Tuesday, June 17, 2008

What in the world has brought this on?

Oh, I am beside myself. Remember that cute little photo from yesterday's post of Olivia standing so adorably in her crib? Well, I may have forgotten to mention that yesterday was the first time she discovered that she COULD stand up in her crib. And once she discovered that, the crib became a whole new place to play.

Which means, it is certainly not a place to sleep.

Yesterday afternoon was torture. PURE TORTURE. Olivia took only a half-hour nap in the afternoon, and then she was tired again by around 4:00. But she WOULD NOT NAP. Every time I laid her in her crib, she started laughing and kicking and immediately rolled over and crawled to the bars to pull herself up. Party time!

I thought this might bode well for an early bedtime, but no such luck. She fell asleep for 20 minutes in the stroller on our evening walk, and that was enough to keep her awake until 9:50 p.m. Not happily awake, though. And I tried...I TRIED to get her to go to bed, but she kept standing up, and then she'd fall because she was so tired, and then the screaming. Oh, the screaming. At one point, I held her in the rocker for 10 minutes while she screamed and thrashed and looked about as exhausted as a person can look. We finally decided to feed her again just to settle her down, after which she decided it was grumpy playtime again. I think we repeated the crib/standing routine a few more times until she was finally so exhausted that she passed out.

You can imagine that this translates to a bad nap situation too. I haven't had much trouble getting her down for her morning nap. This morning she was too exhausted to protest (which isn't surprising after going to bed late and then getting up at 5:45 a.m.). But this afternoon we played the crib/standing game for awhile, during which I try to lay her down, give up, bring her back to her toys, have her play for two minutes before she melts down, which is then my cue that she's WAY tired and we try the crib again. Repeat.

I finally resorted to holding and rocking until she settled down. Which she did. And after an eternity of rocking, she fell asleep in my lap and I was able to lay her in her crib.

I hope this isn't our new trend. It's not that I mind the rocking, but Olivia fights it, and sometimes she works herself into a frenzy before I'm able to get her to calm down. It's exhausting for both of us.

So, does anyone out there have any suggestions? What did you do once your baby started standing (and falling) in the crib? And what do you do about climbers? I saw her try to climb the bars today to get out. I'm concerned about her safety. I always thought the crib would be one of the safest places for her, but I'm starting to question that now that she's CLIMBING! Any help would be welcome. Please let me know I'm not the only one with a crazy climbing standing baby.

2 comments:

HereWeGoAJen said...

Obviously, you'll have to put a cage on top of the crib. :) Then she'll learn to pick locks.

Stephanie said...

I remember this phase really well. Every time they learn to do something new, they spend a few days doing it to the exclusion of everything else ... it's maddening.

Does she sleep well in a pack-n-play? I might try that for a few days, until she gets used to her new skill. It will be harder to pull up in it, at least. I rocked my son to sleep to get through it, which is a mixed bag, of course, but it never became disruptive for us.

It won't last long, but it's definitely not fun for either of you.