Why? Why? Why?
Just when things start to settle down. You finally get on a nice routine, sleeping longer stretches, nights seem more consistent and you take a breath and look at the monitor.
Only to see two little eyes standing in the crib peering back at you as if they can see into your soul! Scary.
It is scary, especially if your little one has no idea how to get back down and therefore screams in frustration or just finds it hilarious. Sound familiar? Yes this is stressful but really it’s a great achievement and significant developmental milestone for your little one! YAY!!!
Or how about this, your baby decides to kill it at the rolling over game exactly at 3am! Yay for rolling but now they’re stuck. They scream until they are saved (turned over) and just as you’re drifting back into dreamland..guess what…they roll themselves back on their tummies. Stuck again!
This becomes a fun game…for no one.
So what do you do in these scenarios?
First- take a breath mama. The mantra to say out loud here is - “development is good, don’t lose your s#$@”
Second, know that this is not permanent. It’s a temporary stage as they navigate how to master the skill of going from standing to sitting to lying down independently. Lots of new opportunities for learning. Once they master this, usually no more than a few weeks then you’re golden.
So what do you do??
Well, like everything that has to do with sleep, we can’t do it for them. Nor can we force them to sleep. Like always, you can definitely assist but it’s important that we also give them the opportunity to figure it out, to learn on their own through trail and error.
You can certainly go in and lie them down, or turn them over. If they are happy I would provide them with some space to see if they can do it on their own. If not, go in at a set check in time and lie them back down (I always start at 20 minutes). This is just a reminder to them of what to do, they may in fact get mad and cry or get back up. It is totally up to you if you want to lie them down at pre-timed intervals or you want to lie them back down each time they stand up. You know your baby best!
Sometimes giving them space is best or sometimes it’s better to lie down consistently. It’s really a temperament and comfort level thing. You can definitely do what you have to do to calm them (without actively putting them to sleep). It can get frustrating. I know.
Often if you give them some time and they get drowsy, you go in and lie them down, they won’t get back up and just fall asleep. Standing is exhausting!
Spend time during the day practicing these newly found skills. Practice going from standing to sitting to lying down using toys to capture your little ones attention. Same with rolling, practice going from back to belly and belly to back. Once they get it, THEY GET IT! And your night time struggles will be over.
It takes a lot of patience and lying down/turning over but it’s consistency that will get you there. If you resort to physically putting them to sleep, then that’s what you’ll be expected to do from there on out and that’s when we see permanent changes in sleep because you’ve changed your response and in turn, baby has changed their way of falling asleep.
The biggest piece of advice I can give you is BELIEVE that your baby can do it! That they are capable of amazing things and be their cheerleader and support in showing them how to do it, themselves.
If this persist for more than two week and your struggling with many wake ups. Reach out and book a free call with me. It doesn’t have to be that way and if you want, we can get them sleeping independently all night long. Promise, pinky swear!
