Toddler sleep issues

My DS is 22 months (almost) and he's recently started having trouble sleeping at night. It seems like separation anxiety because if either I or DH stays in the room he will go back to sleep. It's happening both when we put him down and in the middle of the night. He's also been capable of climbing out of his crib since June. So when we put him down at night he just repeatedly climbs out until one of us stays in the room.

I do not want this to become habit (our staying in there), but I'm not sure what to do. Should we convert to the toddler bed? I'm worried about him wandering around the room though as he's a very skilled climber (his furniture is anchored). Anyone have any other tips for separation anxiety at night with an older child?

Toddler sleep issues

DS1 started to get like that - we had 2 nights of really bad sleep because we would take away his soother if he didn't stay in his bed. He cried for hours... We took the front off of his crib, but put a gate up at his door, so he can get out of the crib, but not out of the room. He is also a climber and his furniture is also anchored. We found that just keeping him in his room was not enough since he was unplugging his camera, trying to get things off his dressers, opening his shades, etc. So we started taking the soother as soon as he got up. If he got up again, we took the blanket and his bear away. Eventually, we told him he could earn them back if he stayed in bed for 2 minutes. It took a few days, but he's stopped getting out of bed once we put him in. It also probably helps that he's had his soother since he was born - it has a light and has soothing sounds.

Re: Toddler sleep issues

Bumping to see if there are more suggestions!