Give me strength...what the heck will fix this?!

crene84 · April 2014

DD is pushing me over the edge. I seriously am losing my mind. For the past few days, every time we put her in her crib for a nap or bedtime, she grunts and points in the direction of her book shelf and eventually starts wailing at the top of her lungs. I eventually figured out that it has to do with the music box so I moved it out of sight, covered it up, stopped playing music, let her turn the music on herself, switched the music it was playing, etc etc etc. Nothing is working. It's taking her forever to go to sleep now and when she wakes up and I go in to get her, she is immediately pointing at the music box (or where it used to be since I've now moved it out of sight).

I don't know what to do for her but this has to stop!

Holly_1007 · April 2014

Does she want to read books? Can you change up her bedtime routine to include more reading? Or give a couple of books in her crib?

crene84 · April 2014

Holly_1007 said:

Does she want to read books? Can you change up her bedtime routine to include more reading? Or give a couple of books in her crib?

She just wants to play with books right now. She won't sit still and let us read to her, but I do try before bedtime anyhow. She's absolutely fine until we enter her nursery. I almost wonder if I can set up the pack 'n play in our bonus room or something. She's clearly so tired, yet she just won't stop screaming about this darn music box!

watercolor5 · April 2014

That sounds tough! How did the music box fit into her bedtime routine before this started? I'd probably have the last thing I did before leaving the room be turning the music box on, and immediately leave, then let her CIO if she started up after the music ran out. Whatever you do, I think consistency is probably key, and it may suck for a few days before she realizes that you are sticking to the routine you've chosen.

ETA: Or could you give her access to the music box all through the day, like giving it to her in her playroom? That way maybe she could play with it to her heart's content, and you could just remove it from bedtime? I dunno, grasping at straws...

opaque1997 · April 2014

Agreed sounds like stalling technique to me - there is 18 month sleep regression

melody921 · April 2014

Is there something you can put on the shelf in place of the music box, so she has something new to focus on? Or do you have anything that plays music that you can put in her crib with her? Sometimes I'll put Violet in DD's crib before bed.

crene84 · April 2014

We've been really good at CIO and very consistent but she's never wailed this loud and this long so it's been really hard. We've always used the music box since she was a newborn. It just plays music for an hour and then turns off.

I thought about letting her play with it but it's plugged into the wall and clearly unsafe..and if I go in to take it away after she falls asleep, I'll definitely wake her up. I tried removing it and giving her a toy that plays lullabies but she threw it out of the crib right away. Ugh!

I guess I'll just have to let her CIO. She's just never done this before so I feel like there has to be a way to fix it.

crene84 · April 2014

TheAnne said:

hmm, maybe let her play with it for a while leading up to nap time while you're there making sure she isn't in danger? I have a feeling it's the forbidden fruit thing. We had a similar issues with remotes until we just let her play with whenever and she totally lost interest in a couple days.

You may be onto something. Maybe after her nap (hopefully she takes one soon), I'll bring it down and let her play with it until bed time..

opaque1997 · April 2014

I would make sure you are consistent if you can and let it play for the hour it normally does... though I think around this age my g/fs son told her he was really mad at the seahorse and she later figured out it was waking him up - so she took the batteries out and he later said he loved it. So maybe she doesn't like the noise?

Cheenomae · April 2014

Hang in there Mama! Whatever you do, just be consistent. I'm a HUGE proponent of CIO at this point. It works, you just have to stick to it. She's never wailed this loud because she hasn't had a voice this loud. She's figuring it out and trying to speak her mind.

My opinion is to continue with the same routine you've always done. Turn on the music box, put her down in her crib, and then when she starts pointing to it I'd remind her it's not a toy and that it's for night night. Give her loves and walk away. It could take hours for her to fall asleep (sounds dramatic) and for nap time she might not even nap, but eventually it catches up with her. She will learn that it's not a toy and that you're boss. Within a week I think things will be back to normal.

I think since you've tried several different things with the music box none of it was probably long enough for it to work consistently. We took DS's binky away 8 days ago. Yesterday he was still asking for it, but he doesn't lose his mind over it anymore. Night one he cried for over an hour. Naps were definitely harder. He's learning now, 8 days later that it no longer exists.

Personally, I wouldn't let her play with the music box unless you're willing to completely remove it from her room and not let it be part of bedtime routine.

tinyhumantoe · April 2014

Well, depending on how fragile it is, I'd stick it in her crib and let her sleep with it haha. My kid sleeps with 2-5 books, 2-5 animals, a random shoe, her bath towel. Whatever.

When LO points and grunts at something, I walk her over with me and see what the heck it is she wants. Sometimes I guess wrong. I kept giving her this figurine off her shelf and it turns out she wanted the empty kleenex box. You're right kid, that IS a cool piece of trash.

Cheenomae · April 2014

tinyhumantoe said:

Well, depending on how fragile it is, I'd stick it in her crib and let her sleep with it haha. My kid sleeps with 2-5 books, 2-5 animals, a random shoe, her bath towel. Whatever.

When LO points and grunts at something, I walk her over with me and see what the heck it is she wants. Sometimes I guess wrong. I kept giving her this figurine off her shelf and it turns out she wanted the empty kleenex box. You're right kid, that IS a cool piece of trash.

She mentioned that it plugs into the wall so I wouldn't think giving it to her is an option because of the strangulation hazzard. Otherwise, I'd say hell yeah, kid, have the music box!

bosha711 · April 2014

aww! DD has had some nights recently where she'd wake up in the middle of the night asking to go downstairs to play. One time she even was crying that she wanted to run, so there I was holding her while jogging around the house at 2:30 am.

What helps us is saying "night-night" to whatever it is she's asking for right before bed. We usually read 2-3 books before bed, but she'll always ask for another one after that. I tell her the books are going night night & we say goodnight to them together. She also knows "later" b/c I always tell her we'll read more books later as I'm walking her to her crib.

Want a personalized experience?

Give me strength...what the heck will fix this?!

Re: Give me strength...what the heck will fix this?!

Choose Another Board

Search Boards