Ok! My nightmare has begun. Joseph is in his room and supposed to be taking a nap. But no he is playing on the floor because...HE CLIMBED OUT OF HIS CRIB!!!!!

For those of you who have already hit this milestone either with your 2009 baby or an earlier child please advise on transistioning and how to keep him in the bed to sleep. I was so not ready for this day. I was hoping he'd make it until his 2nd birthday.

Also did you convert the crib or go and buy a toddler/big kid bed? How easy was it to convert back? How long does a toddler bed work as opposed to all out big boy bed?

BTW he's now discovered the monitor and is unplugging it.

 
Nicole was out of her crib by 1. She is my monkey. LOL Kaitlyn,otoh, was out of her crib around 2 1/2( i believe ). The crib converted to a day bed. Nicole got the daybed when friends of ours was getting rid of their daughters bedroom furniture, so when we got that..Nicole got the daybed. (it worked out b/c she was starting to climb out then)

Laura, I have been in your shoes twice before. Marek started at 21 months, and I just tried to force him to stay in his crib. It was a disaster. I locked his door with a hook and eye, and he got me back by trashing his room and trying to kill himself (climbing the dresser drawers like stairs, etc). Finally gave up, went to the toddler bed, and he hasn't napped since age 2. Bedtime is still a hassle at age 4.

Lukas started up at 20 months, and I immediately went out and bought this:

 

Expensive? Yes. But worth every penny! Lukas still naps 2-3 hours a day 11 months later and goes to bed happily. It is absolutely child proof and quite durable.

One warning - if you have a crib with wide top rails (like a sleigh-type crib), you may need to get some adhesive velcro straps and stick them to the crib so the side velcro has something to attach to. I started Lu in a traditional crib, but when Marek moved up to a regular bed, I put him in the convertible crib with the sleigh-type rails. I put the velcro adhesive on the crib, and they don't mar the finish, but stay secure.

They make a version of this that works for a Pack N Play, and I took it on vacation to California. Worked like a charm!!!

Thanks ladies! We've talked about it and it seems like nap time may be a thing of the past most days. He was outgrowing them anyway. He went to bed with no problems in the crib tonight so it might be the time of day that played a part in today's debacle. After 1 the sun comes into his room for the whole afternoon. It stay pretty bright even with the blinds drawn.

I think we might be able to sneak in morning naps still for a while. I pretty sure we are going to have Grandpa out here this weekend to convert the crib. He bulit the whole crib and luckily bought the hardware for conversion.

I will admit that he plays pretty well unsupervised(not physically in the room w/him) with some extra childproofing like moving the monitor out of reach and clearing off the dresser of temptations. He makes a mess but is getting really good about helping pick up his toys when we start doing it too. I thank Kindermusik for that.

Outgrowing naps?
 
My kids didn't outgrow naps until I stopped them from napping. My kids like their sleep (thank goodness!).
 


We converted our crib to a toddler bed with Charlotte but with Sarah, we moved her into a twin bed at 22 months...one week before Charlotte was born. So you could do whichever is more convenient for you.

I should also say that I've never had a kiddo climb out of the crib.