using it. Hacking a crib or playpen or sleepers is designed a new, untested baby products and testing it on your own child.
So I should put my 10 month old in a bed?! I don’t think so. He can climb out of his cot even wearing a sleep sack!
The fact that your wrote this comment portrays how ridiculously naive you are if you have kids… big IF btw because someone who does I promise you wouldn’t post this! Go ahead and place a toddler in a day bed at 18 months old, even 2 years old. Go ahead. Watch them destroy you’re room, possibly injuring themselves in the process. Toddlers who can climb no longer need to CRY to get your attention to come get them. Therefore they will find other things to do in that room possibly while you are SLEEPING that will injure themselves. Prime example: pulling drawers out of dressers and possibly being crushed by the actual dresser itself in the process. Do yourself a favor, don’t ever comment on a post again please…. at least until you have a child.
Jaso, Well said!
Don’t tell parents what they should or shouldn’t do. It’s none of your business. Most importantly, no one asked for your opinion. Thank you and you’re welcome.
You obviously did not have a skilled rock climber nor a Houdini on your hands.
Wow, thank you for this!! We spent the holidays traveling and my tiny but athletic 1.5 year old realized she could climb out of her pack n play, so our once decent sleeper (we worked HARD at it) ceased to sleep yet again when she transferred those skills to her crib. We are desperate and have been getting up upwards of 5 times per night when she wakes up screaming (she just started this, ugh) which gives us our cue that she`s throwing herself over the crib railing. We have been waiting with baited breath for her toddler sleep sack to arrive in the mail, which it did this morning, but I fear it will only make a small dent, if any. I can`t wait to talk to my hubby about taking the bottom out of the crib!! I think this is the answer!! We are still so far away from a toddler bed. Not this stubborn little one, not yet!
Tonight for the first time our 18 month old came running into our bedroom with our 9 year old. We stunned thinking our oldest took him out. Thank goodness our oldest was there because he heard him walk past his room on the way to the dark stairs. My husband and I didn’t know what to do, we knew he was a climber but he never climb out the crib. I sat in the glider with our baby while we ponder what to do. A very scary feeling when you are not sure if you can sleep with a baby that can be lose in his room, even if it child proof. Then it came to me to turn the crib around against the wall since the back wall of the crib was higher. Then I took to the Internet for answers and found this great post. I am going to definitely drop the mattress to the floor tomorrow, and turn the crib back around. That should work for a few more months, he will be 2 in August so not much longer to a toddler bed.
My nine month old son climbs out despite using all 3 of these tips. Nothing can keep him in. I have no choice but to transition hm to a toddler bed now.
I know this is horrible but I’m going to be that momma! My child literally got out of her crib 10 times tonight and is currently screaming her head off because mommy put the mattress on the bottom of the floor. I refuse to convert her crib until she is potty trained which she has no interest in even at 2 1/2 years. Thanks for the idea. Now looking at the nanny cam I see she has moved the mattress and crawled backwards under the crib and her head was stuck. Not sure how completely safe this is but she realized she could not get out and has not tried it since I went back in her room to get her unstuck. She finally after 2 hours of trying to get her asleep is knocked out. Amen, praise jesus! Now this momma can get some homework done! 🙂 thanks again!
We tried the sleep sack and it worked until about 18 months but now our daughter just takes the sleep sack off and hops over the rail. I am going to try putting the mattress on the floor, that is genius.
Thank you SO MUCH! Dropping the mattress has saved me so much stress. My son was diving out head first, and essentially flipping out of the crib. He got some bruises when we couldn’t catch him in time. I was worried he would have to go to toddler bed but I really just dont think he’d get the concept yet, plus I didn’t want the extra stress of that transition as I’m teaching in a very difficult class this year. think this will bide us quite a bit of time when the transition might be smoother. So unbelievably relieved!!
My 14 month old Grand Daughter is over 34″ tall and has started trying to climb out of her crib. She’s too young to put in a toddler bed so hopefully the strap will work. We are trying to figure out a way to change the crib set up so we can put the mattress on the floor safely. It’s tough having a tall child but they are so worth it.
Thank you for your article! Can you please suggest any crib brands to buy which is low enough to put a mattress on the floor. I found some but they are pretty expensive… Thank you!
Thanks for this post. We couldn’t drop the toddler bed to the floor with our crib. It would actually break our crib and we did not want to do that. After 2 weeks of not being able to sleep we actually broke down and bought these Little Grounders (littlegrounder.com) baby pajamas that helped. They’re similar to the ones recommended here except we didn’t have to make them ourselves (I can’t sew!). One of my co-workers recommended them. They worked great and we finally have our bed back!
If you have the time you can probably make them, though the Little Grounders is REALLY nice quality (fabric, fit, everything), but I’ve got 2 kids with a 3rd on the way so even if I could sew I would not have time for that. Anyway, thanks for your suggestions.
Thanks for this post. We couldn’t drop the toddler bed to the floor with our crib. It would actually break our crib and we did not want to do that. After 2 weeks of not being able to sleep we actually broke down and bought these Little Grounders (littlegrounders.com) baby pajamas that helped. They’re similar to the ones recommended here except we didn’t have to make them ourselves (I can’t sew!). One of my co-workers recommended them. They worked great and we finally have our bed back!
If you have the time you can probably make them, though the Little Grounders is REALLY nice quality (fabric, fit, everything), but I’ve got 2 kids with a 3rd on the way so even if I could sew I would not have time for that. Anyway, thanks for your suggestions.
It’s worth mentioning that the suggestion of putting the shorter side of the crib against the wall and the taller portion in the front WORKS. My sister did that and it was okay for about 2 weeks. Then my nephew just climbed over the sides. Maybe this will help someone thinking about that option.
This was really helpful. We got our Little Grounders pajamas yesterday and it was the first time that he couldn’t climb out in 2 weeks. Amazing! Thanks for sharing Bridget.
These Little Grounders pajamas were really helpful. Such an amazing idea. Thank you!
Thank you so much for the idea of putting the crib mattress on the floor! I am not ready for my not quite 2 year old to be able to wander around his bedroom as he pleases. I am hoping this keeps him in his crib a bit longer!
Thank you very much for the idea… I will try to drop the mattress to the floor … I hope it will.work…. thank you again
For those of you with a heavier child, or shorter child, how do you lift them up and out with mattress on the floor? I’d like to try this idea if anyone has any suggestions. Thanks!
My 2 year old is 40 pounds!! I’m thinking step stool.
Cant wait to try this!!!! Such a genius idea to put mattress on floor – my child has been driving me crazy by getting up at all odd hours of the night.
I like that you mentioned how getting rid of a crib’s mattress support can help increase the height of the crib so that children cannot climb out. Now that my son is older, he tends to walk around the house when everyone is asleep, and I would like to find a way to prevent him from leaving his room unsupervised. Maybe I should consider renting a tall crib so that he can stay in his room while I am asleep.
http://ababyschoice.com/categories/products/wood-and-metal-baby-beds-and-cribs-1-1-1-1-1
So tonight is the first night our son climbed out of his crib!! Found this article and 30 minutes later his crib is turned and thank you so much!!! Problem solved….for now Bless You
What crib is shown in these pictures?
We just Super Glued our kids pajamas to the mattress. Works well. Kind of a pain to have to slide the kid into the PJs every time, but they are safe. Also found that putting the entire mattress (since the PJs are glued down) into the washing machine is cumbersome, and it takes like 8 1/2 hours for the mattress to dry in our electric dryer. No Mattress setting:( The downside is our electric bills are now through the roof.
I have a two year old climber. Im in the process of trying to put the mattress on the floor with the shorter side next to the wall, however, i need to attach something on the bottom of the taller side to keep the mattress from sliding. What would be the best option? Also, where can i buy the “naughty monkey pajamas” in a size 3T?