How to stop your child from climbing out of the crib

Our baby just turned one last weekend! And, he is officially to the point where he could climb out of his crib if he really wanted to. He’s always been a good climber, but he’s also pretty tall, which gives him an extra advantage. Obviously he’s too young for a toddler bed, but our mattress has been at the lowest setting since he started standing. So, we decided to build a simple platform out of 2x4s to lower the mattress an extra 3-4 inches to stop him from climbing out of the crib. (THE ORIGINAL POST FROM 2019 HAS BEEN UPDATED 7/2021) This bought us a whole year before he was able to maneuver his way out again. Here are some other suggestions if you don’t want to build something:

Place the mattress directly on the floor (IF YOUR CRIB ALLOWS YOU TO SAFELY DO SO). Our crib has about a 2 inch gap between the railing and mattress when we do this, so it was not an option.
Buy a crib tent! As I mentioned above, the platform bought us another year of him safely in his crib, but eventually he was tall enough to climb out. He still wasn’t ready to have him in a toddler bed, so we bought this crib tent and he still uses it at age 3! I’ve read some concerns with the tents, but this one has great reviews and we haven’t experienced any issues (obviously, or I wouldn’t recommend it). It’s always important to have a monitor in your room and know your child’s personality and temperament before implementing a sleep change. Our son thinks it’s “cool” that he has his own tent to sleep in, and we even bring it when we travel sometimes to go over a pack n play.
If none of the first suggestions sound like good options for your family, then I’d recommend following the instructions below to build a platform to safely lower your crib mattress to an appropriate height so your baby can’t climb out.

If you’re worried about your baby trying to get out of the crib, and your mattress is at the lowest setting already, this platform is easy to build, inexpensive, and doesn’t take long to put together. It’s not the prettiest, but it’ll be covered by the mattress, and there’s a few options to hide it if you want to.

Here’s what you’ll need:

2×4 pieces of wood cut to the lengths you need (see below)
14 3.5in wood screws (here)
Drill

Total cost: About $15 for the wood and screws, we already had a drill on hand

Steps:

Measure your mattress to see how big you need the platform to be. Ours is 27×52, and it sounds like most crib mattresses are that size. But double check just in case.
Figure out what sizes you need your wood cut into. (Fun fact: 2x4s are NOT actually 2×4 inches. They are really 1.5×3.5 inches. Keep this in mind when planning out your sizing). Here are the lengths to use for that size mattress: Two 51in pieces, two 26in pieces, and three 23in pieces. (You could also just do two 51in pieces and five 23in pieces if you want to put all of the smaller pieces between the two long ones)
You can buy 2x4s at your local hardware store. We went to Home Depot, where they will cut your wood for free. I assume a lot of stores will cut it for you, but if not, you may have to cut the wood yourself.
Then, you’ll put it together. Build a rectangle frame with the 51in and 26in pieces of wood. I put the 26in pieces at the end of the 51in pieces (pictured above) and drilled two screws in each corner to connect them. Then, place the three 23in pieces evenly inside of the rectangle, and secure each end with at least one screw. So, we used 14 wood screws total.
Put the platform under the bed and place the mattress on top. You can either leave the platform as is, paint it, or put a crib skirt around the bottom to hide it.

Tip: It’s easier to get the screws into the wood if you drill holes in the wood first with a drill bit. Just make sure you use the right size for your screw size. If it’s too big, the screw won’t work.

This is obviously just a temporary solution, but it should buy us some more time before he can really make it over the edge at this level.

If you’re just thinking ahead, and are still expecting, you might like my post 8 Things You Should Know About Pregnancy.

Kirsten