18month old escaped cot!

[Waffle12]

Hi
My 18month old has always been a bad sleeper.

She managed to climb out of the cot a few months ago and appeared in our bedroom. Luckily we could lower the cot base one more level, and looking at her standing up in the cot now I thought there was no way she could escape.
Her sleep has been terrible since about 4 months- multiple wake ups, awake for up to 2 hours in the middle of the night, and a very early riser! Normally we stay in the room with her till she goes back to sleep (I know I know but that's a whole other issue!) We decided that we needed to do some gentle sleep training over the Easter hols, and we started last night, but on about the 3rd attempt at leaving her she appeared out on the landing again!! I have no idea how she did it as I didn't see. But it has obviously scared me to death. We have a stair gate, but the danger is obviously her hurting herself!

What do I do? I think she is way too young for taking the sides off and making it into a big girl bed. I have also read that even apart from that, if she is a bad sleeper anyway then that could make it worse.

I have read that a sleeping bag could help as they won't have the leverage to get their legs high enough. We will try that tonight, but she hasn't used a bag since she was little, and once the warmer weather hits that won't really be an option. We also have a rocking chair next to her bed. I have no idea if she used this to aid her escape, so wonder if I should move this further away. But on the other hand she may be using this to lower herself to the ground which is surely safer than trying to get down straight from the rails? I will put some cushions round the cot from tonight aswell.

Any advice from parents of other escape artists?

I know we need to try and sort her sleep.out generally- we have been trying and this is what we were trying to do last night. But obviously the urgent issue is keeping her safe and stopping the escaping!!

Thank u.x

Put a gate on her door just in case she climbs out again.

My dd was climbing out at 16 months, we put her in a toddler bed, far safer than her falling. Just make sure you have a stair gate if applicable (we were single storey so irrelevant)

DS climbed out of his cot at 13 months; went into a bed with pillows on the floor just in case and was absolutely fine. He stayed in the bed, didn’t wander and I guess we were lucky!

2 and a half year old now got her sides took down at 18 months as we wanted to introduce a duvet and it's safer yes she roamed the room a little bit but soon that was over quickly now she goes into bed and doesn't come out off bed and even when she wakes in the morning she doesn't leave her bed she waits until we come into the room! X

DGS is almost 3 but very tall. He’s still in sleep bags but we had to add buttons as he learned to take it off and climb out. He loves his sleep bag and gets it ready after his bath. Can’t climb out yet with the adjustments but DD has an old cot mattress by the side of his cot just in case. TBF he loves his cot!!!

@mamaof2girls

2 and a half year old now got her sides took down at 18 months as we wanted to introduce a duvet and it's safer yes she roamed the room a little bit but soon that was over quickly now she goes into bed and doesn't come out off bed and even when she wakes in the morning she doesn't leave her bed she waits until we come into the room! X

That’s so cute!

My youngest ds was an absolute bugger for climbing out of his cot - so as we felt he was too young to go into a bed, he spent a few months in a travel cot. Because it was deeper, and the sides were fabric, he couldn't climb out of it.

The cot is done, no matter how much you want it, sorry!
Get a stair gate for her bedroom door

Mine did all their escaping whilst in their grobags. They never slept in anything else. They escaped very young and as soon as they did we swapped to a cot bed. It's not worth the risk of them falling from height.

All babies of normal physical development could climb out of the cot.

They can be taught not to.

Just the same as all 2yo of normal physical development could run across a road.

They can be taught not to.

The fact that your child can climb out of the cot isn't really relevant, most can. Just like the many hundreds of other unwelcome toddler behaviour, you can teach through consistantly applied rules and boundaries to keep baby safe.

I would not stop using the cot.

Would a toddler bed work? The frame uses the cot mattress and it usually has a small bed guard attached. We put a duvet on the floor beside the bed to cushion any fall while they were getting accustomed to the new bed

Also my little one also sleeps with her little sister at 10 months and that still doesn't distract her much to get out her bed or anything! X

@FATEdestiny

All babies of normal physical development could climb out of the cot.

They can be taught not to.

Just the same as all 2yo of normal physical development could run across a road.

They can be taught not to.

The fact that your child can climb out of the cot isn't really relevant, most can. Just like the many hundreds of other unwelcome toddler behaviour, you can teach through consistantly applied rules and boundaries to keep baby safe.

I would not stop using the cot.

I guess mine must have had abnormal mental development then, as at 18 months I couldn’t have trained him not to get out of the cot. When he wanted out, he came out. Thankfully he transitioned well to a bed and is still happy in it now at 2.3

DD stayed in a cot until 2 1/2 but DS was a climber so he had to have a bed much earlier, way before 2.

He could escape the cot on its lowest level while wearing a sleeping bag, nothing stopped him. Never got hurt and sounded like a perfect dismount each time!

We put a stair gate on his door which could easily have got over but never did, no idea why.

Can you try dropping the base of the cot so it's on the floor with the cot sides still up? This was recommended to me by a sleep consultant and bought us another couple of months.

My 16 month old is in a cot bed with the side removed. I use a bed guard to stop him rolling out in the night. There is a gap at the bottom and he can get out - it's low to the floor. He knows to turn around and go backwards etc. I mean sure it's a pain he can get out of bed but I'd rather he got down safely than fell from the top of a cot. I use a camera baby monitor and I'd usually hear the commotion before he got out and I can see what he's up to.
Tbh if he's awake he just sits up and calls me and waits for me. I always go to him though and I'm not one for sleep training.

Another option is use a low to the floor bed or mattress on the floor. You really need to make sure your child is safe and they are not safe in a cot if you leave them / want to sleep train them.

When mine were that age, I used to wonder if there was a market for a cot with a lid!

If she can escape the cot and doesn’t sleep anyway, what do you really mean by she isn’t ready for a bed? How much worse could things get? If you are sleep training her now (in a cot) are you going to have to do this all again in 6 months when she is ready for a bed but isn’t used to it?

I don’t know the answer to any of this FYI! My 18 month went from co-sleeping in our bed to co-sleeping on a floor bed her in her room because she hated being confined to the cot and was liable to fall out of our bed. She’s not a great sleeper but I think she would be worse being confined to a cot - she’s woken up in the night and I’ve found her happily ‘reading’ a book in the dark, or playing with her bears.

Sorry but she's really not safe once she can climb out and the sides need to come off. Even in a sleeping bag, it's dangerous if she manages to flip out and lands funny! Broken limbs, head injuries, are much worse than possibly worse sleep.

I put my 15 month old to sleep on a mattress on the floor, as I was 8 months pregnant and knew I’d need the cot imminently for the new arrival.
She loved her “big girl’s bed”, especially as all her teddies were on it when I first showed it to her. She happily played on it all afternoon and didn’t want to leave it to come down for dinner.
I shut her bedroom door at night, and had a gate on the stairs, so she was safe.
I think that’s acceptable, and less dangerous than mountaineering over high cot bars!