Help, he just won't sleep in crib
 

My 14 mo. old ds just will not sleep in his crib. We've tried everything. Everything. He just won't do it. We put him in awake, and he screams till he just about vomits, we put him in asleep, and he wakes up as soon as he hits the sheets. We've tried blankets, teddies, music, CIO, flannel sheets, sheepskins, mom scented shirts, nightlights, no lights, you name it, we've tried it. In fact, if there's any strange way you've tackled this problem, please-I beg of you-tell me. It just seems to be getting worse. It got better for a short time. He was sleeping 4-5 hours at a stretch. He's back down to 1-2 hrs. After that, he will not go to bed by himself. His sister will go down awake, cry out for 5-10 seconds, and then she's off to la-la land for the entire night.

What can I possibly do? I'm desperate!!!!

Hmmmm, I can hear him stirring now. Note the time, 11:29pm. UGH!

I don't know! I just wanted to say that I'm so sorry! Sleep issues are horrible, and frustrating, and exhausting! Will he sleep in a bed? On the floor? With you?

I'm sorry too! That's really rough. If sleeping with you will work in the short term that's great, but then he might never sleep in a crib ever again. This may be an awful idea, but maybe if you had a little TV in his room and let him fall asleep watching a video he'd be distracted enough from being miserable and just conk out, but then you said he's waking up regularly. . .maybe you could teach him to use the remote??!? Ah, sorry, I knew it was a bad idea. I'll try to think of some better ones and let you know, but I definitely feel your pain. I had my girls in their cribs with crib tents until they were almost three, and now that they are in twin beds and free as birds they wake up and run howling into our room a couple times each night. Good luck, I'll be thinking of ideas!!

Does he like to play in it? That is what I had to do with Gideon.. put him in and just let him play awake while I put the clothes away.
Where is he sleeping?
have you tried to put the cribs close together? Just a few question.. not that you have not tried it!

I finally got Gideon to sleep in it..
I had to start with his bouncy seat.. I had the kick in play.. so I put him in and starp him up and put like a ton of pillows around him so he can't fall out. which he never did.. ( this started just a nap time) I turned on the little vibrator thingy and he slowly started to fall asleep.. It took a few months.. I started the crib thing at 9 mths and finally by 1 they he was in it. Morrigan could have cared less.. It took her like a week to be ok with it.

So after I got past the bouncy seat stage I had stuck a pillow under the crib sheet.. a very little one. and he like that. Still uses it too. He can't lay flat for anything.. neither can Morrigan.

I did put the bouncy seat up again the crib and turn it on so that it still had a vib to it.. then I was intoed to FP aquarium baby crib toy.. It was been love ever since!

I hope he sleeps in it soon.

Poor Poor Nancy. Sorry to hear that he went back to his old ways. :( Will he lay down if he can see you in the room. Like if you were to lay on the floor, maybe that would be comforting enough for him to lay down and fall asleep and you could sneak out once he's asleep? Or you could rub his back through the rails of the crib?

Kaden's sick again and was up around midnight, and I layed on the floor until he was asleep and then I snuck out.......but you probably already tried this.

Hope you find something that works SOON!!!

My one son did it at 9 months old. I started to co-sleep, got rid of the crib and put his mattress on my floor and now at 2 he spends most of night on the mattress on floor and comes sleep with me in the morning. I love it. I have 3 kids, the other 2 still in cribs and fine with their lovie dolls etc. I just think once in awhile a kid comes along,,,
by the way he was my first crawler, walker, talker, learned to nurse and weaned himself, so maybe he knows something we don't know,,,

Thanks for the kind words ladies, but it's no use. He thinks that being in his crib is some type of corporal punishment. He won't play in there, nap in there, or sleep in there. He screams his little heart out until I swear he's gonna pass out. Things seemed okay once we moved him into his own room, and there are nights when I think he's okay, but he's a terribly light sleeper. The slightest thing wakes him up, and then - Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. It's as if the mere touch of the crib will skin him alive.

I hate to jinx myself, but he's there right now. How long before the other shoe drops? Any guesses?

I need to go to bed, it may be my last chance tonight!

I wish you the best whatever method ends up working for you. Those nights of constant crying are agony.

As a delighted co-sleeper I want to say that if you end up considering this option even temporarily it is unlikely to harm you or your child, the Consumer Products Safety Commission doesn't know everything! ;)

The main thing of course is to keep from poking your eyes out or dropping the child into the nearest volcano while you work out what is going to work best in your family situation. I send lots of hugs and zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz vibes.

My girls have always been cosleepers with us. When they started to get too big to comfortably accommodate in our bed, we put toddler beds one to each side of the big bed, and started encouraging them to spend part of the night there. Now, at three, they have bunk beds in our room next to our bed, and have free option on whether to sleep with mommy or in their new "big girl beds." They are spending more and more time in the bunks, and we get more and more freedom to turn over in the night!!! It really is working out great for us, and I expect that sometime within the next year or so we will move the bunks into the girls' own room and be done with the process. And I will cry!!! :o

I think it was around 15 months when my son did the same thing. I took his crib down and put up a toddler bed. It didn't make much of a difference except that I didn't have to worry anymore about him cracking his head on the tile as he tried to escape from crib prison. A lot of time I would put him in, he'd come out, but I consistently returned him to his bed. I would find him on the floor passed out. Sometimes I would lay with him, but he always woke up as my bones cracked while sneaking out. I feel your frustration. He will eventually get tired and sleep again for you. This too shall pass. Hopefully soon for your sanity! I was a single mommy when I went through this. Sometimes I would cry right along with him. LOL

Nannygoat, is it possible that he's getting some more teeth? If so, that might not be helping things; maybe some tylenol or ibuprofen at bedtime to see if he makes it longer at least?

Oh, Katrina, I'm crying with you just thinking about it! I remember the months of sleep deprivation, even with co-sleeping!!! I feel for you 0 to 1-1/2-year-old mommies!!! It's sooo nice when they start to really crash at night!!!

Well, my son, who was once a sleepless terror, is now almost 7 and has turned into a real heavy sleeper! TG! You should see the struggle trying to wake him for school.
But here I sit selfishly @7 am on TMMB with all of our storm shutters closed just for a little more peace and quiet to myself. It's pitch black in here! HEEHEEHEE