Will not lie down

[Fiona (Leah & Kians Mom)]

Hi There,
My dd who until today has been a very good sleeper has learnt how to sit up in bed. She did it for her first nap this morning, was fussing on and off and after 40 mins I heard silence and went in and she was asleep sitting up. I left her like this for 10 mins then woke her. I put her down for her afternoon nap 20 minutes ago and have been in about 10 times to put her back down but she is back up as soon as I reach the door. Sometimes I just go to the door and say lie down and she will but she is back up in a second. The thing is she is really crying and my presence infuriates her more,she never has had me in her room for sleep. I know consistency is the answer but it's the crying that bothers me, I know a lot of babies see it as a game but she seems to be the opposite. What do I do if she sleeps sitting up again, well last time she was bent over with her head in her lap, when I tried to lay her down she woke up.
Ok the crying was getting less so I went to have a look and she was up again so I told her to lie down, once she has seen me the crying escalates again so I just dont know what to do.
Any advice? How do I cope if she does the same tonight?
Many Thanks,
Fiona

[elfin]

Hello,

Has she just started sitting up?  What does her naptime, bedtime routine look like?  Does she start crying as soon as you put her down?

When my ds learned how to pull up to standing at around 9 months he was doing something similar.  I would put him down and he would immediately stand up.  I still let his room, but once he stared crying I would go back in.  Then I would just lie him down and say "night-night", say nothing more, no eye contact, nothing and leave again.  Sometimes I would have to go back in a few times and do this, but he quickly learned that it was sleep time, and that was all the attention he would be getting from me.

Post back with some more details and we'll try to help!

[evanskimberley]

Carrie, I did the same approach and it worked wonder, not only for teaching her that bedtime was not the time for practising this skill but also for my sanity!!!

It calmed down a lot once we'd spent some time teaching her how to get back down again and then a real breakthrough last week when she learnt how to lie doen on her own.

hang in there, they crack it eventually, but I'm sending your load of hugs in the meantime!

[Fiona (Leah & Kians Mom)]

Hi again,
No she has been sitting up for months but seems like today she just realised she can do it in bed. Her day goes like this.

7.30 ish awake and plays in cot
8.00 Breakfast of cereal and piece of toast
10.00 Nap-40 mins( and she usually falls asleep straight away)
12.30 Lunch, veg and rice followed by fruit and yogurt.
13.35 Nap til about 15.15-15.30
18.00 Dinner, protein and veg, fruit and yogurt.
19.20 try her with some milk though she never drinks it
19.40 Bed  and again she usually sleeps within about 5 mins.

She didnt start to cry straight away at first she was just singing. It was like she couldnt help herself if you know what I mean, as soon as I put her down she was back up again, like she was on a spring  :roll:  And I think the crying was frustration because it was so not like her. She does know how to lie back down by herself and she did it the times I only went as far as the room door.
In the end today after half an hour of me putting her back down I took her out of the cot for about 1 minute, maybe less, talked to her for a minute and then put her back though she was still crying. I put another blanket on top of her and left, she fell asleep pretty quick after that. The blanket is not really an option here at the moment cos its about 40 degrees and she is in a sleeping bag and I dont know if that worked or if she was just so tired at that stage. She woke at her usual time of 3.30pm very happy and was quite happy all evening. She didnt do it tonight Thank God.
Sorry if this is a bit long and thanks for your help
Fiona

[sacmommy]

I can't say I have any great advice for you, as I really struggled with this one... however, I will say it seemed very common among babies of this age when I posted a similar problem 9 or 10 months ago. I think a lot of babies go through this when they learn to pull up in the crib. All of a sudden their entire world expands that much more, and they love practicing their new skill!

My dd would just stand there playing and singing and not napping; I found it to be very frustrating! We finally stayed in the room with her, at times even keeping a hand on her back so she would calm and finally fall asleep. But this was after many days of her not napping at all, and we were afraid she'd lose her napping abilities!

So again, I don't think I'd recommend what we did as it did create bad habits. If you can still get naps out of your lo without too much intervention, I'd go with that and feel ok, since this is normal behavior for babies at this age. As with many things, they quickly grow out of it (my dd notwithstanding!!)