Finally transitioning out of crib at 3 -- help! How do you keep the kid in there??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid scaled the gate, and happily slept on the floor in the hallway for some time.

What worked for us was getting a bed he loved. And doing sleep training - where you start out next to his bed for a few nights and just do your own thing, then move a few feet further away every few nights. So they know you are close but won't pay attention to them.

We also have music sometimes, and those nights he goes down much more easily.

I'm curious about this method since we have climber who seems to need someone next to her to fall asleep at night. Is it from a book? How long does it take till you're completely out of the room?

To answer this question, yes, it's from a book - the sleep lady shuffle by Kim West and it takes no longer than 2 weeks. It worked for us with set backs do to illness, teething and travel but nothing horrible and we are out of the room at bed time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nothing drives me more bonkers than the question "have you asked your ped for advice." Seriously!? Why in the world would I want my pediatricians advice on sleeping when I could ask parents who have actually encountered the same thing, probably more recently than my 65 year old pediatrician! No way would I make an appointment, show up and say, well I'm thinking about moving my child to a big boy bed ...

OP, I know lots of kids who transitioned after 3 and don't have any more problems staying in bed than anyone else. That's not to say that it is easy to keep a 3 year old in bed! It's not! We had a lot of success with a reward system. If my son stayed in bed during the week he got a surprise on the weekends. I'm about ready to move my daughter to a big girl bed and we will be resurrecting the surprise system ASAP!

Well, my pediatrician is a mom, her daughter is relatively young, she is nowhere near 65 and she is more well-versed on developmental literature than I am, so I value her advice and her perspective. Maybe you need a different pediatrician.

Sad that you can make any parenting choices on your own.