To ask for your advice re climbing toddler!!

[summerfruitssquash]

My 15 month old is a climber.
I never had this problem with my first child but my god the second one tests you!

I need your advice on a new playpen, I currently have one but she is climbing out of it easily (but not carefully so really close to falling in the wrong way if I was to take my eye off her!!)
It’s not so bad at the minute as my DH and I are home but when my DH goes back to work my days off will be spent alone with her and I’m worried about how I’m going to go to the loo without a playpen as she climbs on the sofa and almost launches herself off.

Please help?

You have my sympathy.
My dd could climb before she could walk.
There were 3 places I could leave her long enough to have a wee.
Her high chair. Strapped in!
Her playpen. Full of toys , but she never tried to escape.
Or her cot. Well, I thought her cot was safe, but she proved me wrong there.
I seriously considered turning the playpen upside down on the lawn some days!

I spent a lot of time at soft play or parks.
Not easy now, but we have been looking for big garden toys .

Maybe a trampoline with a cage?
Or suitable size climber in the garden?
And the lesson of "climb here, nowhere else" even in the rain(old clothes) or dark.

Or have a pair of "special shoes" for climbing. Along the lines of "you cant splash in puddles as you haven't got welly boots on"

If you have the space and the money, get a safe climb space.

My dd is 7. And still climbs on everything

We have one of these. It's brilliant and you can turn it into a room divider if you prefer.

www.amazon.co.uk/BabyDan-Park-a-Kid-Play-Pen-White/dp/B00XLIAPDK?tag=mumsnetforu03-21

Buy another playpen. Glue it on top of the other one. Make it a prison 😉😆

Maybe just get rid of the playpen? I mean she will learn quickly enough from falling and rolling and toppling off things not to do them anymore. But do make sure you 'baby proof' your house so that when you go to the loo your kid can't get into too crazy adventures.

I had a climber in DC4 and the playpen was useless, three days after I started using it she figured out how to climb out of it so I gave up and climber-proofed the house instead.

• all furniture bolted to the walls so that it couldn't topple over, you can buy safety straps online for next to nothing

• as clear a floor as possible so she had a clear landing zone if she did fall, we got rid of our coffee table and put a sliced open pool noodle across the front edge of the fireplace

• blind cords and anything else dangly either removed or fastened up to make them safe

• I put limiters on all of the upstairs windows to restrict how far they could be opened, I bought them online and they can still be quickly released by an adult or older child in the case of a fire

• I made sure I didn't leave anything attractive/exciting looking up at a height so that she had fewer incentives to climb

• I spent a lot of time teaching her to climb down safely from various places (the stairs, DH's desk, and the bookshelf were her favourites) which seems like it's wrong and encourages the climbing but I figured she was going to climb anyway so I wanted to make sure she could get down safely if she did

• I kept as close an eye on her as possible to try minimise it and bought toys to help her get the urge out in a more constructive way (climbing frame for the garden, built a lot of obstacle courses using pillows and boxes)

I mean she will learn quickly enough from falling and rolling and toppling off things not to do them anymore.

Ahahahahaha. Never had a playpen for my second, he's now two and a half and the climbing hasn't stopped (he started climbing from about 11 months). It's better, but not stopped. It's a joke amongst friends and nursery workers that you don't look down for the boy, you look up...

@summerfruitssquash, it may be time to drop the playpen if possible, but definitely baby proof as much as possible.

You have to get rid of the playpen.
You have to teach her how to climb down slowly and safely.
You keep a few books in the bathroom and take her with you until she's old enough to be left.
it doesn't get better, mine now sometimes takes a shortcut to school. Over an 8ft fence

My 17 month old dd is a climber. I personally don't have any kind of play pen or anything, as I don't want to discourage her from exploring. she was in a spica cast for 4 months due to hip dysplasia, so missed a lot of those early exploring months. Thankfully now she's learnt how to safely climb down things, however I do understand the hair pulling anxiety it gives you. I honestly would focus on teaching her how to safely get down from things, and in the instance where you have to leave her for a couple of minutes perhaps pop her into her high chair with a toy.

At that age I wouldn't have a play pen tbh. Toddler proof your house as much as possible. He'll probably just follow you from room to room anyway.
I used a travel cot as a play pen from about 7-12 months then that was it.

Thanks everyone, and thank you for the link @PanicOnTheStreets85
I didn’t actually think about the fact you could get a room divider, she may be happier in a bigger space and feel less need to climb!!
I know she’s a little too old but Ideally I still wanted some sort of playpen/room dividers as the rest of our house is hard tiles (don’t ask - we were blissfully unaware of the potential dangers due to having such a laid back first child!!)
I think I have heightened anxiety because our first born broke his arm at around the same age (not under our watch!)
So I’m a bit like argh!!!

You can get playpens/babygates /roomed dividers etc aimed at dogs which are taller than the ones aimed at humans.

Oo tile floors would worry me too op so I can see why you'd want a play pen still.

hmm hard with tiled floors. Could you carpet it? Or lay some of those foam play tile things in some of the rooms? DD is (still) a climber at 3. She was climbing everything before she could walk. We sort of just let her get on with it unless she could break her neck! There were a few bumps and scrapes but I think it helped her learn her limits and what was safest for climbing. She would generally be all over the sofa / kitchen table / anything high, but we just kept anything dangerous (wires, sharp things) out of sight and reach.

I'd definitely lose the playpen at 15m - she will want to explore and roam and will just keep climbing out I imagine.

We bought a pikler triangle for her to climb, and DH built her a climbing wall in the garden (which she still loves!) We found letting her climb & giving her lots of opportunities in safe(ish) places helped. Lots of time outside climbing trees and ladders too (under supervision!)

There's no way to stop them.

Fix all furniture to the walks, remove anything that can be pulled down, or they will get caught up in and let them climb safely up and back down again

Get a pikler triangle, it's made for climbing, DS adores his!

Once the novelty wears off they don't really bother climbing as much.

I got rid of the pen once he could walk.