13 Mo Old And PNP...Concern??

[tenderhearts]

I have a new one.. I have a dcb who is almost 14 mo old and in the past 2 days he has been lifting and folding the pad in the bottom of the pnp and sleeping on the very bottom of the pnp. I'm worried that it will fall on top of him while he's sleeping, I don't think it would suffocate him since it's a hard surface and wont contour to him but it still worries me, any suggestions on how to keep it down? I have none.
He is NOT capable of sleeping on a mat yet, NO way....

[Symphony]

I have had TWO kids do this! How strange! I just sat by them for about a week and said no thank you, laying them back down when they started to mess with it. One of them started to scoot his little bum until the mat was smushed up. He was over 12 months, so I put a sheep skin at the bottom of the pnp and he wasn't able to scootch it that way anymore.

I really can't imagine how this would be in anyway comfortable!

[JenNJ]

I have had kids do this. I fastened the velcro straps where they were supposed to be, put the pnp sheet on, and sat there (out of their sight but I could see them) until they tried to pull it. Once they pulled and tried to loosen it, I said firmly and loudly, "NO!" They stopped. Rinse, lather, repeat. It only takes one day to teach them it is not safe or acceptable.

It IS a safety issue for sure bc it is a piece of equipment being used improperly.

Not being mean or rude BUT -- How long were you away from this child? For him to pull it up and fall asleep, it seems as if it was too long between checks. I do rounds every 5 minutes when the kids are settling down and every 15 once they are asleep. I can also hear every single noise any of them make no matter where I am in the house. He is too young to be left alone long enough to do this.

[tenderhearts]

Ok Wow. Well I DO check on them frequently. At about a year old every 15 -20 min. He was sound asleep and was sleeping "normal" for the first 2 hours. I have a monitor in there, heard nothing in the "between" times. So he did this in a 15 -20 min period and I'm assuming WHILE sleeping, SO he was NOT in this position more than 20 min. He moves alot during his sleep, he always has.

[nannyde]

I have a new one.. I have a dcb who is almost 14 mo old and in the past 2 days he has been lifting and folding the pad in the bottom of the pnp and sleeping on the very bottom of the pnp. I'm worried that it will fall on top of him while he's sleeping, I don't think it would suffocate him since it's a hard surface and wont contour to him but it still worries me, any suggestions on how to keep it down? I have none.
He is NOT capable of sleeping on a mat yet, NO way....

Oh friend that's so dangerous. You have to get him out of that.

You can try putting a fitted mitted sweatshirt on him at nap to block of his ability to pick with his fingers. I have an example here:

http://www.nanshouse.com/apps/photos/photo?photoid=106924235

http://www.nanshouse.com/apps/photos/photo?photoid=106924234

http://www.nanshouse.com/apps/photos/photo?photoid=106924236

He may really settle with his hands mitted. Little babies love it and sometimes the older babies do too. The thicker the better. Keeps their hands toasty warm and soothes them. If he likes cloth he can **** the cloth. Just make a couple of them so that you can wash every day.

You HAVE to supervise him if he can do this every second. Can you put a video cam on him? The mitted sweatshirt may work but if not you are going to have to find a solution. You don't want him falling thru and getting entrapped in the cross rails underneath.

[Cat Herder]

Please don't see this as an attack. Please.

It really is not that difficult to transition them at 12 months to a mat. That is what I have always done.

My worst PNP sleepers do so much better on the mat. I swear!!

If you need to you can place his napmat on the floor surrounded by a baby gate/playpen.

He really is telling you it is time...

[tenderhearts]

Thanks for sharing the pics of those sweatshirts nan. Do you think at almost 14 mo. he'll wear it? I really don't think he would transition to a floor mat, but if he keeps doing this I"ll have to find something else to do.

oh and catherder I did not feel like you attacked me at all...I felt the other poster was accusing me of not watching him when I do check on them every 15-20 min. I do not have a video cam but I do have a monitor but he's in the room right next to me.

[DCMomOf3]

I have pnp's that have Velcro straps sticking the mat to the pnp bottom. do yours have that? Otherwise, really, if Nans's shirts don't work, the only think i think to do is transition to a mat.

[laundrymom]

I agree with the others,.... Please keep him from under that mat. I think I would cut a piece of plywood, to fit the pnp. and liquid nail the pnp pad to it and pop it in the bottom. Permanently.

[JenNJ]

OK - this is getting out of hand. People post questions about saftey issues and if I respond that YES, it is safety issue and the child needs more supervision (clearly since it happened twice) I am the big meanie.

If you just want sunshine all the time, don't ask real questions and expect real answers. I said it nicely and did not attack you at all. I asked how long he was left when this happened. You said in your original post that he lifted and folded the pad. This led me to believe he was awake BC I have never seen a child do this while sleeping.

He could DIE. I'm not going to sugarcoat everything to protect and adults feelings when a child's safety is at stake. He needs more supervision to stop this behavior. End of story.

[Abigail]

The joys of owning a pack n play!

[marniewon]

I have had kids do this also. They have done it in less than 5 minutes (which is how often I check until they fall asleep) so it's not necessarily an issue about not checking them often enough!

Stupidly, I never realized that there were velcro straps that could be used to keep the "mattress" in place. OP - did you know that? I seriously felt dumb when I posted pretty much the same post months ago and someone told me about the straps.

This is a huge safety issue, which I believe the OP understands, otherwise she would not have come to this forum to ask about it!. Like I said previously, I had the same problem, and for the same (safety) reason, I came here for a solution. I'm glad that people were able to give me the solution without the judgement.

[tenderhearts]

thanks marniewon, I did not know about the straps either, and I have now checked both of my pnp, the one he is in does not have that but the other one I have does, I had NO idea.

[Greenshadow]

I just switched my daycare kids to mats. I used the mats from the pack n plays for them to sleep on on the floor now. They've all transitioned perfectly! Even the little boy who rolls around and used to pull up the mat (until I realized it had those straps! LOL!). It took him a bit longer to go to sleep on the floor on his mat but he did it, which was more than I thought he'd do! I thought I'd have to switch him back to the pack n play but I didnt. Maybe give that a shot...Good luck!

[mickey2]

This seems to be a common thing that some little ones do. My husband cut pieces of plywood for 3 of my pnps and it works well. I put the plywood in the pnp then the mat on top of the plywood. The sheet over top of the mat and the plywood. They can not lift it.

The plywood is also great for a child to play on when you need to put a child in a pnp to play as it just wipes up if the child messes or is drooling etc rather than having to completely wash the mat all the time.