My 6 Mo Old Now Stands up in Crib Crying - Can't Seem to Get Down...

All three of my kids went through this and it only lasted a week or so. I would go in and put them down once and then if they did it again I would let them cry for longer - maybe 5-10 minutes before going in again. Each time I would make them wait longer in between and they would start to realize that it was better to stay down. If you go in right away every time then they start to use it as a way to get you to come in the room whenever they don't want to sleep. In a week or so he will probably learn how to get down and this won't be a problem anymore, I hope! Good luck! D.

Hi K.,

6 months is a big developmental stage, usually babies practice new things in their sleep that they are also learning in the day. when my daughter was six months she all of a sudden wanted to play in the middle of the night. I sat her next to me and gave her a toy and she usually fell asleep quickly. maybe he wants to crawl around a little, I never turned on the lights or acted like it was day. For me this didn't last very long.

I agree with Harmony, so much is coming online for your little guy right now - his world is expanding daily. He's only been here for about 180 days, imagine how blown away he is every day by all the new things he's figuring out. And all these developmental milestones are accompanied by sleep disturbances, as his rest time is spent processing all this new info. My daughter, 11.5 months, always has difficulties with her sleep when she's learning new things -right now it's walking.
Physical growth is accompanied by sounder sleep. Mental/developmental growth generally causes sleep disturbances.
Also separation anxiety comes into play around this time - as he's getting more mobile he is seeking reassurance that you'll be there for him.
I encourage you to help him get back to sleep. Take a little extra time when you're helping him back to sleep to be sure he's *really* asleep before laying him back in his crib. There will be time later for helping him to get to sleep on his own, but right now it sounds like he needs a little extra reassurance from you. If he knows he can trust you now it'll pay off big time later on!
Good luck,
A.

Let him cry and get himself down. He eventually will, even if he falls while doing it. He can't hurt himself in the crib. If he knows you'll rescue him every time, it will be a never-ending cycle of getting mom up at night.

He will eventually get himself back to sleep, too. Although, if you're opposed to some crying, this may not work for you.

I recommend the book Healthy Sleep Habit, Happy Child, by Marc Weissbluth. It actually addresses this very issue of night crib standing.

Good luck!

Hi K.,

I have three children and the only one of them to ever do this is the baby (now 10 mos old). I was completely frustrated because if I put her down for a nap she would pop up and hold on to the side of the crib and cry and cry. I always joke she is like Jesus on the cross the way she will even fall asleep with her little arms up on the crib rail and her head down just hanging there. It is sad, but I had to just let her figure it out because we went over and over it and it frankly just made her mad when I went in there, laid her down and then left again. It took her about a week of me not rescuing her to figure out how to fall down from that position and it did really mess with her sleep for a while but now she has figured it out and gets up and cries for a less than a minute and then lays herself down and goes to sleep.

I know that isn't much help!

K.

I didn't read all the advice so I might be repeating, but we JUST went through this. What worked for my daughter was for me to stand next to the crib and put my hands in close to the mattress and encourage her to reach for my hands. At first she was really scared and would cry and grab onto the crib rail, but I verbally reassured her and she knew I was there. It only took a few times of her learning to do this completely on her own and she got it. After I saw her get down on her own, then I let her cry it out if I needed but not until then. It's really scary for them, they are stuck and do not know what to do. I thought it was automatic, if they could get up they could get down, my little one had a rough 2 days before I read in a book she didnt know:)
good luck!
It's an amazing wild ride from this point on, they learn new things everyday...on a much faster scale than when they were first born and it's so fun!