Help. I'm not sure whether to laugh or cry...

My 9 month old DS will not settle down to sleep. He's had a big 10 days during which he's learned to crawl and go from all fours to sitting and vice-versa.

We put him in his crib and he just won't go to sleep. He's super tired. I know it. He's not crying he's just practicing everything he's learned.

Problem is, I'm so scared he's going to get seriously hurt. He keeps bumping his head against the upper part of the crib rails. Over and over again. He's so tired at one point he fell back and I screamed bc i thought for sure he'd get really hurt (i watch on the monitor). I/we tried rocking him to sleep but he's so wired that as soon as we put him back down, he's up and all oevr the place again. It's be 34 minutes , what do we do?

Re: Help. I'm not sure whether to laugh or cry...

DS is doing the same thing this past week. I usually go in his room and lay him back down (even though he will stand back up) He will eventually fall asleep.

Re: Help. I'm not sure whether to laugh or cry...

Have you tried a nice warm bath before bed? That zonks out DS all the time! We also use the J&J Bedtime body wash.

Re: Help. I'm not sure whether to laugh or cry...

We're going through the exact same thing here, DS just turned 9 mos, it's torture b/c the crib used to be the safest place now he's banging his head all over it. I kinda wish I had bumpers on it. Anyway I've heard it's a short phase (maybe a week) than they they learn how to get down. It is terrible though, this morning was the worst, DS was standing up holding the rail when I came in I put my arms out to pick him out of the crib well in the split second in between he let go (so excited to see me with this big grin on his face) and fell backwards and head hit the railing behind, I never felt so horrible it was a bad morning...

Message edited 8/1/2010 9:02:34 PM.

Re: Help. I'm not sure whether to laugh or cry...

I've heard they do this at milestones and you just have to ride the wave. I know it doesn't make it any easier, but my DD went through this for a few days also and now she's up and down like a pro with no head banging.

You'll get through it!

Re: Help. I'm not sure whether to laugh or cry...

We have the same thing going on at our house this week. Gabe is 8.5mos old and just learned to crawl AND pull himself to a standing position over the weekend....took almost an hour to get him to fall asleep tonight because he was banging his head all over his crib...

Then his older brother (whom he shares a room with) says, "Babe, stop banging your head in the bib."

This, too, shall pass.

Re: Help. I'm not sure whether to laugh or cry...

Um are you living in my house right now Same exact thing tonight! Except one is screaming and the other is sleeping down here. I am afraid to put the sleeping one in with the screamer.