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Toddler nighttime safety

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  • 16-05-2015 10:35am
    #1
    world cup
    Registered Users Posts: 29 ✭


    Little one is moving to big bed imminently. Our biggest concern is getting out of bed, wandering around the house at nighttime and the safety issues around all of that. Bedroom (and ours) on ground floor. Any helpful advice or tips?


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    #2
    2xj3hplqgsbkym
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,181 ✭✭✭2xj3hplqgsbkym


    Mine have never gotten out of their beds, if they wake up they just shout for us, but maybe they are just lazy!
    As you don't have stairs you don't need to do much. Close all doors at night time ( fire safety anyway) . Use a bed rail to stop them falling out or something rolled up under sheet or a swimming noodle.
    I cut all the blind cords in my house or buy those safety clips of you don't already have them.


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    #3
    world cup
    Registered Users Posts: 29 ✭world cup


    Other half very nervous about safety. Anything I can do to allay his fears?


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    #4
    January
    Closed Accounts Posts: 23,862 ✭✭✭✭January


    Put a stair gate on the door. It's what we did with our daughters. It's only recently come off and the youngest girl is 3.


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    #5
    sillysocks
    Registered Users Posts: 2,641 ✭✭✭sillysocks


    We've a stair gate on the door of our little ones room since she moved into a 'proper' bed. Going to take it off soon but it's great for peace of mind, once their room is safe then you know they won't be roaming around the house in the middle of the night or anything.

    Like Rosebush says she never gets out of bed anyway but it's still peace of mind.


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    #6
    uck51js9zml2yt
    Closed Accounts Posts: 18,268 ✭✭✭✭uck51js9zml2yt


    I put a gate on the door frame of the bedroom. Stopped him falling down the stairs at night. He can open it now but we hear him before he makes an appearance in our bed.


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    #7
    mocha please!
    Closed Accounts Posts: 179 ✭✭mocha please!


    As well as putting a stair gate on the door, I would also try leaving him playing on his own in the bedroom with you quietly observing from outside the room, ideally if he doesn't know you're there. Remove most toys, just leave him with something to know he'll get bored with quickly. Then see what he gets up to when left to his own devices for a while! You might identify potential dangers that you wouldn't ever have thought of otherwise!

    A baby monitor (ideally with infrared video) would be good for reassurance, however I wouldn't go out buying one unless you have one already. Possibly you might know someone who could loan you one?

    Minimise furniture in the room. There was a horrible case in the UK a few years back where a pair of twins woke from their naps, climbed out of their cots, and one of them climbed into the chest of drawers ... it fell over, killing them both instantly. Since reading about that I've moved our toddlers chest of drawers into our bedroom! He's still in his cot (and not able to climb out yet), but when he does move into a bed, I plan on having very little in his room apart from his bed and toys.

    Actually, another idea would be to get one of those big musical floor mats, that kids jump on to make music. Put it on the floor beside his bed, and you should be able to hear him if he gets out. (However I'm guessing he'd wise up to it after the first few times and find a way around it!)

    I've heard of parents putting the child on a mattress on the floor (no base) for the first couple of weeks, in case they roll out in their sleep. Could be an idea, however I know storage of the base would be an issue in our house. But if you were buying a new bed, you could always just buy the mattress first and get the base a few weeks later.

    Have the room as dark as possible (turn off night light etc after child has gone to sleep ... If the child wakes up and it's very dark, they'll be more likely to call you than go wandering. (However obviously don't do this if your child finds it distressing to wake up in the dark!! Depends on the child.)

    I'd say the only specific child-proofing we'll be doing is something for the window (very large low bay window, he can reach the handles already and would be well able to open them if we let him, it's so low that he'd topple right out!) And also we'll get plug covers, you'd never know what toy might be lying around with a piece that he could stick in there. And of course the stair gate, meaning at least it's only one room we have to worry about making safe!


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    #8
    pwurple
    Closed Accounts Posts: 12,449 ✭✭✭✭pwurple


    I would say make sure the room has no loose chords or cables. Blind chords need to have the safety clips added, or tied way up high. Cable tie any power chords to bed legs, or use conduit to attach it to the wall. Obviously no jewellery, belts, bags with straps or other strangulation hazards.

    I don't have toys in the bedroom, books and clothes is it. Too distracting at bedtime for us. But if you have them, watch for things that they could choke on /stick up their nose.

    Keep furniture a little distance from the bed, and put a rug or a few pillows on the floor for when they might fall out. I know a child who knocked their teeth out on a bedside locker.


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    #9
    uck51js9zml2yt
    Closed Accounts Posts: 18,268 ✭✭✭✭uck51js9zml2yt


    Use a bed rail to stop them falling out.


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    #10
    traineeacc
    Registered Users Posts: 401 ✭✭traineeacc


    Our 3 year will not get out of his bed unless we come in for him! Not sure how it happened! I terms of safety, blind cord fixed out of way. Gate on his door and also at top of stairs just in case! Monitor is still on always when he is in bed and limited furniture as these days he thinks he is a superhero so anything he can potentially climb on is out


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    #11
    shoppergal
    Registered Users Posts: 167 ✭✭shoppergal


    We're in the process of moving our DS into a bed. He has special needs so we may be over-doing it on the safety side but better safe than sorry. We've got the bed rail for side of bed, have got a 2nd mattress for the floor beside his bed in case he somehow falls out even with the bed rail , have got a strap that fixes his chest of drawers to the wall, stair gate on his door, blind cords cut, all creams etc taken out of the changing table and will still use his monitor which will pick up any noise. My DH also v anxious about it and keeps putting it off.


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    #12
    Sligo1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,948 ✭✭✭Sligo1


    What age (in months) are Ye all moving your toddlers into their beds? I know some people do it a bit earlier than others. I know all Toddlers are different and I'm leaning towards doing it a bit later as he's a little demon and I'd be so afraid as to what he'd get up to! So what ages are your children when U've moved them to a toddler bed?


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    #13
    sillysocks
    Registered Users Posts: 2,641 ✭✭✭sillysocks


    We moved our little girl into a toddler bed when she was just gone 2 (second baby was on the way!), but our little boy is 2 next week and not a hope I'll be putting him in a bed anytime soon so I'd imagine it really depends on the child.


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    #14
    polydactyl
    Registered Users Posts: 853 ✭✭✭polydactyl


    Anyone managed to find adhesive safety straps for furniture or are they all screw based


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    #15
    Xdancer
    Registered Users Posts: 752 ✭✭✭Xdancer


    Sligo1 wrote: »
    What age (in months) are Ye all moving your toddlers into their beds? I know some people do it a bit earlier than others. I know all Toddlers are different and I'm leaning towards doing it a bit later as he's a little demon and I'd be so afraid as to what he'd get up to! So what ages are your children when U've moved them to a toddler bed?

    My daughter was nearly 3 when we moved her to a bed. She loved her cot and wouldn't be moved before then. The transition was easy as she was that bit older.
    If she wakes during the night she usually calls for me to go into her.


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    #16
    elly123
    Registered Users Posts: 507 ✭✭✭elly123


    polydactyl wrote: »
    Anyone managed to find adhesive safety straps for furniture or are they all screw based

    Hi Polydactyl, we have the adhesive straps, we got ours in baby elegance.


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    #17
    seamus
    Registered Users Posts: 68,317 ✭✭✭✭seamus


    Sligo1 wrote: »
    What age (in months) are Ye all moving your toddlers into their beds? I know some people do it a bit earlier than others. I know all Toddlers are different and I'm leaning towards doing it a bit later as he's a little demon and I'd be so afraid as to what he'd get up to! So what ages are your children when U've moved them to a toddler bed?
    Our daughter is more than 2 and a half at this stage, and we have no firm plans for moving her out of the cotbed. She seems happy enough as she is.

    Our primary issue is that her bedroom is upstairs and ours is downstairs. So while we can use gates to keep her in, constantly being up and down the stairs to put her back to bed would be exhausting. And in the event that she did manage to scale over the gate on her bedroom door, she'd have uncontrolled access to the kitchen and sitting room.

    We're moving pretty soon to a standard arranged house, and she's pretty close to being able to climb out of the cot on her own (she can already climb in, but not out), so once we're at that stage we'll probably change the cot to a bed.


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    #18
    pwurple
    Closed Accounts Posts: 12,449 ✭✭✭✭pwurple


    Sligo1 wrote: »
    What age (in months) are Ye all moving your toddlers into their beds? I know some people do it a bit earlier than others. I know all Toddlers are different and I'm leaning towards doing it a bit later as he's a little demon and I'd be so afraid as to what he'd get up to! So what ages are your children when U've moved them to a toddler bed?

    We moved her when she was getting tall enough to lean over the top of the cot when she stood up. It meant she could jump out, even though she was in a sleeping bag.

    I'll never forget the morning I was woken up by her standing next to my head, poking me in the head, when she was supposed to be in her cot. Bed was installed that day.

    She was about 2 1/2.


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    #19
    seamus
    Registered Users Posts: 68,317 ✭✭✭✭seamus


    pwurple wrote: »
    I'll never forget the morning I was woken up by her standing next to my head, poking me in the head, when she was supposed to be in her cot. Bed was installed that day.
    I take some solace in the fact that if ours somehow did get out of her cot without setting off her monitor and waking us, the very first thing she'd do is either sit on the floor and play with her toys or come downstairs and try to get into our bed. And she's sturdy enough that she probably wouldn't fall down the stairs.


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    #20
    polydactyl
    Registered Users Posts: 853 ✭✭✭polydactyl


    elly123 wrote: »
    Hi Polydactyl, we have the adhesive straps, we got ours in baby elegance.

    Thanks elly!! Will have a look


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    #21
    shoppergal
    Registered Users Posts: 167 ✭✭shoppergal


    Sligo1 wrote: »
    What age (in months) are Ye all moving your toddlers into their beds? I know some people do it a bit earlier than others. I know all Toddlers are different and I'm leaning towards doing it a bit later as he's a little demon and I'd be so afraid as to what he'd get up to! So what ages are your children when U've moved them to a toddler bed?

    My DS is 3 next month. Well we did it. He is now asleep in his bed!! How long it lasts remains to be seen!


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    #22
    Sligo1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,948 ✭✭✭Sligo1


    shoppergal wrote: »
    My DS is 3 next month. Well we did it. He is now asleep in his bed!! How long it lasts remains to be seen!

    Thanks all. Hope ur guy sleeps
    Wel tonight. I also think I'm going to wait till he is 3 or nearly 3! :)


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    #23
    How Strange
    Registered Users Posts: 6,339 ✭✭✭How Strange


    My son climbed out of his cot when he was 2.5. It was the hot summer of 2013 so too hot for a sleeping bag. We bought the bed in ikea that day. Our daughter is 2 and we can take one side off her cot so it becomes a bed. I reckon we'll do this around 2.5 as well. My son was very good once the fascination with turning the lights on and off at all hours passed. His bed was under the light switch so we took the bulb out. He never really got out of his bed but we got a gro clock and explained that the stars meant he had to stay in bed. It was reasonably successful. I expect our daughter will be a little less compliant!


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