Getting Son to Sleep in Crib???

I actually had this same prb with my son. He did so well for so long then he decided his crib was his enemy. I tried the "let him cry it out scenerio" as I hid and watched him. It was heartbreaking. Eventually I watched and listened to Dr Phil and believe it or not it actually worked for me. He suggested staying in the room after you lay him down. DO NOT talk to him, look at him, etc. Bring a book or something in with you. He will continue to scream and cry for a while, but each night slowly move closer to the door. I hope this works for you. It did for me after about 7 to 8 nights

My daughter who is 16 mths old use to sleep in a playpen then a mth ago we just put her in her crib and she slept beautifully. We do go through problems when she is sick or especially when she has an ear infection. You never mentioned if your son is currently sick and if he is then he needs your comfort not a screaming session. We have always stayed up and done whatever was necessary to comfort our daughter when she was sick, despite the fact I had to work the next day. I can remember numerous nights that I would be walking her in her stroller at 2 or 3 am because it was the only things that would calm her down. Unfortunately there is nothing you can do if your son is sick or teething. We went through a week of hell when our daughter got her 1 yr molers. I don't believe in letting a child so young scream to sleep. It is very possible that something is bothering him or he is scared and not just trying to get your attention. Until he is older to tell you want is going on you should not let him cry because he is too young to feel abandon and alone. If he has an ear infection then elevating his head has always helped my daughter. You definitely need a night light as well, there are a lot of children that are scared of the dark and your son might be one of them especially when he is by himself and can't see anything, it can be very frightening for a child. For our daughter I put a stuffed animal and one of her dolls in the crib to give her something to either play with or to help her feel more comfortable. Of course I make sure that nothing I put in her crib has eyes or a nose she can bite off and choke on. Good luck and be patient if he is sick then it will take time.

Hi Sweetie, have you tried getting one of those sleep positioners? When we went through the same thing with our daughter, we noticed that when we put her down, her body shifted and wasn't supported like when she was cuddled next to us... also, we got a very dim nightlight so it wasn't pitch black and a lullabye CD that we played fairly low so she still had some backround noise and not silence. (When we laid her in the sleep positioner, we made sure to keep her wrapped in her blanket so she felt tucked in, but NOT swaddled so if she wanted to move, she could). If you don't want to put out the cash for a positioner, try using some of his favorite stuffed toys to help prop him up and that way if he wakes up later, he can either play or cuddle to get himself back to sleep. Keep in mind it's going to take a little while, but he will learn.
Good luck.
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-A.

try letting him lay in his crib with you nearby( if hes real upset you may try to console him by rocking or singing) you may even want to tell him a story or talk about the day( a book will require light). try to leave the room after you goodnites and hugs and kisses. If he starts to cry and fuss, go back into the room sit on chair near crib or floor and if it helps hold her hand thru the rail. I tried my hardest to not pick up my 13 month but i would give in if she was genuinely not feeling well. Ihave fell asleep many nights on her floor but soon she slept just fine on her own. dont get discouraged though it may take a while and do what works for you and him...good luck

I would suggest the NO CRY SLEEP SOLUTION BY ELIZABETH PANTELY it is a godsend. i love it. IT doesn not advocate CIO. Have you tried cosleeping. seeing how he has been sick he may not want to be alone right now. also, try placing him in his crib other than at night. just set him in there and allow him to play iwth only his crib toys, and leave him be. pop back in every few moments to say hi and to let him know you are there. but this way he gets use to his crib adn sees it as a safe place to sleep. you want him to learn that sleep is a safe place to enter adn stay. even when he is alone.
hth
B.

it sound like he may possibly have an issue with the crib alone. a few questions...do yo normally rock him to sleep? do you ever let him sleep with you?

the reason i ask these things is because of my experience with my 18 month old. everyone tells me that he will never go to sleep on his own if we rock him...my view on that is he is my only child and i am not able to have others so i am going to rock that boy until i cannot rock him any longer.

we have just recently discovered that our son suffers from night terrors and sleepwalking disorder. i dont know a whole lot about it yet but i heard that if a child has night terrors they sometimes will be scared of the crib or a certain parent at times. have you looked into this possibility?

what usually works with my boy is we rock him until he is almost asleep. we put him in his crib and cover him with a blanket, then we wind up his teddy that plays a little tune that lasts about three min. and by the time the tune is over he is out of it or at least calmed down enough to fall asleep on his own. the key is to not keep going in there. then they will know that eventually you wil come and they will get what they want. if you child doesn[t use a blanket...he probably will. by son never used a blanket but since i started that rutine he has to have it. not a real heavy one i use one of those plush crib blankets. hope this will help somewhat

Hi,
My son has slept in his crib since he was 5 weeks old and we have been very lucky. I completely disagree with the Ferber method, but you can make that choice on you own. If he has been sick so much, that is a very hard thing to get over. My one suggestion would be leaving some sort of light source on. My son has slept in the pitch dark for 15 months. Just recently, with the days getting shorter, he was having trouble falling asleep and staying asleep in the dark. Nothing has happened that would have scared him, but for some reason, we now have to leave the bathroom light outside his room on the dimmest setting. If we do this, he immediately stops crying and goes to sleep. It is something very simple you can at least try. I have no idea why this has happened, but maybe most kids experience this. I also like the cool mist humidifiers simply for the light noise they make. It helps him when he is sick just to have that background noise. Good luck! We have all been there! There is a trick for you, you just need to find it.

Dear A.,

You said your son has been sick but did not say if he is sick now or during this crying stint. The reason I am asking is that when my daughter was sick, the emergency room nurse gave me a tip that really helped. She said to put a phone book under the head of the mattress because if they have the sniffles they will drain at night and with their heads raised it helps the draining and makes them more comfortable. It also helps the ears.

The next thing with ear infections is garlic oil in the ears. it really helps.

Try feeding your son cereal or bananas before bed.

Also get him on baby vitamins. They go through growth spurts and the body is under incredible stress. B vitamins are proven to help with night terrors. But, never give vitamins at night, only first thing in the morning. This will help build the immune system. The healthfood store has really good liquid vitamins for young children. I have been giving my youngest vitamins from a very early age and now she is five and is never sick. Early on she was sick a lot, especially once she started day care.

For his room, set up a good night light, make sure closet door is shut. Maybe walking him around the room before bed and reading stories would help. Also try leaving his bedroom door open. It takes experimenting to figure it out. Most kids go through this and letting them cry did not work for me either.

Good luck.
D.

My daughter had been sleeping great in her crib for a long time. Then when she was 9 months old we went on vacation and during the vacation she slept in the same room as us. When we got back she did not want to sleep in her crib. Same as your son, she would throw huge crying fits. I tried all sorts of things to try to get her to stay bed and sleep. Nothing was working. I finally broke down and tried the Ferber method of letting her cry it out. After a couple of nights of her crying she stopped and began to sleep just great in her crib. She's now 2 and we just recently put her in a toddler bed but up until then she was great sleeping in her crib each night.

If your son knows that all he has to do is keep crying and you eventually come get him then that's what he'll keep doing. If he learns the crying is wasted because you don't take him out of the crib then he will stop after a few nights. Resist the temptation to get him. Turn the monitor off or down really low and let him cry. After a few nights he'll stop and will sleep just fine in there.

I had the same problem with my 1 yr old. He would not leave our bed. It ruined our sex life to say the least, but it was also adorable watching him sleep. When he started to crawl we deceided that was it. It was painful for me but we did it. I put him in his crib and he wailed for about 20 min and then passed out. This went on for about 3 days and the VOILA. It was done.

My son hates to sleep in his crib. We do half co-sleep half crib sleep. Meaning he goes to sleep in his crib and ends up in our bed in the morning. My mother-in-law told us that she used to keep the crib by her bed. I tried this and now my son sleeps longer periods without having to come into our bed.