Tuesday, April 5, 2011

A Momma's Cry for Help!

I posted recently {I think} that Grayson has started crawling.  In addition to crawling, he is also now constantly pulling up on things.  I did NOT think these 2 things would come at the same time!  He is not too balanced yet and often falls when he tries to stand up.  He's been getting lots of head bonks as a result.  But he keeps on tryin' and tryin'.

Unfortunately, now when we put him in his crib, he just crawls around and plays and pulls up on the sides.  Which means it's almost impossible to get this kid to go to sleep in his crib!  We've let him cry and cry, but he just keeps sitting up and moving around.  Eventually, when it's waaaay past his bedtime, I give up, and put him in his swing where he'll fall asleep.   Then later, Josh will transfer him to the crib where he'll sleep the rest of the night. 

{This was 2 different days.  We peeked in and found him standing up!}

Did any of you other moms have this problem?  What happened when your babies got mobile and could crawl and sit up and pull up?  How do I get him to go to sleep in his crib?

PLEASE HELP!

I'd love any of your suggestions, tips, advice, comments, whatever!


thankssomuch :)

6 comments:

The Daytons said...

I don't know if this will help but I'll tell you anyway. I do remember the day this happened to Owen and it sure was not as fun as I thought, haha. Isn't it funny how you are so excited for your child to be more mobile (since it is a huge milestone and all) and yet when it does happen after a few days it really isn't as fun as you thought for you, of course. Sometimes you find yourself wanting the previous days back:) Anyway, we always swaddled Owen and we do it with Benson as well, so I don't know if this will work since Gray isn't used to it from the beginning. So, they have swaddle blankets called Swaddle Me's(you can find them pretty much anywhere, babies r us, target, walmart, etc. They velcro shut so you can swaddle your baby. So, when Owen got to the stage that Gray is at he was still being swaddled so he couldn't use his arms to get around. I do realize this may make Gray upset, but I figured I'd give the advice I had. Also, when Owen was about Gray's age he liked to sleep with his fingers in his mouth so I would just swaddle one arm in and leave the other out, he still couldn't get around. Good Luck!

Tammy said...

Was he sleeping in the swing to begin with? I think this is just a transition for both of you. He will eventually get tired and go to sleep, if you let him go. They do play in their cribs for a time, but they do get tired and fall asleep. I think you need to just let him go. It is a change for the both of you--life is continually like that. I say just make sure you are training him to sleep in the crib, and not him training you to eventually put him in the swing. It will be hard, but try and win the battle. That's my suggestion--mother of four.

Andrea . Charcoal and Crayons said...

We recently went through this with our son.
Tiring him out during the day sometimes helped.
The Jolly Jumper is a wonderful thing for that!
Also, we have a bath time/bed time routine and I think reading the same story every night followed by a little cuddle time really helped.
Every night, I follow the same order... read the story, cuddle (or nursed, when I was still breastfeeding), put him in his crib, turn out his light, then exit the room, leaving the door open just a crack.
Now he usually cries for 30 seconds if at all. If he does cry for more than 10-15 minutes, I'll just go in and change him if necessary and hold him and rock him.
I used to worry about doing this... there are so many opinions out there on this and letting him cry forever just didn't work for us.
Some nights have been hard, but I just keep reminding myself that he's only a baby for such a short time... and years from now, I'll miss being able to rock him to sleep.

Amber said...

As was mentioned above, for us it has been all about the routine. A bath at night really helped Greg when he was little. Both of my boys also have their little snuggly blanket animal. It really helps soothe them. We are let them cry type of parents. I set a timer at first and won't let myself go in before 30 minutes. Then I'll hold/rock for a bit to get him calmed down, then put him back in the crib. And repeat. Good luck!

Bemily said...

I agree with the above statements. It's all about the routine. We've been doing the same routine since we brought Rud home. Books, Bath, Bed. We also give him a transitional bedtime animal "Pups". The animal only stays in the crib so he knows it's bedtime. He sleeps through the night so it works for us!

Even though Rud is standing up in the crib and crawling around, he only does it in the morning when he's ready to get out. Hope that helps!! Good luck!

Jonathan and Laura said...

We had to start a routine of reading books and/or singing. I did it for about 10-15 minutes which made Macy tired enough that she didn't want to crawl around. I also had to be sure she got enough crawling/standing up time during the day so she would be tired at night. Sure she cried some nights but she eventually would go to sleep. Good luck.