climbing out of cot

[donnamemphis]

hi i was wondering if anyone could help my son will be 2 in march and last night he started climbing out of his cot he took 3 attempts to get him to sleep and then at about 1 he climbed out again and wouldnt go back to sleep unless i was in the room (dont really wanna get in the habit of that lol).he shares a room with his brother at the weekend so we really need to curb this asap.any suggestions anyone

DS1 was in a convertible cot-bed thing and started jumping out of the cot and running in to us when he was about 16 months old. We figured that was a bit dangerous so we turned it into a bed at that point and all was well.

DS2 was only in a cot when he was really naughty and I needed to put him away somewhere safe for a few minutes. He went from a Moses basket in the day and bedside cot with side down to a bed.

DS3 has been in a cot with the sides up once.

After the first one, I realised there really was no need to turn my babies into little prisoners.

i am not turning my child into a prisoner i logged on to this site to try and get some advice not to be moaneed at.everyone parents differently

You can't curb it - all you can do is move him to a bed. I think what swampster is trying to say is that anything apart from moving to a bed would require you to make him a prisoner in his cot.

I moved mine to a bed- much safer.

The prisoner thing was a bit of a joke. My main point was once thy can escape there is very little point in putting them in a cot any more. They are safer out.

sorry swampster i am very overtired and stressed today and i took your comment the wrong way i thought u meant that i am keeping him prisoner by trying to keep him in his cot if u see what i mean sorry hun......would putting him in a bed encourage him to do it more tho

at that stage we removed the side of the cot/turned it into a bed. just too dangerous otherwise.
they (and we) adjusted well to the new situation, took a couple of nights though.

thanks everyone wheres the best place to get a bed gaurd from

Once they can climb out, you really need to move to a bed - that way at least they aren't dropping from the height of the cot when they get out!

You can make a big deal about how big and grownup and sensible he is getting, to "sell" him the idea.

If he doesn't like change, then you can use the same bedding he's used to, to make it less different. But otherwise, letting him choose a quilt cover etc might make him feel more in control of the change, so make him happier to go along with it.

If he keeps getting out, you just have to be firm and keep taking him back. They mostly get the hang of it pretty fast if you are consistent about it.

thanks hun

All mine where climbers. I moved them into a bed but put a stairgate on their door. They could get up and potter about with soft toys and books and normally settled down themselves quite quickly. The stair gate was for their safetly and my peace of mind. it also let me leave their door open a little for them.

From a slightly different perspective, when DS was about 2.3, he started climbing out the cot and following wise mn advice, we took the cot side off. Cue 3 days of complete havoc where he'd be anywhere but his cot which was a nightmare as he shares with the baby. He actually asked for the cot side back on (well not that eloquently obviously!) and we also put him in a difficult to wriggle out of sleeping bag to stop him climbing which really worked. He hated the sleeping bag so much that a week later he indicated there'd be no climbing in exchange for his duvet back. 6 months on he climbs into the cot at night but never ever gets out unless we get him. I'm happy with this as he's always been a super confident climber but I know this isn't for everyone, particularly if your baby is younger.