Tall 2.5yr old climbing out of cot

[Herecomestheninkynonk]

Afternoon all!

DS who has complex medical & behavioural issues can now climb, well fall head first out of his cot and over stair gates by standing on tip toes and tipping his waist over the top.

He has developmental delay and really isn't safe to be anywhere on his own without supervision.

I'll get onto OT etc on Monday, but just wondered if anyone has any experience or advice? Thanks all.

Hopefully there will be some specialist equipment that you can get that will be higher than the normal stuff.

We used to have to do all sorts, we built a bloody fence for the stairs in the living room (open plan) and boarded the landing so it was a smooth and unclimbable wall. You get creative

We had a home made wooden gate (like a garden gate) at the top and bottom of the stairs. The top one is still there - and he's 16 now.

Do his problems stop him from learning to get up and down stairs safely? If he can learn to manage stairs then a stair gate across his bedroom door would be safer than a gate at the top of the stairs so he is not going to fall down a whole flight by climbing over.

Just found this on amazon that would be helpful I am sure! www.amazon.co.uk/Bettacare-Child-and-Pet-Gate/dp/B002DU8QBA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1344713261&sr=8-1

I think dog stairgates can be bigger and tougher. Argos used to sell them. They look the same as child ones, just are much taller to stop jumping over, so they wouldn't be obviously dog ones.

the dog ones are made by lindam so exactly the same but taller, when ds started doing that i ended up putting a single bed against his cot so he had a soft landing until he was old enough for a bed, also found he couldn't climb travel cots they must be abit higher

Thank you all very much, some great ideas - I shall have a look at the Argos website now (what my work lunchtimes were made for!).

I have added DS' stunt diving from cot (we obviously had the Olympics on too much) to the list of things to talk to the never ending number of experts involved with his care tomorrow...

My DS, now 6 climbed out of his cot and cracked his head open on a plastic toy box at 13 months old. Blood everywhere and needed gluing. Back then I just thought he was being an adventurous toddler, now I think it may have been part of whatever he is he has as he has absolutely no fear or thoughts about consequences.

My 6yr old DD has severe developmental delay and did the same. We got her a toddler bed and made a big deal about how lovely it was. New sheets, duvet cover etc.

We had a couple of nights (maybe more, I can't remember - she was the same age as your DS when we did it, for just the same reason) of her getting out etc but then she got her head around it and stayed in bed. We put stair gates up in case she went to the stairs, but don't use them any more.

Good luck!