wanting to play

[MomToMatthew]

I'm not sure the best way to handle this. When I put my 7 monther down for a nap, he never settles quickly despite a wind down routine. I'll put him in his crib and instantly he sits up or gets into the crawling  position. What I have been doing is just walking out and then waiting till he starts to cry and then I'll go back in, lay him back down, and try to get him to sleep. Sometimes we do this many times. He'll be in that zoned phase and eyes getting droopy and as soon as I leave he pops back up and seems completely awake. Should I stay with him the first time and not let him pop up, if that's even possible? Or is there something completely different that I should be doing?

[sophiems]

Please don't stay with him and prevent him from popping up.  I did that wiht my son and by 9 months he had completely lost the ability to go to sleep on his own, it was a major prop.   

Just do what you are doing, let him go and don't go back in unless crying.  Work on teaching him to lay back down during the day, like practice with him while playing in his criib.  Just keep doing what you're doing, he's just figuring out how to do this crawling thing and decides in his crib is a good time to practice.  It's a developmental milestone and it will pass, just keep giving him support and independence and it will work itself out.   

[supermum]

Hey, same here..my ds is also 7 mos and doing the same thing....what seems to be helping and making a big dif is the 20 min that he spends in the playpen before the wind down routine.
Give it a try, it works for us...he only takes the 20 min to drift down to sleep, vs 40 min, and me running back & forth...
...This darn milestones!!!

..write back and tell me how his doing...00xx