Would you give your spirited lo a toy in bed at 7 months?

[Fiona (Leah & Kians Mom)]

Ds was textbook spirited but is now definetly spirited. he cannot stay still for one second and is on the floor all over the house all day. This carries on into night time now and when he wakes he tries to crawl whereas before he put himself back to sleep. But he cries when he wakes. Was thinking if I put a soft toy or bear in there would it distract him until he falls back asleep or just make things worse? DD had a small soft doll in her bed but she is an angel.

Sorry if this is in the wrong place, and please move, had no idea where to post it.

[jess, lukeys_mom]

I have no idea whether it will help you with his sleep. But my very spirited ds has been sleeping with a little stuffed elephant since about 5 mo and he is OBSESSED with it! That elephant has come to mean sleep, and ds will wrestle it until he conks out at night...so cute

So I would say it couldn't hurt to at least try it.

One more thing though, sometimes the thrill of crawling and new development steps can cause NWs, however it is usually pretty short lived (until the next milestone ).
jess x

[Deb_in_oz]

every spirited one is different of course and you have nothing to lose except a few nights sleep if it backfires so of course you could try it out.  most spirited lo's though woudl not recognize it as a comfort toy and woudl treat it as a plaything and be up touching it, examining it, squishing it etc getting OT...

to me the answer to crawling at night is tons of practice in the day and then patience as he works through this phase - he will settle down when he has this skil under control (and then will move on to standing unfortunately).  i woudl go in to him if he is crying and shh him a bit and lay him back down if he is in crawl position.  eventually he will move past this.  of course try the toy as obviously based on pp soem spiriteds under a year can handle it - al depends on what type of spirited and what their usual sleeping arrangement is - some can handle just darkness and some need sound machines etc so different coping levels. i woudl make the comfort toy as simple and unadorned as possible.  Liv ended up loving her knit blanket from my mom but i honestly don't rememebrr how old she was when that happened.

[Fiona (Leah & Kians Mom)]

Thanks ladies, my suspicion is that it would become a play thing as opposed to a soothing object. He goes to sleep in his grobag into his bed in the dark thats it.
He has been commando crawling for at least 6 weeks now so I thought the novelty would have worn off by now and he gets to practice for almost all of his wake time, will have to wait and see how it goes.

[Deb_in_oz]

if he is commando crawling maybe he is just really testing the waters to get full blown crawling happening - it takes a lot of effort to lift off the ground. has he been doing the cot crawling for all 6 weeks or is this more recent?

[Fiona (Leah & Kians Mom)]

Deb cot crawling is recent. He can hop up onto his knees now which is so funny but he hasnt yet figured out that he can do more than rock back and foward 
Stacy when did you introduce the blankie? Though I dont think he will go for it , he wouldnt even have a soother despite reflux and colic. Yeah I had 3 of the same soft doll for dd which I could only get in Ireland, 2 of them are still wrapped up in paper never used, maybe I should give him them 

[Deb_in_oz]

i just reread your original post and feel stupid - is the issue his crawling when he wakes or just that he cries instead of resettling.  if the crawling is causing the disturbance i would give it 2 weeks or so to work out. if the issue is just that he now wakes and is not resttling and you want something to help him, then i would be wondering what has changed that he is now crying out - look to see if there is something else going on if it is not related to the crawling - i forgot where you live these days (thinking middle east at some point or am i crazy?) but is it colder in his room lately? any changes recently that would disturb his sleep - what time of night is he waking etc?

[rinajack]

I did a lovie with Zara, I introduced it at about 3mo, and she had it for all naps/nights, even in my arms.  It is now the most priceless item in our home I believe, despite the fact that we have 3.  Any other toys for Zara become a plaything, her lovie she fiddles with....it is a blankie thing with a head.

[jess, lukeys_mom]

in reading pp's i thought i should add, the reason luke started using his elephant is because he liked having something soft on his face when he was getting to sleep and seemed to like that little toy. so it was just for sleep training when he was very young and it stuck. that being said he has been testing me lately by taking his and stuffing it thru the bars of his crib and yelling for me to put it back in though so at an older age i don't know about a toy in the crib!

rina lol i so kwym about the pricelessness of the lovie, i would probably jump in front of a bus to save that thing 

[yaya]

Hello Fiona, I wondered the same thing. Tried repeatedly to introduce a lovey with Thomas but it always led to hr of cot partying. even a lovie, blamkie etc...he now has a little cushion which he cuddles up to once he has chucked it bout a bit but he only started getting hooked ont hat about 15months. EMily, I try to introduce a lovey but she just isnt intrested >EXCEPT, stroking my hair-hence my need to sleep train

[trisharushbrook]

When my girls started crawling we had something similar - They would wake up and shuffle around and eventually get so distracted that they would wake themselves right up and be up for ages.  Once they got up on all fours and eventually crawled, they suddenly both started sleeping on their tummys....it was as if they would get into a crawling position and then collapse asleep in that position (knees under them, butts in the air, face down on the bed)... I tried to change it but they both seemed to love it and still do today. 
One of my girls is so easy going and she has taken to a lovey - she is besotted with labels and anything silky - she's not attached to anything specific - just as long as it's silky.  I would consider my other daughter to be spirited and she never took to anything - I tried several times esp when we had to travel but she never really cared for anything that we gave her.  The only thing I persevered with was a soother/paci as I wanted her to have that on the plane (so her ears wouldn't bother her) and that stuck.
Hopefully this is just a temp thing for you and will pass quickly.

[rinajack]

We went through a phase of the lovie being thown out of the cot too, and us having to put it back in.  Can't remember how long it lasted, but it did pass.

[Fiona (Leah & Kians Mom)]

Hi,
Just back on line, nice to see some replies. I havent given ds anything yet and we are still having the middle of the night wakenings which havent stopped. I dont believe it's still related to crawling though it might have been when I originally posted. Deb, good memory yes I am in the middle east :-). The middle of the night wakenings are a bit funny- well not really, he desperately tries to get himself back to sleep and sometimes cant, yes it has gotten colder but only in the last few days and I have added more bedlinen and tonight a heater in his room. Ds has decided that commando crawling is still good enough for him and is now desperately trying to work out how to go from hands and knees to a sitting position. Will give it a few more days and then go the sleep forum. Thanks for your help :-)
Fiona