Should the bars come off?

Parenting and Education (Other) General Parenting
1

Tonight my son climbed out of his cot for the first time. I didn’t hear anything (I think he climbed out onto his toy chest first, so not a big fall!) and was rather surprised to hear him crawling into the sitting room, bold as brass, telling me his Chinese CD had finished. He tried to put it on again, but only succeeded in opening the front - a part of me wonders if, had he succeeded, he might have just climbed back into bed!

I am now wondering whether it is time to take away the bars - he is still so small and I am worried about him falling out of bed, but it is much worse that he fall when climbing out than the few inches that the bed is raised off the floor. I also am certain he will not settle and will wreck his room (he is bad enough when confined to the cot!) and then spend the night coming out and begging for attention.

What should I do - how did the parents of older kids deal with this stage?

Thanks :smiley:

2

www.mytotclock.com will solve part of your problem. Ours has been sooo glitchy but even so, I love it and will buy another when it finally bites the dust entirely. Train him that when it’s Blue, it’s bedtime. He can come out in the morning when it’s yellow.

Worst case scenario, childproof and strip his room of most items in the beginning and put his mattress directly on the floor. Not so far to fall, in the beginning we’d fine my daughter asleep and she would have rolled halfway across the room. :slight_smile: That’s how we transitioned her the night she climbed out of her crib, but my son went straight to the toddler bed at 18 months when his hand-me-down crib was no good anymore.

Also, we really love our video monitor (we have the slim n’ secure model by summer infant), and it’s very useful to keep an eye on them!