Baby standing in crib!

Hi Did not read everyones posts, so if I repeat what is already said, please excuse me! :-) I have a 7 month old who always slept well until I was home for 2 months and upon my return she started waking at night. Like yours, mine also stand up the moment I put her down. She was never taught how to go to sleep by herself as I always fed her till she fell asleep. I tried the cry it out method and nearly went insane! After 6 days I gave it up as she would stand up and then fall down and hurt herself. So I took the advise from one of the ladies on Expat and bought the book - The baby whisperer. At your baby's age you will do the same as I do which is the pick up/put down (PU/PD) method. It is tedious at first but believe me I am already seeing some improvement after just 1 day. Basically you will once you see your baby rub his eyes etc take him to his room.. Sit quietly for approx 15 - 20 min telling him that he is going to go to sleep and you will be right there, that all is alright. Then put him in the crib.. If he is at all like mine he will get up immediately (mine thought it was a game at first! lol). you dont make any eye contact and you wait until he is standing fully, then pick him up and lay him down straight away. This is going to go on until he falls asleep - my first day took 1 hour, 25 min. So patience is key!! If he is crying (mine dont cry) you can console him but the moment he stops crying you lay him down again. you do this with nap time and night time until he falls asleep. For the first time my girl is sleeping more than 30 min! A note on the sleep time. I put my daughter to bed at 8 as she sleeps 11 hours and for me (a stay at home mom) its best to have a routine from 8 - 7 as oppose to 7 - 6. Hope this helps. :-)

I agree with Kiwis on her first question - can he get down? I haven't been through this yet, however my DS who is just 9 months today recently started sitting up in his cot when I'd put him down at nap time. I have a video monitor so can see what is going on! The first few days he did this I would just go in quietly in the dark, lay him down and make sure he had his dummies as I normally do when putting him to bed, then walk out again quietly. I had to do this about 3 times at the start of each nap before he started to understand it was still sleepy time even though he could do this totally cool new trick. After a few days I just left him to see what would happen as I knew he could get down and was getting better at it and eventually he would lie down, sometimes sitting up again to play a bit but eventually lying down to go to sleep. I guess I was lucky that he wasn't having a hissy fit, just not going to sleep....his naps were a bit all over the place for that week but have settled back now. About a week or so before this happened he was starting to protest cry whenever I'd lay him down for a nap which may have been a prelude to the sitting up. Also agree on an earlier bedtime, he may go down easier if he is not too overtired and worked up? Good luck and remember to be as slow and boring at night time as possible - if they know Mummy won't play they eventually get it and go to sleep!!

once he stands up can he get down by himself? I ask because often they learn the standing part first, and you might need to spend some time repetitively teaching him how to get back down again so that if he wakes at 3am he doesn't have to call to you for help. I'm not so much of a "tough lover", so if you want another option..... First I would strongly suggest DH moves into another room for a bit (I'm sure he will be quite happy to) and then you can deal with the issue as you see best without worrrying about its effect on his sleep. Basically make sure you leave the lights off, feed him if he is hungry then explain that night time is for sleeping, and lay him down in his cot (you can keep your hand on his back as reassurance you are there, or rub his bottom etc until he falls back asleep. Try to avoid picking him up, better to lean over the edge of the cot and silently cuddle him until he gets tired and lays down. It might take a while but he will not stand there for 3 hours if you are not talking or playing with him and the room is dark. Plenty of 9 month olds still feed at night but assuming you fed him when woke, being awake between 1am and 4am is not normal (did you by chance turn the lights on and play with him?), I do think 10pm is waaaaay too late a bedtime, in my experience later bedtimes usually lead to less sleep not more. I would shift it back to 8pm at the latest, my son was in bed by 6:30 at that age. After that point it is nightime, there are no lights, no talking (apart from quiet shusshing, no playing, no stories if he wakes he can have milk and cuddles but that is it, anything else will confuse his body clock and he will expect to treat the nights as a series of naps with playtimes in between. If DH gets the night off then its fair enough that he does a shift an hour or so before he starts work (assuming your son is awake and gets up then). My husband simply can't cope with night duty but anything after 6am is his domain and I get to sleep-in uninterrupted until he leaves for work.

DD's crib is also in our bedroom. what time do you put him to bed? do you still give him the dream feed? toys yeah, toys but not the ones he play with..more of to snuggle with.. He went to bed last night at 10pm so I was expecting a good night. The toys I gave him were all cuddly, actually. . If he goes to bed at 10pm...what time is he waking up? If he is sleeping until 9/10am in the morning then I guess it is fine as he is getting at least 11/12hrs sleep, but waking up earlier than that could mean he is not getting enough night time sleep in!? Have to agree with shjbelle though, 10pm is very late for such a young bubba :( It could also be developmental...which means riding it out until the "novelty" wears off :(

That's a bit late for a 9 month old to go to bed. Try putting him to bed at 7pm sharp. It should be easier now that sunset's pretty early nowadays. How many naps does he have in the day? should be 2 at his age. the more he sleeps in the day, the more he will sleep at night. Also, start training him to sleep with noise. do that with the nap times. I asked Cecile before, when do the night feeds end. She said only after they hit their 1 yr. you keep up most nights as well? hhmm.. maybe it is genetic..lol S

I put him down one more time before he slept. I'm dreading tonight. Last night I had to stay up until 4 in the morning because little baby would get up every single time. His crib's in I and DH's bedroom so have to get him out of there so DH can sleep (I'm a SAHM). I can't put his crib in another room since if I get up between sleeping to tend to him I will chase away whatever sleepiness I have (I'm a chronic insomniac). It's a bit of a catch-22 but I put in toys as suggested and he was a bit taken aback and played a little before getting bored and getting up again. Hopefully he'll grow out of it. :( DD's crib is also in our bedroom. what time do you put him to bed? do you still give him the dream feed? toys yeah, toys but not the ones he play with..more of to snuggle with..

yeah..tough love it is. sit somewhere he can see you. and just talk to him in your most calm voice. say, you need to sleep honey. and mummy is here. put something which he is comfy with in there as well. what i did was carry DD til she quieten down and put her back in her cot. it took about 3 days. now, she knows. :)

Mine does to every night! I have also gone for the tough love approach, I make sure there are plenty dummy's in there and he ends up sitting down getting one and falling back to sleep. Not easy to ignore but its getting better now.

I had the same problem....had to go the tough love route until he learnt that I was not going to take him out until he slept. It was pretty hard going. I almost cracked several times, but eventually he got there and then became a great sleeper who could be left alone at sleep time wide awake, day or night. Do it...your sanity depends on it!

Is he only standing or actually getting out of the crib? If he's only standing then I think it might be time for some tough love. He has to learn how to go to sleep on his own.