Expert: ruth kraft - 2/28/2009

Question
My 6 month old has been sleeping in her crib for the past couple months. I bath her, breastfeed her, rock her, then put her to sleep drowsy and off she goes to la la land. She usually sleeps 6 to 8 hrs before needing a feeding. 2 weeks ago she learned to crawl. Last week she learned to pull herself up to her knees. This week she pulls up to her toes.
So now when its bedtime i do the routine and put her down but she gets right back up on her knees and sometimes her toes and screams and cries! Sometimes she will come crashing down and hit her head on the crib. Which of course makes it worse! I let her CIO for over an hour last night in hopes she would put herself back to sleep (it worked in the past). I finally had to go in and "rescue" her. What do i do? Can she get down from her knees or feet on her own?

Answer
I would practice in the daytime with her and show her how to get down safely in the crib.  

as for getting her to stay down is the hard part, I would continue to insist that she go to bed at the same time she does ( giving that time change coming up... make sure you adjust for that.  )  you can stay with her a time or two and when she gets up, lay her physically back down, shell do it again, and you repeat. If you do this a few times, it might really make her angry, but often times she gives up trying to get up and will go to sleep. then you walk out of the room. after maybe 10 minutes, go back in, and put her down ( pry her hands off the crib and set her down and say, its sleepy time or whatever you call it ) It is NOT easy. but she will get it. its very hard for her to understand why she cant enjoy this new found freedom every moment of the day.  hopefully that will help :)