Night Waking - Rochester,NY

My son, now 2, has been a great sleeper. However there were a couple of times when he started to wake up, but each only lasted a couple of days, and I think that was only because we really stuck to our routine and not taking him out. These were all phases, and passed pretty quickly. When he started to pull himself up, he would get up and sometimes he was still sleep. He was sort of night walking without the walking, and then my paediatrician explained to me that a lot of kids do that because of the excitement and wanting to practice. I worried that he would bump his head, but then I started teaching him how to fall. That helped a lot. In the living room, I have an ottoman, and he would use that to pull himself up and then He would let go and fall on his butt. He loved it, thought it was the funniest thing. Once he learns how to get back down, then you probably should not go in to rescue him, but until then there doesn't seem to be much choice. Maybe take your time going in there, and he'll be tired and not want to get back up. Try to teach him how to fall in the day time, and he'll connect the dots. Good luck.

If you pick him up, Dr. Weissbluth recommends putting him back standing up, so that he has nowhere to go but down. They say not to worry too much about him falling or bumping his head.

Hello SAHM

Well this is fairly common for babies to change their Cycle

I would say at first peep, runn into the room and give him his pacifier, stroke his head and rub his cheek and leave
DO NOT TALK- this stimulates him

I say run - because if you let him cry he get over stimulated and it takes longer to fall back asleep, so less suffering for everyone

After a few weeks of this,it will become routine,
you introduce a soft blanket to his face and hands

and place his pacifier into the corner of his crib and make him reach up for it,

If he doesn't use a pacifier, then just the blanket

its a comfort that is tangible and soothing and familiar, that he associates with you,

He can sooth him self back to sleep after a while

all in all it shouldn't take longer than a month to get him back on track, and to teach him to self soothe.

M
Waterbury

Hi C.,
Pretty typical stuff for when they're learning new motor skills--happened with my son Eli, too. I found Tracy Hogg's book "The Baby Whisperer Solves All Your Problems (By Teaching YOu How to Ask the Right Questions) extremely helpful with many sleep-related issues, including this one. She advocates a middle of the road position on sleep--not leaving babes to cry it out, but also not allowing parents to become prisoners to their kids--by teaching parents how to teach their children to go to sleep and get back to sleep once they wake up. I highly recommend her methods--they are very sound in terms of the attachment literature and strike a great balance between making yourself available and teaching your child skills that will enable him/her to self-soothe and be more independent re: sleep and in other areas as well. Good luck to you!

K.

C.,

Sounds like to get him to sleep at night you were using Dr. Farber's technique which I am a firm believer in.

For nap time, you should use the same principles. Go in after a few minutes to lay him back down and leave... wait a little bit longer go in again and lay him donw... wait even longer and repeat etc... until he finally passses out. It's more tiring on you in the first few days but once he gets the idea that you aren't disappearing, he will settle down. Dr. Farber says that most of the problem in this situation is the child is unsure as to whether you will return. Going back after longer periods of time puts that to rest (pardon the pun) and the child will settle comfortably knowing you haven't fallen off the face of the earth.

Good Luck!

My son did the same thing. We practiced sitting down in the crib during the day after naps and within a few days he was able to do it himself. Hang in there!