Door Knob Locks vs. Baby Gates for Transitioning LO to a Bed

mrs.bridgettkay · October 2010

Let me preface this by saying DD is very happy in her crib and we have no intentions of transferring her to a toddler bed until she's no longer happy in a crib. But I wonder, what do you use, door knob locks or a baby gate to get your LO to stay in their room? If you use a baby gate, do you put it right in front of the door? And I'm sure door knob locks may work better but I just feel like I'd be locking DD in her room (which I guess is the same thing that's done with a gate).

sar17 · October 2010

neither, i just can't lock my child in his room... as much as i've wanted to in the past... we just walk him back to his bed. It may take some time for the first week or month or so depending on the child of course.

JandJ7879 · October 2010

We didn't use anything. Like PP, I don't like the feeling we are "locking" our daughter in her room. Granted, we are in a single story house so we don't have to worry about stairs. If we did, I'm sure we'd use a gate. DD likes having her door cracked. We got pretty lucky, she will not get out of bed until we go in her room.

st.lucia bride · October 2010

We use a baby gate, one of the ones you open by stepping down w/your foot. If we didn't use it DD would never stay in her room (and she's been in a toddler bed for about 9 months now). We put it right in the doorway, the door doesn't close fully but that's fine since we went to be able to hear her and we don't want her to feel isolated.

ironmommy · October 2010

We use a gate that is just a few inches in front of her door. I didn't do this at first, but then I read in Ferber's book that he recommends it after transitioning to a toddler bed -- it turns the room into a crib, he says, and helps maintain that parental control.

She actually loves that gate and will come out of her room, close her door, and sit between the door and the gate if she wakes up at night. I don't think she needs the gate anymore (we transitioned last spring), but it seems to be a comfort for her.

ncbelle · October 2010

Neither - if he ever comes out (which is not often), we just walk him back in. Right now we usually sit with him a bit until he falls asleep or is really sleepy - but he's starting to just go lay down and go to sleep on his own (when we ask him to) without us needing to sit with him.

I want him to be able to get out when he needs something - I honestly think that's what makes him happy in his big bed (although he was never in a crib really as we bed shared until 15 months).

anna7602 · October 2010

We don't use anything. DD wanted a bed, she specifically started asking for one when she was about 27 months old. We got her one and explained that part of the responsibility of having a big girl bed was staying in it at night. This has seemed to work well and we haven't had any issues with her wandering around.

We don't have any gates at all in our house anymore now that DD can safely navigate everything.

anna7602 · October 2010

ironmommy:

We use a gate that is just a few inches in front of her door. I didn't do this at first, but then I read in Ferber's book that he recommends it after transitioning to a toddler bed -- it turns the room into a crib, he says, and helps maintain that parental control.

This is one of the strangest things I've read. What is "that" parental control?

Meg&Jesse · October 2010

JandJ7879:

We didn't use anything. Like PP, I don't like the feeling we are "locking" our daughter in her room. Granted, we are in a single story house so we don't have to worry about stairs. If we did, I'm sure we'd use a gate. DD likes having her door cracked. We got pretty lucky, she will not get out of bed until we go in her room.

We are also in a single story house and have a gate that we shut each night that goes to the basement...just in case (although we hear the monitor alarm if DS was to get out of the bed, but still....)

So, even if you had stairs, wouldn't you put the gate at the top of the stairs and not in front of your LO's room?

I responded to the post below too...I find this whole concept of keeping an LO "locked" in their room strange.

bethelon · October 2010

We sleep with all doors closed, in case of fire. However, we put a gate up right outside of her closed door, so she can open her door, but can't get out of the gate. We aren't worried about her getting out in the mornings, etc. But she's starting to shows signs of my sleeping walking habits (which I was a really big sleep walker during childhood) and her bedroom is right at the top of the stairs.

jays_bride · October 2010

We used a gate, that way DD could still see out and into our room (we are across the hall). When she wakes, she goes to the gate and says, "Momma, I'm awake now!" and I can go get her. I would feel horrible about closing her door ~ like it's a punishment or something. Then again, we aren't a closed door household...

mrsmikey · October 2010

We locked him in his room at first, but he never got out of bed, so we stopped doing that. Now we just shut the door (he insists that we shut it) and have a gate at the top of the stairs. DS is upstairs and we're downstairs.

The only reason I locked it in the first place was b/c I was paranoid about him falling down the stairs, even though we have a gate. Just double security. If we had a one story house I don't think I would have worried about it.

Brewtowngrl · October 2010

We use a door knob lock. He can get it off quicker then I can, but it deters him. We will probably gate the area from his room to the bathroom soon. We sleep on a different floor and I worry about him wondering the first floor without us noticing.

JustMarried2005 · October 2010

We used to use nothing, and would walk him back to his room when he woke up. However, we found him downstairs at 3AM a few months ago, wide awake and running around. It was really scary for us so we put a lock on his door and gated the top of the stairs. We are moving in a few months and will transition him to just having a gate in front of the door at that point.

LuckySunshineBaby · October 2010

We use the door knob lock. DD is an exceptional climber and we live in an older, two story home. There is a half wall outside her room that blocks the steps. We planned on using a gate at the top of the steps until we watch DD bring a toy out of her room, put it against the half wall and climb the 1/2 wall. If she dropped down the side of the half wall (on the one side) it would be a 10.5 foot drop. It's simply not safe and there is no way to block it.

She can climb out of her crib (though she very rarely does). She'll transition to a Big Girl bed after the holidays and we are planning on gating off the hallway in a way that will eliminate the use of the door lock. We flipped the handle so the lock is on the outside of the door, since she can unlock and open doors.

At the end of the day, it came down to our house just not being safe for her to be unattended and I was fearful I wouldn't hear her (despite the monitors) to wake up.

Her Angelcare has a temperature alarm (as well as a smoke alarm in her room and in the upstairs hallway) so we don't worry as much about the fire aspect of locking her in her room.

mommydale · October 2010

We use a gate. One of the gate's that has the door for DD. We didn't use it until she figured out she could open the door, then we had to do it because, unlike her brother who is only 2 months older, she is not stable enough on stairs, and we have both a basement and an upstairs. We didn't want her wandering at night and she's very known for wandering around. She loves her bedroom door being shut at night. And the gate she loves because its always there so if she doesn't want her brother in her room she can shut him out. Since they have toys in each room there is no issue with her not letting him in either. With DS we don't have that issue because he's very good about not wandering and just staying in his bedroom.

DD had to transition as she learned to climb out of her crib.

lmdbww · October 2010

We put a gate in her doorway.

She only tried to climb it once and when I caught her in the act, I told her if she does it again, i'm going to take it down and close her door all the way when she's sleeping. She hasn't tried it since. lol

jnksmom · October 2010

Neither...I don't feel comfortable having my child locked in his/her room. I want them to be able to come get me if they need something. DS has never gotten up unless he needs something or in the mornings when he wakes up. DD tried getting up at first but we just walked her back to her bed and after about 2 weeks she stopped and now only gets up to go potty or when she wakes up in the morning.

We now live in a 1-story but when we had a 2-story house we just put the gate at the top of the stairs.

LukeAndAmanda · October 2010

We have to use an actual lock. She's outsmarted the door knob covers, and can scale a gate in a flat second. I have her monitor turned up really loud, but she's stealthy I guess. Twice we've found her out of her room and across the house, and I'm just not okay with taking that chance. Weird to lock her in her room, maybe, but knowing that she is capable of opening most doors to/from the house is enough for me to handle the weird part of keeping her door locked at night.

Want a personalized experience?

Door Knob Locks vs. Baby Gates for Transitioning LO to a Bed

Re: Door Knob Locks vs. Baby Gates for Transitioning LO to a Bed

Choose Another Board

Search Boards