Cot escapee

I lived in a flat when my son at around age 2 started climbing out and wandering around. I ‘m afraid I put cereal out in a bowl on a tiny table in front of his chair, in front of the telly. I taught him how to switch the telly on and how to retrieve milk in a then carton from the low door of our tiny fridge.

He’d eat his Weetabix in front of cartoons from about 6 am.

I would wait outside the door, when tot gets out of the cot (with side down for safety) just put them back in the cot and leave without speaking to them. Repeat as necessary. It’s the only way to train toddlers to stay in bed.

Second daughter was a climber too. And not just out of the cot but then after she tippy toed across the landing to the bathroom, put the plug in the sink and turned the taps on and the first we know was when water dripped through to the ground floor. We had to have a new bathroom carpet. I think got a bolt for the outside of her bedroom door. I think we'd had the perfume incident by then too .

this thread reminds me of my younger son - he was a regular houdini too. I often found him asleep, on the floor, under the cot, when I went in to his room in the morning. I can't remember if I resorted to putting a mattress or blanket out for him! Another happy memory - going into his room and finding the other 2 in his cot with him (lucky it didn't collapse!) - all chatting away! He was known as ET (for extra terrible), for years because he was such an escape artist - now a highly successful businessman of 40!!

I put my son in a bed at 15 months as he kept climbing out to and I thought it less distance to fall.

Yes, he climbed out of that a few times but also learned to climb back in too. I did find him asleep on the floor once though.

My daughter was like that. Put him in an ordinary bed and the novelty soon wears of . I would also dispense with the srairgate. You can always put the room closure up higher if you need too.

I think the rule is, once they can get out of a cot they should be in a bed with a bed guard. I never had a stair gate for my children neither did my daughter for her son. We both taught the children how to slide down backwards on their tummies. Safer for them, also fun. Stair gates only prevent them falling, don’t teach them danger.

My first child climbed out of his cot at 16 months. I left the side down from then on, and put a small stool next to the cot so he could climb out safely. We had a stair gate at the top of the stairs.

I don't think bed guards were invented when mine were little and I can't remember any problems with them falling out of bed.

DGS, as adventurous as his mother, somehow ended up with the bed guard on top of him.

My DD would make very effort to climb out of her cot, which really worried me as I imagined her falling from the top of the frame. She then moved on to rattling the cot so hard that we feared it might be reduced to matchwood, so on her second birthday we bought her a low bed, put her in a bigger room, and had a gate across the door. 'Worked like magic - she clearly just didn't like being confined, but was happy to lie in a bed that she could get out of if she wanted to.

My daughter has similar problem with 2nd dg,but kept her in those sleeping bag type of nightwear,which had buttons on the shoulders,she was unable to climb over the cotside as the sleeping bag type prevented it,,and also kept her warm ,but as she got older,she removed cotsides,as it was a convertible cot/small bed,and after a few nights,she settled ok

My husband made a gate for our stairs. The girls couldn’t reach the catch to open it

My elder daughter went into a bed at 15 months because the new baby needed the cot. Not a problem - put pillows on the floor for a few weeks in case of a fall. A gate on the bedroom door was fairly effective and I reinforced that verbally with "No climbing!" instruction when she tried to get over it.

My children were all in beds by this age. They never seemed bothered about climbing over the gate to get out of their rooms, but didn’t like being contained in a cot.

Ds climbed out of his cot at 9 months, went into a bed and that was that! He never fell out of it or wandered around at night unlike DD ?

Our little granddaughter only went into her junior bed a fortnight ago and she’s 3y next month! In the cot she slept in a zipped ‘growbag’ a bit like a portable duvet with armholes so pyjamas underneath.

I’d defy any baby to climb out of a cot wearing the equivalent of a sack! There’s no traction as the legs aren’t free.

I would put him in a bed (or a mattress on the floor), mine were all in a bed before a year as they hated the confines of a cot, I had the headboard as the bottom of the bed, the other end pushed against the wall and a bed guard along the side with spare duvets on the floor where the gap from the bed guard was so they had a soft landing if they got out, regarding the stair gate could you remove it and turn the handle the wrong way so that you have to push it up rather than pull it down, my parents did this with their living room door when they were looking after my niece so that they could keep her in the living room instead of having to run after her every 5 minutes as she tried escaping to the kitchen

Unfortunately grow bags didn't stop my GC, they just heaved themselves over the side and fell heavily on the floor! Same as everyone ese, once they had done it once the were in a bed with stairgate across the door.

I think that growbags are only suitable for babies who haven't started walking.

Mine would have heaved herself over too, tried to walk in the growbag and had an accident.

If you reach a toddler how to get out of bed safely, down the stairs safely they should be fine.

All this good advice is fine for your individual sitruation and child. None of it would have worked for my youngster in our house.

Don’t want to scare you Gagajo but take a look at this baby climbing over TWO stacked stair gates. Someone sent me this a while ago ? Link not working that well but it’s in YouTube.

youtu.be/qyadDQ9CJeU

That'd be my grandson, glammagran. Maybe we should just put a bolt on the door.

It is time for a toddler bed.

So tonight, we cuddled up in Gaga's bed, as usual and watched a little In the Night Garden and Dino Dana. When it was time for bed, we lay down (to try to get him sleepy before going into his cot, to prevent another in/out hour long scenario) but he couldn't relax. Took him to his room, at which point he ran out and got a fluffy (blanket) from his mum's room and then let me put him in his cot without a murmur.

I was on pins for about half an hour, in case I heard the pitter patter of his little feet, but no. Asleep in his cot, looking like an angel.

Handyman is going to come over between xmas and New Year and have a look at the job to be done for a extra high baby gate.