jack has always been pretty good about falling asleep on his own. i plop him in his crib when he starts looking sleepy, give him a kiss and walk out the door...usually he crawls around a little bit, and within 10 minutes he's asleep. (key word: usually.)
since he discovered his newfound acrobatic skills in pulling himself up onto things, though, life has changed. unless he's comPLETEly exhausted, i now plop him in the crib and he spends the next 20+ minutes doing this:
it's totally cute and i'm glad he's improving his little skills (except when he slips and faceplants and screams, and then we have to come get him & calm him down & do the whole process over again), but this is definitely impacting bedtime. typically i just leave him in there to play around, and after 20 minutes he realizes he's tired and just stand at the corner of his bed crying. i go in, lay him back down because apparently he forgot how, he screams for 30 seconds, and then he's out like a light.
i'm guessing this is just a phase, like every other funny little thing that happens to babies, but do you have any tips for shortening his playtime and/or helping him go to sleep quicker? [obviously i can't strap him to the bed to discourage climbing, though that would definitely simplify things.] or do i just wait it out?
9 comments:
I TOTALLY remember Paige doing this. For us it was a stage. I used to try and go in and lay her down but it just made her REALLY angry. If he is doing what he is doing and it is only taking 30 sec, I'd LEAVE it alone! I am sure that playtime will decrease as it becomes "old hat" and he knows it is nap time. I'd say it was a stage. Paige grew out of it. Sometimes she'd play longer than others but mostly she gave it up. Such a cutie! Good luck.
I don't have any advice since I'm not yet a Mommy, but goodness - that little guy is cute! (That is all. =) )
Just imagine if he had a little buddy in there with him...
I'm sure it's just a phase, but a phase my kids never got out of. It still takes them forever to fall asleep. Sometimes up to 2 hours. For a nap.
It's annoying for sure. You want to be able to put your kids down and have them be down, for a break. If you have to keep going in there, it kinda defeats the purpose. I'm sure he'll figure it out, the whole lying back down when he's ready part. Best of luck!
I had the same problems and wanted to try and figure out a way to make him not play so that he'd sleep better. But, you are right in your next observation...it's good for him to look how to play and discover on his own, and probably, within a week or so, he'll learn how to sit back down on his own and fall asleep. He probably just gets stuck once he's standing, but he'll learn quickly how to get back down.
I love that video, he's so cute!
I don't know what to tell you, it's probably very temporary. You might consider taking your bumpers off since he's moving all around and it could be something that trips him up.
I think almost every kids gets to the point where they start doing this. Sounds to me like you've reached the point where you actually have to have a bedtime routine. It doesn't have to be long... for Zach I would wait to put his jammies on until it was time for bed. I'd him him 1-2 books, sing him a couple songs, say a prayer, say night night and put him down. It probably took me five minutes, but it quickly signaled to him that it was time to settle down and go to bed now. good luck!
It is indeed a phase and it just gets worse from here on out...in a cute way, though! He will move on to jumping up and down while holding onto the rail and then will eventually learn how to climb his way out! Boys are monkeys! Is your crib bed adjustable and can be moved down a few notches? If so, try that and see if it works. That helped us. We also took the bumpers out because they seemed to just cause more harm than good! Best of luck! Isn't first time parenting so crazy at times!?
oh my gosh..i want to hug him through the computer screen! i love his little football jammies :) but I think my most favorite thing in that video is his grunting noises. He is working so hard! So adorable.
No advice here except that if I were you I would go in everynight and record his shenanigans because that video was ADORABLE.
I have an old video of James actually falling asleep while standing in the corner. Just as he'd start to doze he would start to fall. He'd startle, wake himself, open his eyes and then start drifting again.
I'm of the opinion that they can sleep whenever they are ready, but they better be in their beds not bugging me.
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