a parenting ‘what now?’ moment
Posted: June 30, 2009 Filed under: Uncategorized 13 Comments »Last night, during the usual screaming freakout when I leave the room (when he doesn't fall asleep, I go get Dada to bring him a cup of milk and say goodnight, but inevitably he screams bloody murder when I leave even though we do this frequently), Beck was apparently more upset than usual. When Wes came in and turned to get him a book off the shelf, Beck flung himself over the side of the crib and landed with a really amazing and sickening thud on the ground on his back. I was downstairs and I KNEW what had hit the floor.
We have had very little warning that he might start climbing, let alone flinging, over the side of the rail. And so, we carefully put him to bed asleep last night and then swore to turn the crib into its toddler day bed version as soon as we woke up.
Honestly, this was enough of a freakout for me. I had lived in deep denial that we would ever face a non-crib existence, one where he could roam freely and not be forced to stay in his crib singing himself to sleep on nights when he didn't fall asleep nursing. This all signifies BIG KID to me and I am highly unprepared for this next big parenting phase, independence.
But then, Wes started poking around this morning and discovered that:
A) one needs a conversion kit to turn the crib into a day bed
B) the company went out of business in February
C) the store where we bought the crib (a family-owned store in Chelsea) is closed this week for vacation
Um…. Shit.
We'll be poking around the Internet and every store in the tristate area today, but what if we don't find one for a couple of days? I guess we will be spending long, long, long hours ensuring that he is put in his crib totally asleep. And hoping for the best. And kicking ourselves for not looking into this when we bought the crib in the first place. Shit again.
ETA: CRIB TENT! Thank you, liza.Thanks to Jennifer of Arcane Matters who gave this to us before he was born. It was just about to be sold, as we had wanted it to keep cats out of crib and they never really tried to jump in when he was in there. But after much wrestling with rods and velcro, Beck is excited about his tent. This should hold us until we can track down a conversion kit somwhere in North America. Anyone in Quebec with an in into the now defunct Morigeau Lepine?
If you are really worried, mattress on the floor is a good temporary solution.
You could try putting his mattress on the floor. Our 12-month-old son still sleeps with us, but we also have a big mattress on the floor in his room for the odd occasion when he’ll let us lay him down in there. He would NEVER sleep in the crib, so it has taken up residence in the attic. And this way if he falls out, it’s only a few inches to the ground. Just a thought. Good luck!
what about a crib tent? i know lots of people who use them to contain climbers.
Assvice alert!
You’ve already got one valid toddler bed option. It won’t look great, but will do in a pinch. It’s his crib mattress, on the floor. He’ll also have to be really sleepy, or he’ll wander, but at least you’ll know his self-flinging apex is quite low to the ground.
Sorry that happened… scary!
Maddie threw herself out of the crib and we went thru the same hell but she terrified herself enough to not try it again. Plus she has figured out how to climb in and out safely. Thank goodness she hasn’t been doing it bec. I am NIT READY FOR FREE RANGE CHILDREN.
When we put Beck back in after this occurred, he immediately tried to do it again. And then again this morning. No. Fear. Dammit.
Yeah, my kid hit this milestone of crib jumping right around his second birthday. We tried a toddler bed (loaner from friends) and it definitely didn’t work. I found a crib tent on Craigslist the next day and the thing has been AWESOME. Kid likes that you zip it closed and he stays totally put. Good luck with yours.
I was just going to say… mattress on the floor. I wish we’d known about the crib tent.
I want a tent for my bed! it just sounds cool…
Do you have a packnplay? It may be harder to climb, depending on his height, and he wouldn’t have quite as far to fall. Let me know if you want to borrow one. But also, crib tent as you already mentioned- I knew a lot of kids who used this for quite a while. My guys, for some mysterious reason, never climbed completely out of their cribs, and I merrily kept them in there until about 3 and then converted their cribs to toddler beds with guards on the sides.
If I’d read this sooner than I did, definitely crib tent until you get the bed extension. H did just fine with being in the big girl bed – I was worried she’d get out and roam around but she really hasn’t. But then again she is an odd kid.
Malka’s (now Noah Matan’s) crib had the crib tent from EARLY on – to prevent HER from climbing out. Now? It’s to prevent her from climbing IN and loving on Noah Matan.
When Malka was ready for her big girl bed, we just put her mattress on the floor for a while, until Grandpa bought the WAY TOO COOL FOR WORDS big girl bed from Ikea….
Wow, Ender did the EXACT same thing about that age– got out of his crib when E and I were out on the balcony leaving him to cry. He showed us. I have no idea how he didn’t hurt himself, as the sharp wooden edge of our bed was about a foot away from the crib. he must have not landed head first. Anyway, he was as surprised as we were, wandering through the house in a muddle looking for us.
Oddly enough, the Big Boy Bed worked fine (his crib was Ikea and convertible). He falls out all the time, but I just put pillows next to it and it’s not very high. He’s often asleep on the floor when I check him, or standing flopped on the bed asleep when sleep won while he was trying to get back in. The cry it out days are over, but I just sit next to him and he goes to sleep. Pretty much every night he wakes up and comes looking for me (scared the shit out of me the first few times he poked me to wake me up), and I just take him back to bed and tell him to go to sleep. For some reason it works.
I was REALLY surprised though– getting him to sleep had never been an easy task.
When he refuses to sleep, I tell him I have to go do something and I’ll be back in 10 minutes. He often waits for me and sleeps when I come back. If he won’t sleep, I do it again and it works on the second or third try, sometimes with him falling asleep while he’s waiting.
Good luck. It’s a big scary step no one warned you about!