We still have the bumpers on Jack's crib and he's 13 months old. I was talking about this with a friend the other day and she was saying how soon he will learn to climb on them to get out.

We tried pulling his bumpers out months ago and he did not sleep well without them. He's all over the place and was bumping his head on the wood.

Anyone have any bumper advice? Should we be trying to pull those things out of there again? Can they really use them to climb out?

My DH says he used the bumpers to climb out when he was little. But we were able to remove Ronald's when he was around 8 months old, and he did ok without them. He bumped his head a few times (not very hard though), but then learned not to do it.

Ok...I have to brag a minute.... My LO did the cutest thing last night. I rocked him before bed, then laid him down to bed and put his lovey next to him. My Ronald reached out and put his arm around his lovey and hugged him. It was sooooo sweet. Do yours ever do sweet stuff like that, where your heart just swells with joy?

April-mommy to Ronald- 1 year old

Kristi - I think you should wait and see how hard Jack's actually trying to get out.
They can use bumpers to escape, but plenty of kids don't care to get out of their cribs.
My three year old climbed everything (over baby gates, couches, lattice-work walls...) but never once tried to get out of his crib - and he slept in one until he was almost two-and-a-half!
He loved his crib & still remembers it with great fondness (!!), & maybe Jack does, too.
So don't worry unless he's actively trying to get outta there. Every kid's different.
And RonaldsMom - they just get cuter and sweeter the older they get!
Just wait until your son's talking in complete sentences and just turns around one day (for no reason at all!) and says "Mommy, you make me happy," like mine did about three months ago. I'll never forget, and my heart's still melting at the memory.

I agree Kristi, I wouldn't worry unless he is trying to get out. We removed Ronald's because my son is a little clone of my husband, and my husband was a climber. Just didn't want to take any chances, ya know. If he sleeps better with them, then I wouldn't worry to remove them unless you really need to. Ronald didn't seem to care, I almost think he liked it better without because he can see out better.

Ronald has hugged that bear every night since, and I continue to swoon the same way every night. He started giving hugs to us a couple of weeks ago, and now he does it all the time. Just comes up to me, throws his arms out, and buries his head into me. Soooo sweet!

Acccccck!
We just had a bumper disaster. First time anything bad has happened with the bumpers. And they have officially been taken out as of about 20 minutes ago.
I put Jack down for his nap and flicked the monitor on. I'm sitting here working and all of a sudden he's screaming bloody murder. I run in there and he managed to climb between the crib rail and the bumper and get himself stuck.
Nothing was choking him or anything but he was lodged in there pretty good. It scared him.

So....we've finally gotten rid of the bumpers. We'll see how he sleeps at night without them...