"What Was THAT?"

We have been trying to get our girl to sleep without a fida, which in English is a pacifier. We've been through about 4 nights of crying, throwing up, changing sheets, consoling and rocking chair readings of Goodnight Moon. Although, I think she suspects the end of the story is coming because about 3 pages from the end she closes the book and wants me to start at the beginning once more. Anyway, after put her down last night and she was crying up a storm we then heard a very loud THUMP and husband exclaimed "What was THAT?" We ran to her door and listened intently as the crying picked up again and then got closer and closer to the door. We opened the door to find her right on the other side.

She fell out of her crib (or jumped rather).

We. Freaked. Out.

Much activity ensued...mostly husband tearing the crib apart and then reassembling it so the mattress was on the lowest possible setting. So I think we're safe for a few more weeks but it raises the question: What on earth do we do about her getting out of bed in the middle of the night?

We have this weird 70's house with an open staircase that spans all 3 floors. So I hesitate to put a baby gate at the top of the stairs to keep baby upstairs at night for I fear she will scale the gate and then get on top of the wide railing and then fall 12 feet down the stairwell. It sounds implausible, but take my word for it. The railing is far too short and putting anything there that she can stand on or use to climb is a very bad idea.

So what on earth do you other parents do? With my stupid hearing loss I worry that she will be up and moving around our house unattended in the night.

Help!

Comments

LiteraryGirl said…
I know some people will disagree with me, because they disagreed with me when I did this in my home, but I have the daughter I have and as you know, must keep her alive. She was out of her crib by 18 months. Flung her leg over, hung by her arms and dropped to the floor. Quite nicely, actually.

She would not stay in her bed, either, soooo...we reverse locked the door. Yes, I have heard horror stories about that but as long as you are using it for safety issues and are a responsible parent (as in not locking a child in there so you can get drunk on the other side) then I think it is the only way to go with a child you cannot trust. ESPECIALLY in the type of house you described. Those are my two cents.
AMY said…
We did the same thing. When I woke up in the middle of the night to see the silhouette of our son holding a hammer and hack saw over by Jeff's head, I realized that we needed to 1. reverse the door knob and 2. get that garage built. J started scaling the crib by 9 months. We would pull himself up onto the side of the crib and straddle it. Sometimes he would scream his head off until we came to get him off or he would roll off onto the floor. We talked to a fireman who told us about the high rate of fires and other accidents that happen in a home because a little one is roaming around during the night.
Amy K. said…
Our son was in a toddler bed by 14 months, not becuase he got out of his crib but becuase his sister was due a month and a half later and she needed it! Just to say that a toddler bed is totally possible, and saves the long fall to a short fall that is no big deal. Secondly, we ALWAYS shut the door to his room. Don't feel bad about that...just think of the room as one big crib. You just super child proof...closet locks, outlet plugs, etc. I don't know that locking it is necessary...you could just use a child proof door cover. Yep, we've all been there.

Popular Posts