Hi,
I have a 16 month old son who has never been a good sleeper. He has improved, however, when my husband and i commit to going into his room every few hours in the night to move him from his head being in the corner of his crib. The baby goes down for bed at 8pm and we move him at 10:30 (when we go to bed) at 2am if one of us gets up to use the restroom and 5:45am, when hubby gets up for work. This is a "good" night. Other nights are every 1-2 hours that we have to go in. He is very active during the day - no TV in the house, always on the move.
What are your thought on how to prevent this?? Are bumper pads at this age appropriate? He has never had them, but I am ready to get some if that means we don't have to get up like this any more! He hasn't tried to climb out of the crib yet, so I feel like we might get a few weeks of good sleep with bumper pads. We have yet to have a weeks worth of straight through the night sleep since he was born. *yawn*!
Thanks!
A.
*EDIT* Thanks so far for the answers!
When we dont move him, he fusses/cries and we find him in the corner. I guess I am assuming that he is either hitting his head or getting crunched in the corner and is unable to back out or find a more comfortable place to be. The 2am check often doesn't happen and sometimes he sleeps right through it and other times he wakes up.
Thanks for all your responses! I bought a thin bumper pad from Ikea and we will be trying it out today during nap.
We have gone through extensive sleep training. I think I just might have every single book out there on babies/toddlers and sleep. We started when he was 7 months and are here, almost a year later and still don't get much sleep. We settled on the cry-it-out OUR way. We go in every time we want to, we just dont pick him up. He was crying for 2 hours at a time (not by himself, but with us going in every 20/30/40 sometimes even just 5 minutes.) and even the doctor was at a loss as to what to do.
NOW he is working on his one year molars and of course that is messing it up even more. I dont think we will know if the bumpers will work for a few weeks now, but I guess it is worth a try!!
Thanks again!!
I have the bumper pads on my son's crib and he is 18-months-old. He also likes certain stuffed animals in his bed and we always say night-night to all of them..lol! They have never been a problem for us, nor have I worried that they are a hazard. Best of luck!
Just read your edit:
if your son fusses/cries when he is in the corner. Try just letting him be. Maybe he will be fine, and go back to sleep. Unless his "cry" escalates into screaming and totally waking up. Babies do make noises anyway, while sleeping. So figure out his noises... and which cries actually means it is warranting intervention, or not. Some babies just scoot around their crib when sleeping... and it inevitably means scooting toward the direction of their head. Because their legs are scooting/pushing "up." Thus they get stuck, at the top of the crib. Maybe try position him lower down in the crib... so when he scoots around, he will not end up in the corner of the crib. ?
Is your son actually waking up, because his head is in the corner or his crib against the bumpers?
If not, I would not bother him, waking him up, and just let him be. Not readjusting him. Because maybe "that" is what is waking him.
Bumpers are fine even now. I have always had the bumpers in my kids' crib... and never removed them. It never caused a problem.
You do not have to get up/wake up, just to move him/readjust him, if he is sleeping fine. He probably just likes the coziness of being up against something... and finds it comfortable.
With both my kids, we also had baby safe stuffed toys in the crib with them, too. And my kids had a lovey.
all the best,
Susan
Bumper pads are OK for children older than 12 months. Is your son's head on the crib actually waking him up? If not I wouldn't worry about moving him.
My son is the same age and is an awful sleeper too! Mine actually will sleep standing up in the crib with his head on the rail (he bundles up his blanket to use as a pillow). Good luck!
I have twin boys and I had them both in their cribs until they were almost 3yrs old and they both used bumpers pads the whole time. My boys never were climbers so I didn't need to worry about them using it for a step. I would try the bumpers. And not to make your situation sound like it may not get better for awhile, but neither of my boys where good sleepers until they were about 2 1/2yrs old. One is much better, but the other wakes up about 3 times a week. Hang in there. Try a flat pillow too. If it doesn't work just get rid of them.
I think it would be worth trying to see if a bumper helps. My son is 22 months old and has one in his crib. He also uses a pillow which seemed to really lessen the amount of scooting around he did during the night. I found a very thin, small pillow at IKEA that he loves. Try to keep in mind though that as he gets a little older he will be able to soon figure out how to get out of the corner on his own and return to a more comfy position.
At this age bumpers are fine, but I don't think they would really solve the problem of him scooting around up there. Have you thought of giving him a pillow? I didn't personally introduce a pillow that young, but I know others that have. I would definitely ask the doctor first whether he is too young for a pillow just to be safe. I gave my son his just before he turned two.
I was just thinking maybe that would help keep him from getting crammed up in the corner. Also, maybe reading some sleep books (I read No Cry Sleep Solution at about 13 mos to try to get mine to sleep through the night). Maybe some other technique would be a better solution for you. It might not be about getting stuck in the corner at all, and he just needs to learn to self soothe himself back to sleep.
I wouldn't go for the bumpers. I'd check him when you DO get up through the night, before you go to bed and when your hubby wakes for work. It doesn't sound like you are getting up solely to move him...
Does he cry when he scooches to the corner? Or are you just worried about him bumping his head? Maybe I'm not "getting" your situation. I do know this--it will get better as time goes on.
They aren't a smothering risk, but they do provide a "step up" if he decides to climb out. He could incur a head/neck injury doing that, so if you can live without them I would not put them in.
I don't know if he's a poor sleeper because he butts his head into the corner waking himself up or not.
I agree with S. H. to try letting him fuss until he finds a way to soothe himself to sleep. If his fussing becomes out right crying I'd go into him pat him on the back and leave just as you would do when teaching him to sleep in his own bed. The process is outlined in a book on helping babies to sleep but I don't remember the name.
A pillow might work.
Another idea is to make him a bed on the floor with a thin mat. That way if he scoots he will still be in the open and might not wake up.
