Schedule / Routine
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My son was born ready to climb out of his crib. Given that my husband and I are both tall people, it wasn’t a huge shock to learn that my son is tall for his age.
On top of that, he is very gross motor dominant, making him the ideal toddler candidate for climbing out of a crib. We prepared for this to become an issue early on.
The other day I was washing dishes, and my son had wandered off into my bedroom. When I went to get him, not 5 minutes later…
He was ON TOP of my nightstand. Yes, my 15 month old climbed on top of my not-so-short nightstand all by himself.
So all of this made me wonder, if he could climb atop a nightstand, what on Earth stopped him from climbing out of the crib??
Best way to stop climbing out of the crib.
Use a sleep sack. One day I went to get my son after he awoke from his nap, and I noticed him attempting to get his foot up. He couldn’t with the sleep sack 
on.
It’s no secret that I love the HALO Sleep Sack series of swaddles and wearable blankets. I hadn’t ever considered that a wearable blanket would deter my son from climbing out of the crib, but it’s completely GENIUS!
According to the sizing chart, an XXL will fit a child 26-36 lbs and 35-40 inches. So the HALO SleepSack Wearable Blanket won’t prevent it forever, it can certainly bide you a nice amount of time.
It is recommend starting as young as possible with the wearable blanket, so that your child is always used to it. The sleep sack is completely safe to use. Your child can move around, stand, and even walk in the crib with the blanket on.
The blanket will prevent your child from lifting his leg up high enough to get it over the rail. It will also prevent his feet from getting enough traction along the rails to climb out of the crib.
Other things to try…
Keep the mattress on the lowest setting. We did this at around age 6 months. So we were well ahead of the curve when it came to keeping the mattress as close to the ground as possible. Can you tell we were anticipating him climbing out of the crib? If you are reading this post, I can only assume you already tried this.
Consider moving to a toddler or twin bed. This is usually the least ideal option depending on the age of your child. My son is 15 months and we are no where near being ready for a regular bed. He would never stay in it. Most recommend transitioning somewhere around the age of two, plus or minus a few months. 18 months is definitely considered early, but I’ve heard from other moms this can be done.
If you want to transition your child to a bed, it’s really important to make the room and house as safe as possible.
More reasons the Halo Sleep Sack is awesome.
If you are on the fence about the sheer awesomeness of the Halo Sleep Sack, here are a few more reasons I completely love it. It prevents an older baby from taking their clothes off, which also prevents him or her from removing a diaper. I’ve heard too many horror stories of older babies and young toddlers having a hay day removing their diapers and making a huge mess in the crib.
The sleep sack is also awesome in the event that your child has a rare diaper blowout. It will contain the mess, preventing it from smearing everywhere.
If you are interested in taking a look at the sleep sack, you can check out either the HALO SleepSack Swaddle
or HALO SleepSack Wearable Blanket
on Amazon.
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How did you handle a child climbing out of the crib?
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Mateo was (is) the good kid and he usually stayed where I put him. Lesley on the other hand…. she has fallen out of the crib trying to catch the kitten (thank God a blow up mattress was directly below!) and then she had a phase where she would literally push the crib away from the wall, directly to her brother’s nightstand that was at the foot of his bed, grabbed the pony flung it over and then climbed out on to the nightstand, onto her brother’s bed and came victoriously to the living room. First time she did it, I couldn’t figure out how she got out, then I watched her, standing behind the door that was slightly open. Funniest thing about it? She only did it when Frank was at work. When he was home, and he put her to sleep, she would fall asleep like a little angel!
Oh my goodness, aren’t kids just the most creative little climbers?!! I love this little story. Made me laugh. 🙂
When my kids were little, my youngest could climb out of her crib at 15 months with ease! We had to move her to a toddler bed as she was hurting herself climbing out of the crib. We never thought she would stay in the little bed, but SHE DID! We baby proofed the room and gave her a book and soft animal in her bed and she was so excited to be in that little bed, we had no more problems. So, do not ASSUME a toddler that young will be wandering around during the night. ( we could see her on a monitor). Good luck!
Wow i am shocked it maybe cause your 15 month old did not want to be seen i might be wrong
I remember when my little one got out of her crib. Thump! Luckily it must have hurt bad enough it only happened once! We lowered the mattress and smooth sailing. Love the sleep sack idea! 🙂
I’m totally afraid of J climbing out. Our floors are concrete here. We are hanging onto the sleep sack as long as we can!!!
Oh yes that swaddle does WONDERS! I never had one try to climb out really, but mine all swaddled until 5 months ish. And I never had true climbers.. good tip!
We currently use the wearable blanket still at 16 months. I used the swaddle version only until about 4 months old, then switched to a wearable blanket. Just ordered the X-Large, so once he outgrows the next size, it will be trial by fire.
My younger (16m old) son is an absolute monkey when it comes to climbing, I swear he was born with ability to climb anything! We stopped using a sleep sack early this year because we had a hot summer, but now that winter is drawing in here I’ll definitely be getting them out again – I hadn’t even considered the climbing inhibiting properties of a sleep sack, so thank you for the fantastic tip!
You’re welcome!
Yes! The sleep sack worked for our son, too. He was never much of a climber though. Our daughter on the other hand… we might have to get creative since she’s a busy one!
Just found your blog, and I’m really enjoying poking around! 🙂
Hey Chrysti,
That’s awesome! We seriously love that sleep sack. People are probably tired of hearing about it. Ha! Excited that you found me! Where did you come across this blog? Most people find me via Pinterest. Thanks for hanging around and leaving a lovely comment.
Lauren
On Facebook, actually. Another blog I follow shared one of your posts.
I see this post is ilder. I found it on Pinterest today, and couldn’t not comment. We actually moved our little one out of the crib around 14 months and started her on a queen size air mattress. She could have climbed out, but was never interested, we moved her because she kept getting stuck in weird positions in the corners of the crib in her sleep and we were spending lots of time getting her unstuck and back to sleep. At about 16 months, we moved her to a twin daybed. The only downside is she comes in our room and wants to sleep with us if she wakes in the middle of the night. We are discussing baby gating her in her room to prevent that, though, especially with a sibling on the way.
Thanks so much for sharing your experience!
Have you tried using the safety door knob things on her door and keeping it closed? We had to do that with our son because he climbs gates and we were scared he would climb over the one at the top of our steps. It keeps him in his room and we put one on his closet too.
My 18 month old son is such a climber! He started climbing my older son’s ladder to his very tall bunk bed at a year old. The sleep sac worked for us for a few months but just this week, he managed to climb out of his crib while in a sleep sac! I’m so worried about him hurting himself so I guess we will have to consider the combination of the sleep sac with a toddler bed!
My son figured out how to climb out with a sleep sack on as well!! He’s two now and he literally lift himself up and swings his legs to the side to hook a foot on the side of the rail and rolls over the top then drops onto his feet on the floor. He’s so busy and strong willed though that I’m really worried about switching to a toddler bed. I feel like it’ll just be a fight every night to keep him in bed and safe. We share a room so there is a lot of stuff packed into one bedroom.
I have heard of parents using a baby walking harness and strapping that around the matress so that the child is free to move but would need to take the matress with him if he climbed out of bed
I would be worried about strangulation with using the walking harness and strapping it to the bed.
My son is also tall for his age and has been in the 98th percentile in height since birth. He started walking at 8 months, climbing at 9 and climbing out of his crib at 9 months. He has always been a sleep sack baby and he still managed to get out! At 11 months we switched to a toddler bed because we were afraid for his safety. It worked out much better, but he still climbs EVERYTHING. I still put him in sleep sacks for bed and he is 21 months. I found some of halos big kid sleep sacks so his feet come out little feet holes. They are fabulous especially in the colder months.
Ivy – Great to know about the little feet holes… this is just what I had hoped the sleep sack would have. Now, I’ll definitely check out the Halo, THANKS!
For older kids, who can pull down zippers, my friends have said they put the sacks on backward, otherwise the kids climb out. Good Luck
Thank for sharing this tip Miri!!
BEST IDEA EVER!!! BACKWARDS!
My 18 MO is utterly determined to crawl out – and just unzipped he sleep sack the day after I purchased it. Backwards!! Bravo.
My toodler is 22 months he weighs 12 kg 26.4 lbs will it fit him. He gets out of crib so we put him in toddler bed but is cionsatly waking up going into my room he needs to stay in crib so he can sleep well at night . Any other suggestions ?
My grand daughter is climbing out of the pack n play. She is 20 months old. I love the idea of sleep sack to keep her from lifting her legs over the side. Will the sleep sacks with the little feet holes keep her from lifting her legs high enough to climb out? I am planning a quick trip to Toys R Us to buy one for tonight and wonder if they will work, too.
This is brilliant! Just got one for my 19 month old, please please work!!!! Toddlers can sure be tenacious, and I’m desperate for sleep… thanks for posting this.
So glad I stumbled upon this. Sleep sack? I even have one I’ve never used someone passed onto me. Trying it tomorrow night! My daughter just turned 2 and now climbs over every chance she gets. Used to sleep 11 hours and now wakes at 3am and won’t stay in her crib. How old can these sleep sacks be used ? She’s 34 lbs and almost 36″ tall. I don’t think she’s ready for a bed (I know I’m not)!
Love this article. I tried the sleep sack and my little one escaped! I ended up finding a company named “Little Grounders” – link below – that makes pajamas just for this! They were awesome and totally worked! I had to beg them to send me a pair because when they launched they sold out so quickly and now everything is on backorder. Anyway, my husband and I can FINALLY sleep because of these, so maybe they will help someone else. Good luck!
https://littlegrounders.com/
Thank you, thank you, thank you! These totally worked for us.
These Little Grounders worked like a charm for us. What a brilliant idea! They’re really good quality in terms of fit and material too (we hate those cheap carter’s pjs). We were a little concerned that maybe he’d trip in them, but not the case at all. He runs all around the house in them…he just can’t climb! We actually get a kick out of watching him try to climb on things and finally just giving up when he can’t. These work great for us. I really appreciate you sharing.
We tried Little Grounders and OMG, they are amazing! My baby boy looks so cute in these pjs and he can’t climb on ANYTHING when he’s wearing them. I’m not one to write reviews (about anything really), but these were so helpful that I’ve been telling everyone about them. FYI…they run a bit big in my opinion, so keep that in mind. Otherwise very happy.
Perfect! Got our Little Grounders yesterday and they totally did the trick. If anyone is interested there is a mother’s day special where they waive shipping too.
My question about the little grounders is, if they know how to unzip, can’t they just take them off?
So it’s funny because that’s what I thought too. But my toddler hasn’t even tried unzipping it and he’s almost 3! They say that on the website too. I love the Little Grounders.
The sleep sacks were completely useless for us. We even turned them around backwards. He got out in under 10 minutes. I just bought my Sister in Law a Little Grounder for her 12 month old who is already trying to climb on furniture!
Hi. I would like to order two. Pink and bleu.
Or eed and bleu. I have a noy and girl. They 21 months but big for there age. The boy rould need the size of 24 months. I live in cape town SA. How much is it and how long to deliver?
Negative on the sleep sack. He just unzips it, even when we turned the sack around and zipped it from the back. He soon skipped the unzipping part and scales the crib in the fully zipped up sleep sack, and yes, with the mattress springs at the lowest setting. He’s definitely got his dad’s Airborne blood. Going to try using perforated metal strips to lower the mattress springs below the factory settings. If need be, will raise the legs and fabricate wood slats between them so he can’t low crawl under! Good thing I have wood working skills!
Same here. The sleep sack was completely useless. Don’t even waste your money. We bought the Little Grounders per the recommendation of some of the other commenters. They were extremely helpful. Perfect actually.
Hey my son is 20 months old he is climbing out of his crib I don’t what to do I need help
Buy Little Grounders. They helped us tremendously. littlegrounders.com
Good luck!
My daughter has been climbing out of the crib since 14-15 months. The sleep sack was my first line of defense. Sadly that failed me, it only took her a couple weeks to figure it out. She is now 17 months and bedtime is a nightmare and a half. I wish the sleep sack worked as well for me as it did for you.
Cassee did you ever figure out a solution that worked for your daughter? My son is 15 months and got out of the crib this morning- when I came in his room he was standing up with his sleep sack still on and fully zipped so I feel you.
Same thing here. Going to try the little grounders one..