I have heard that you should:
-Play soothing music and rub your toddler's back until they drift asleep.
-Put a blanket that carries your scent in the crib with them so they can believe you are there.
-Let them cry until they fall asleep and they will learn to self-soothe.
-Include their favorite toy in the crib so they can feel like they have a partner in the crib with them.
I have tried everything but allowing her to self-soothe and since I wanted to make sure she became accustomed to staying in her bed until it was time to wake up, I meant business.
Here it is:
The Great Escape, A Toddler Story
I put my daughter down for a nap and she began to cry. I laid her down and told her it was time for her nap and gave her a kiss. She cried, cried, and cried. I walked out of the room and closed the door slightly, where I was able to peek through an opening and still see her in the crib. I was trying to let her self-sooth. My plan was to come in the room every 15 minutes to check on her, rub her back and tell her its nap time. This never occurred, because she didn't even make it past 10 minutes. Well, she kept crying. Then she stopped crying and out of desperation she began shouting out all the words that she knew. Out of the blue, I began hearing her yell: "Mom", "Up", and then she started singing her abc song, "apple, apple, ah, ah, ah".
After a few seconds she realized nothing was happening, her mom was not going to come get her from her crib, simply because she wanted her to. All of a sudden there was complete silence. I now hear a jiggling noise coming from the bedroom. As I race to the door to see what the noise was, I witness my daughter on her tippy toes with her little hand gripped on the doorknob opening the bedroom door. With the residue of dried tears that streamed down her face, she looked up at me and ran towards me and wrapped her arms around my knees, and began climbing up my body until she reached the top, as though I was a tree. When she reached the top, she laid her head firmly against my chest, let out a huge sigh, and while I'm in a state of disbelief that my tot just climbed out of her crib all by herself, within 3 minutes I looked at her little face and she was fast asleep.
How did you find out your toddler could climb out of their crib?
What methods did you use to keep your toddler from climbing out their crib?
