12 mo hoiking himself out of cot - help!

My 12mo son has learnt that if he stands at the edge of his cot and grabs onto the bars (with his arms over the side of the cot) he can hoik himself up and grab on to the bars and lift his feet off the mattress, all the while screaming for attention). My DH said he found him like that at 6.30am this morning while he was warming his bottle - I am worried he is going to hurl himself out!!

We have the Ikea Snigglar (??) cot, which seems pretty "deep" to me, but does anyone know of any deeper cots? has anyone else had this problem? I am wondering whether we should just take the side off the cot and treat it as a toddler bed but get one of those guard rails to stop him rolling out? It's probably safer that he falls out of bed when its a 20cm drop than hurls himself over the bars!?!?!

Thats what i was going to suggest too, its far more dangerous for him to climb out of the cot than be in a bed. you can always put an extra m,attress down on the floor next to the bed JIC.

Sounds like he is ready for a bed! Or even just a matress on the floor least he won't hurt himself if he rolls out. My Nephew was in a bed at 12mths and coped well with the transition. My boy hasn't discovered he can climb out of the cot, although he will climb on to things to get on the couch or to reach the table, so I think we won't be far away from getting a bed.

Good Luck!

I would take the sides off we have always done that once they have worked out how to get out. The other thing you could try is putting him in a sleeping bag at night as it will make it harder for him to get up and get himself over the bars.
My sister does this with her two and they have never gotten out of the cot yet. One is 2½ and the other 1½

My son starting climbing out of the cot at 12 months. He was walking at 10 months and decided he didn't like the cot. The first time he fell from the top of the cot to the ground. We heard a big thud and went in and he was on the floor on his back. It really scared us. He must of been trying to do it for a while. So that is when he moved into the single bed. We didnt have a toddler bed. We were going to buy one because our cot doesnt turn into a bed but decided it was a waste of money.

Anyway if he is doing that he could easily fall. Luke did and if he stayed there he would of kept doing it. It is very early though to go into a bed. We did have trouble keeping him in bed to go to sleep but it worked out in the end and was a lot better than than a serious accident happening.

MY SIL is having probs with her 18mth old DD climbing but it was only happening during her day sleep when she didn't get put down in a sleeping bag. Maybe you can try him sleeping in a bag so he can't lift his leg up and hoik himself over. Otherwise it sounds like time for a bed!