Unstable standing babies in cribs at nap time?

DisneyMamaToBeTTC

Hi all! We've been doing a modified sleep training for months but periodically have to go back and reinforce when we slack. Now that DS is standing in his crib we are afraid he's going to fall and hit his head or bust his mouth (both of which he has done). so when he stands up we go in to lay him down which throws off our time intervals that we usually go in. How are/have you handled this until they are standing more steadily? Tia!

jennlin

have you tried lowering the crib mattress yet?

mancila60

jennlin said:

have you tried lowering the crib mattress yet?

This was my thought. We had to lower DS's because he was almost climbing out.

huntjul

I think the general thought is that when they start sitting up, that's the time to lower the crib mattress. Also if you have bumpers, you might want to remove them. I hear some kiddos learn to use them to climb out of the crib.

emmylou78

Definitely lower the mattress if you haven't. It made me a nervous wreck, so I would lay her down. It took about a week or 2 for her to become proficient on getting back down to sitting. We didn't do much actual training though so I don't know how it'd affect interval checks.

DisneyMamaToBeTTC

wedding06 said:

Even with our mattress lowered DS stands and on occasion he falls. He also learned that the mattress is bouncy so he will bounce, sometimes banging his mouth on the side. It's not fun. We aren't sleep training but on the times that he won't go to sleep and is standing I just leave him standing. He just gets pissed if I do that.

This is where we're at pretty much. We've lowered the crib to the middle level and no bumpers so he can't fall out. It's the falling and hitting head inside the crib and bouncing and hitting his mouth on the rail that I'm worried about. He knows how to sit down but stands and cries if he's fighting his nap and then we go in to lay him down again so he doesn't hurt himself...

sleepy33

I don't leave the room until he's asleep.

DisneyMamaToBeTTC

Snowboarderbritt said:

DisneyMamaToBeTTC said:

wedding06 said:

Even with our mattress lowered DS stands and on occasion he falls. He also learned that the mattress is bouncy so he will bounce, sometimes banging his mouth on the side. It's not fun. We aren't sleep training but on the times that he won't go to sleep and is standing I just leave him standing. He just gets pissed if I do that.

This is where we're at pretty much. We've lowered the crib to the middle level and no bumpers so he can't fall out. It's the falling and hitting head inside the crib and bouncing and hitting his mouth on the rail that I'm worried about. He knows how to sit down but stands and cries if he's fighting his nap and then we go in to lay him down again so he doesn't hurt himself...

Why not lower it all the way? It would help not hitting his mouth on the rail. Has he hit himself falling a lot?

If i lower it more I'm not sure I could lay him down without waking him up, the times at night when he falls asleep during his bottle. But maybe it's worth a try. He's bonked his head a couple times and the same with his chin. The last time though he bit something and bled a little. And I'm a worrier.

DisneyMamaToBeTTC

^^Thank you for the suggestion!

sleepy33

wedding06 said:

If I did this he would never go to sleep but maybe that would work for OP's. Our DS needs to wind down alone. If we are there he won't calm.

Yeah, IDK. I was just throwing it out there since it didn't seem like OP was getting a lot of suggestions related to her CIO (?Just guessing based on the intervals comment) method.


OP, I had to give up on being able to put him down asleep a while ago. But the good news is that now I can just kind of flop him down in there, and he rolls over and falls asleep.

ballygirl

I might have a more laid back attitude about accidents and falls than some others on here. I'm not a hover-er. I just can't be with two. My girls whack their heads on something daily.  Often they end up whacking their two heads against each other because for some reason, they always need to be standing in the same exact spot on the floor.  If they are in a safe place (no stairs, no sharp corners or surfaces, no overly hard floors like concrete), I don't worry too much about falls and head bumps. I think minor falls like this actually help them learn their limits and how to gauge risk.

 

 

We did sleep training awhile ago but they still will get up and stand or crawl around in their crib after I put them down, especially for naps.  Sometimes they crawl around in there for a half hour before they finally settle.  I do not go in and lie them down again unless they are fussing for long time or if they start suddenly wailing in which case I go in to make sure theres nothing seriously wrong and resettle them without making too much fuss.  They've definitely whacked their head multiple times on the rails.

 

Honestly, I think falling in a crib is probably more scary for them than actually painful.  I'm not saying you should ignore it if he falls and is upset, but I wouldn't disrupt the sleep training by going in BEFORE he falls in an attempt to prevent something that may or may not happen.  If you go in every time he stands up, he may just learn that to get you into the room, all he has to do is stand up and that could really de-rail any kind of sleep training.  He may have a few more falls but eventually he will learn to either hold on to the railing when he stands or he will learn to gauge if he is stable enough to try standing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DisneyMamaToBeTTC

Thank you all. I think maybe well try to lower the mattress all the way and leave him in there longer, back to our intervals. It is a CIO but we go in at 5 and then 7 min intervals or if he is really having a meltdown we go in sooner.