2 yr old stopped napping now that she can climb out of crib. What do I do?

[jyllebean]

My just turned 2 yr old dd has learned to climb out of her and now won't take naps. We lock the door and she just plays fine in her room for 1- 1.5 hrs for "quiet time". I would be fine with this except lately she has been acting really tired in the evenings and has started waking up at night (she never did this before) so I'm feeling like she is overtired and probably still needs naps. I try rocking her before naptime but it doesn't really work.

Any ideas? I'm don't really want to get a crib tent and we aren't ready to get a big girl bed because we will be moving in a few months and don't want to buy another piece of furniture until we move. I'm not really worried about her hurting herself climbing in and out--I've seen her do it and she's pretty good. Also, we are expecting dd #2 any day and don't want to make too many changes by moving her to a big bed right before the baby.

Anyway, I'm thinking of trying harder to rock her to sleep? Or just keep going in her room and putting her back in her crib at nap time? Isn't this a little young to give up naps?

Thanks for your advice!

[Momof3Labs]

My advice is crib tent; not sure why you don't want to go that route. It will keep her safe now that she can climb out of the crib (as good as you think that she is at it, she can still get hurt - badly). My boys both loved their tent.

If you don't want to try anything new like that, then I guess that you try your other options that you listed (rocking - I wouldn't go there with a new baby on the way, but that's me not you; keep putting her back in the crib) and hope that something sticks.

[alirebco]

honestly, i would try the crib tent. you never know what could happen with her climbing and it will force her to stay in there and hopefully give her a chance to nap. my sister used one on her oldest daughter.

[baileygirl]

My great napper stopped napping when he figured out he could climb out of the crib. We tried moving him to a toddler bed, but his room then became party central. We ended up going the crib tent route (even though I really didn't want to), and he is back to taking naps.

[hillview]

Crib tent is also my vote.
/hillary

[malphy]

ITA about the tent.

My dd could get out but was not mentally ready for that. She likes her tent and if I forget to zip it she will freak out until I close it.

[amandabea]

The crib tent sounds like the easiest, best solution. Otherwise you could grab one of the Aerobed toddler beds someone posted about on Amazon. We did that with my DD when she was 18 mos for naps and it was great.

[o_mom]

I'm not sure why you don't want a crib tent, but that would be my suggestion. With a new baby coming, you are most likely not going to be able to rock her to sleep every nap and bedtime.

ETA: I think everyone is wondering if you don't want a tent because of cost, not liking the look or some other reason so we can understand what options you would be open to.

[Pennylane]

I was totally against the crib tent too. It looked like a little cage to me. But when my DD started crawling out at 15 months I got one and she loved it! We kept it on her crib until we moved her into a twin bed at 3 years.

Ann

[JBaxter]

I pm'd you but Ive never owned a crib tent and never will. I just dont like them. If she will stay in her room I would drop the side of the crib so its easy to get out of supply a kinder mat blanket and pillow and let her alone.

[KrisM]

Both my kids moved out of the crib at about 2 years. We just put a twin on the floor and a gate on the door.

DD stopped napping at just after 2 as well. We just moved her bedtime up so she still got the sleep she needs. Even now, she goes to sleep between 6:45 and 7:30 and gets 12-13 hours. Can you move her bedtime?

It wasn't our thought out plan, but both my kids moved to their twin bed within days of a sibling being born. DD was 6 days, I think, when DS1's bed arrived. DS2 was 2 days from being born when DD's bed came. It just worked out that way - we didn't use the crib for months :). Anyhow, they didn't have any issues moving to a bed and a new baby at the same time.

[pastrygirl]

My son climbed out at 23 months so I switched him to a mattress on the floor. I decided against the crib tent because I didn't want yet another piece of gear, plus it would've FREAKED him out. You can try the crib mattress on the floor if you don't want to buy a regular mattress right now.

We went through about 3 weeks of torture with naptime. I put a doorknob cover on his doorknob so he can't get out. For a long time, he did play for up to two hours, but eventually would pass out (either on the floor or the mattress). He finally got to a point where he started taking THREE HOUR naps! I'd never seen a 3-hour nap before then. It was amazing! He did that for several months, and then went through a few phases of dropping his nap entirely, then picking it back up. For the past month, he's been napping every day again.

[Tondi G]

I know you don't want to buy more furniture since you are moving but I would probably buy either a standard twin mattress and put in on the floor or maybe an air mattress. Maybe you could lay down with her and try to soothe her down a little? Or just keep letting her have her quiet time and move her bedtime up if that works for you! Good luck... my DS#2 climbed out of the crib at this age and we moved him to a twin right away.... he took to it nicely. I didn't have another little one to tend to so I was able to lay down with him at Nap and bedtime and help him get to sleep. The car was also helpful some days when he was just wired and couldn't fall asleep.... a little drive around the neighborhood... he would knock out, transfer to his bed and take a nice much needed nap!

[AnnieW625]

Elisa did this too right around the time she turned 27 mos., and after going on a vacation where she slept on an air mattress she came back to her crib, took one nap and didn't want to go to sleep again. So for two weeks or so she slept on the air mattress and we finally decided that we should just get her a twin bed, and as soon as she got used to sleeping in that she started napping again.

I never thought about using a crib tent.