Toddler bed help..

Set a twin-sized mattress on the floor for her until you get a toddler bed!

We've taken the mattress out of the crib and just placed it on the floor.

Her room is child-proofed, so no worries.

Hurts my neck just to look at it....

We moved her into our room while she's been sick. Soon to move her back to her own room, and up to a twin-size mattress instead of the crib mattress.

Chiquita's growing like a weed; we're gonna need to move her out of the bassinette soon.

that is a great picture.

I didnt think about the mattress on the floor.

noone will sleep tonight ..
And.. i will have to get a lock for the outside.
Her bedroom is upstairs.. I cant take any chances with that.

You can get a little alarm bell, like they use in retail shops that indicates a customer has entered. You can set it up in your daughter's room so if she crosses the threshold of the doorway the bell will go off and you will know she is on the move.

I have thought about things like that but her door way is literally five feet from the top of the stairs.
By the time the bell rang, she would be tumbling down the stairs..

I absolutly hate the idea of a latch on her door.. but given where her room is , that is the only safe thing to do for her I think..

What about a sturdy baby gate? - she can see out, you can see in.

My best friend replaced the doors on her babies bedrooms with screen doors salvaged from other farm houses. She could latch them from outside - and look in on them without disturbing them. The kids, who are now in their teens, declined to have the screen doors replaced with regular doors later on - they like the sense of being part of things even when they're in their rooms with the doors closed.

<and they make the hallway look fabulous - with the cool wooden carvings>

eb- that is the COOLEST idea !
when we get our own home i am going to do just that.

I think a sturdy baby gate for the top of the stairs is a great idea as well. We dont have one because of the banister. It is too tall for a standard one to fit.. but it is now a necessity, so MIL and I can work on something.. dunno how.. maybe find someone who can "customize' the size..

<I thought Greenwitch was suggesting a baby gate for across the door opening>

ehBeth is correct, I was thinking the Bean's doorway.

yeah.. i missed that.

I dont know how well that would work though.
Too much noise at the top of the stairs.. and she is sort of a light sleeper.
Yeah, she would learn to sleep through it but in the mean time mommy and baby get no sleep...

but then again..
that might be a better idea then locking the door.
>sigh<

Couldn't you just duct tape her to the bed? Leave a small opening in the tape for her to breathe.

Heh.

Seconding the idea of something close to the floor, with the caveat of choosing something it will be OK for her stay in a long time if she wants to. Sozlet's transitional bed was our old futon, and it's still her preference. (Currently very useful because we propped up one end with pillows to help keep her more vertical to deal with cold/ congestion, really helps.)

ohhhhh another great idea.
MIL has a futon bed and frame she is thinking about selling.
I could put that in her room when we move as a couch... then.. when she is older, begin using that for her bed.

We ended up , at 9pm .. buying a 69 dollar small sleigh style bed.

Its cute... , cheaply made.. but satisfies the ' need it NOW' problem.



It got better then average customer satisfaction ratings and the brand has not had a recall on its beds.. for something like... 5 years?

It took the crib mattress well, so we didnt have to buy a new mattress .

It has small rails on the side so she can push herself into a small corner like she does when she is in the crib.

And oh boy... last night I was about to cry with all the stress.

Nap time yesterday , I had rocked her.. she actually fell asleep in my arms wich she usualy does not do.
So I put her in her crib, closed the door and went downstairs and began cleaning the kitchen.

I would say about 2-3 minutes later, I hear a -BANG- on the ceiling above me then a wail...

holy cow.. i lost my MIND with fear.

I truthfully thought the bottom of the crib must have fallen out to make that kind of noise..

but no...

I open her door and there she is standing on the floor looking scared.

So 40 minutes of hugs, a feverish strip down to look for marks/cuts..
and I have her rocked back to sleep.
I put her down and stand just outside the door to make sure she is asleep and about 5 minutes later, I can HEAR her little slight snores..

i tred back downstairs..

About half way down the stairs..

BAM !!! WAAAAAAAHHHhhhhhh

My nerves are shot, Im kicking my self in the mommy butt thinking good god .. how stupid I am to think she was asleep ( not even remembering she was SNORING ) and go get her.

she is scared , upset, and so tired she cant sleep.

We stay up all afternoon rocking, reading, and playing...

no nap. stress.. and still thinking.. any minute Im going to see blood that i didnt see before.. , beating myself over the head for even using a crib anymore..
>sigh<

I started hunting on the internet and found that bed.

Ian and I start about 6pm taking everything out of her room. and I mean EVERYTHING..
2 hours of furniture moving, boxing stuff up.. changing the door handle, removing face plates to install baby safe ones, cutting carpet strings off , sweeping ceilings in case of spider webs.. ( yea .. we are weird ;-) ....... im tired, Ians tired and it is now 9pm.. Bean is angry and very tired..

We let Bean play in the empty room with her new bed so she wont be too surprised about it. And begin the night time routine..

needless to say.. 11 at night, she is FINALLY asleep, and we are having parental stress break down.

I always imagined the transition from crib to ' big girl bed' to be all foo-foo happy, cute, exciting, and fun....
not done in less then 8 hours because she can throw herself out of her crib..

Just sounds like your little gymnast needs to work on her dismount....





Sorry to hear about the stress, but glad that everything seems to be working out OK.

little gymnast is right.

I took her in the room in the afternoon and put her in her crib so I could see what she was doing.

she would stand on the side and use her arms to lift her self up, throw her leg up.. almost to her HEAD to get her foot over the side... and from there Im sure she flung herself to the floor..but that is where I stopped her..

amazing..

the only way I could get my foot/ leg that high in the air is if i took it OFF first..

Yaya likes to do a "flip-flop quack-quack." (I think she means backflip.)

Lays on her back on the bed, climber, sofa, etc. Slowly slides off onto her head while shouting "look at me!"

Maybe put hands out in time to break the fall; then again maybe not.

Then slide the rest of the way off, either performing a backward sommersault or crumpling into a heap on top of her head.

Repeat.

the first 2,000 times she did that , I would have a panic attack.....