My 8.5 Month Old Won't Nap Because She Keeps Standing in Her Crib!

If you leave her she will sit or lay down eventually , she can't stand up forever. By going into the room to lay her back down you are creating a fun game for her , she may cry a little but she will learn.

Let her be. She figured out how to get up she can figure out how to sit down. It has become a game for her now, like when they start throwing things off their highchair and watch us keep picking them up. Lol! I know your worried about her getting hurt but learning to walk is one of the worst times for falling and getting those bumps and bruises. I would take anything out she can climb up on, otherwise she is safe in her crib. Good luck

First things first - when she is awake, play 'ring around the rosie' with her. Hold on to her fingers as she stands and sing, smile, wiggle her, have FUN as you sing the song. When you come to the "ashes, ashes we all fall down" gently bend her knees and lower her to the ground. Make this the most fun game she's ever played. Keep singing the song and teaching her how to sit back down. Pretty soon, she'll do it on cue and start to sit down when you sing.

About the crib - let her stand and let her figure it out. She might be standing up because she knows you're going to come in and give her attention. Besides, after you spend all that time playing the ring around the rosie game, she'll know how to sit back down on her own.

Learning new skills is very stimulating to a baby, and naps have been known to go missing. Work with her a lot on the standing, encourage her to get plenty of activity between naps so she'll get good and tired. Instruct her gently to "Lie down, sweetie, time to sleep," every time you lay her in the crib, and stay and pat her back or hum to her for a bit.

When my grandson reached this stage, we started the "Go to sleep, now" even before we got to his room. I'd pick him up and start rocking and humming for a few minutes, instruct him to put his head on my shoulder, and feel him start to relax. Then I'd head to his room for a few more minutes of rocking or thumping on my heels, which REALLY relaxed him. (A white noise machine helped, too.) When he was drowsy, I'd lay him down. He'd pop back up, and we'd repeat two or three times. BUT, after he became accustomed to putting his head on my shoulder, he would do that almost instantly any time I asked him to, and start relaxing toward sleep again.

I did NOT see this as a bad habit, and it was only one of several different stages we went through trying to help an active little boy get enough sleep. Since sleep is critical to brain development and the baby's sense of well-being, and since lack of sleep usually contributes to even less sleep, it just seemed reasonable to do whatever we could to help him relax and surrender. He only relied on our efforts as long as needed.

My son who is now 16 months old went through this same thing. I would do the same thing you are doing and just continually go back up to his room and lay him back down. After awhile I just stopped going to his room and would just let him learn how to get back down and that seemed to work the best. If you are really concerned about her getting hurt then you could sew together some sort of bumper thing to go around the top of the rails to protect her from chipping a tooth or something. I can't think of any other good advice right now but just know that she will learn how to get down on her own eventually and that this too shall pass as all other thing do.

My 9.5 month old just started standing this past month, and I am struggling with this dilemma just as you are. My first never had an issue, because he was fully content in a sleep slack (maybe this might be a solution for your lil' one) but not my second.

LOL! I have to disagree with the mom's that say they'll get down eventually. I left my lil' guy in there a couple of weeks ago, and he literally stood for 45 minutes straight...I have a baby cam so I watched him and he never got down....I was shocked I was ready to go in after 15 min, but thought lets see how long he REALLY will stand.. He wasn't upset really until the last 15 mins, but I was SHOCKED...Once I went in tho' & laid him down he was out in 2 secs so he did tire himself out..

But what seems to be working for me right now is to get him into a really groggy state before laying him down. And then I just wait there, before he even gets into the sitting position I would gently lay him back down. I would repeat this over and over whenever he attempted to upright himself in the sitting position.. Sometimes I say night night....or I'll pat his back (but not to put him to sleep) just to resettle him. Sometimes its upwards of 45 mins before he stops trying to sit up (which ultimately leads to standing) and zonks out. BTW during this whole time he is all over is crib. I pretty much take him up and down his crib with the up and down thing. he's rolling and thrashing all around, even sometimes half way crawling. But if I would leave him alone to do this every minute or so he'd pull himself to a standing position...To me it seems like even when they are tired, or asleep their little brain won't let them stop practicing their new learned skill.. So by not even letting him get to the standing position, he's still in the groggy state and does eventually fall asleep. Once he's standing he thinks its play time so forget getting him back down...Good luck

I was told its a phase and like everything else it will soon pass.

This is not text book advice mind you. I broke the rules and started putting my daughter down with the bottle. Otherwise, there was no nap, but laying down with her bottle lulled her to sleep. I took this route out of desperation, but then had to deal with the fact that I had a two-year-old going to bed with the bottle. One solution gave rise to another bad habit to overcome.

we went through this with my older daughter. just like anything with kids, it is only a phase and it will pass, but while you wait for her to figure it all out you may want to put her to nap in a pack&play, because of the mesh sides, it will be harder for her to pick herself up and stand, and when she does if she does fall back, you don't have to worry about her hitting herself on wood slats, the mesh sides are a little better.
definately don't lay her down, let her figure it out, she will eventually topple down when she gets tired and being tired she'll take a better nap too.

good luck.

Hi Kim.
I feel for you! I have six kids. My oldest is 19 and my youngest is 3. My 7 year old girl started walking (no joke) at 8.5 months. She started pulling herself up on the furniture at almost 7 month. My grandmother (who had 10) would get angry with me and tell me not to let her do that because she was going to be bull legged! Its hard to raise kids! All of my babies have banged their mouths on something and bled. If they do not do it on the crib they will do it somewhere else. The best thing to do for that is to give them some cold water. I know its gross that they will swollow their own blood but the cold water will slow the bleeding down very fast. I learned this with my first child when she came running around the corner with one of those bars from the baby mobiles that they lay under? If you know what i mean. She fell on it. It ripped the roof of her mouth up very bad. I panicked but tried to be brave and think. I gave her some cold water and it worked! So that is what I do and it makes sense. Mommy instincts I think!

Anyway, for the sleeping I always tried to wear my kids out after they ate breakfast or which ever so that I could have a break too! I would make them laugh.. Chase them around.. ANYTHING! The one I told you about walking early, she NEVER slept either! Sometimes I would leave her in her crib and she would cry and I would lay down next to the crib and pretend I was asleep. She would eventually lay down and sleep too. It takes time with some kids. I learned a lot of patients with the kids. They needed me so I had to. I still have to! :) But if are relaxed with them they will feel it and relax too. If you are frustrated with them they will feel it and be unhappy and cry even more. I hope I helped you. If you ever have any questions.. just ask. I am new to this thing so I do not know how it works! :) (____@____.com)

Updated

Hi Kim.
I feel for you! I have six kids. My oldest is 19 and my youngest is 3. My 7 year old girl started walking (no joke) at 8.5 months. She started pulling herself up on the furniture at almost 7 month. My grandmother (who had 10) would get angry with me and tell me not to let her do that because she was going to be bull legged! Its hard to raise kids! All of my babies have banged their mouths on something and bled. If they do not do it on the crib they will do it somewhere else. The best thing to do for that is to give them some cold water. I know its gross that they will swollow their own blood but the cold water will slow the bleeding down very fast. I learned this with my first child when she came running around the corner with one of those bars from the baby mobiles that they lay under? If you know what i mean. She fell on it. It ripped the roof of her mouth up very bad. I panicked but tried to be brave and think. I gave her some cold water and it worked! So that is what I do and it makes sense. Mommy instincts I think!

Anyway, for the sleeping I always tried to wear my kids out after they ate breakfast or which ever so that I could have a break too! I would make them laugh.. Chase them around.. ANYTHING! The one I told you about walking early, she NEVER slept either! Sometimes I would leave her in her crib and she would cry and I would lay down next to the crib and pretend I was asleep. She would eventually lay down and sleep too. It takes time with some kids. I learned a lot of patients with the kids. They needed me so I had to. I still have to! :) But if are relaxed with them they will feel it and relax too. If you are frustrated with them they will feel it and be unhappy and cry even more. I hope I helped you. If you ever have any questions.. just ask. I am new to this thing so I do not know how it works! :) (____@____.com)

My first thought was, "padding"! I padded every sharp, hard surface (taped foam to table edges, etc.) when my daughter was at the wobbly age. So, even if you don't know how to sew, go to Walmart, Hobby Lobby or other fabric store and get ANY thick, quilted fabric (pretty is not necessary, as this is temporary). Fabric on sale is good, but be sure it is quilted. If you can thread a needle you can do this. Cut strips about 3-5 inches wide, just measure circumferance of top of siderail's rung and add 1 inch for stitching or folding over onto itself. You can tape this on, but handstitching will allow it to remain sturdy but softer for baby's mouth to hit! You will need two strips, each the of top of crib side, so buy maybe 1/4 yard and it doesn't reach acros top of crib side, you can stitch two pieces together to get length. Now, with two identical strips, lay them together and run a stitch around edges so you now have only one strip. Then take this long, double-thickness strip (the length of crib side) and start in the center and attach it to top of crib side by running your needle & thread through a couple of times and tie off the thread and cut it. Do same to each end--this "anchors" your project so you can now tightly sew it on. You can do this! If quilted fabric is doubled, and sewn over top of crib side tightly, your baby will not lose her teeth if her mouth hits it:-). It would be helpful to have someone hold fabric in place while you sew, but not necessary. You can even temporarily tape it in several places to make it stay in place while you sew from the other end.
Now your baby can stand as long as she likes! She will get stronger daily and she will be able soon to sit when tired, and will eventually fall asleep on her own. Remember, THIS IS A TEMPORARY PROBLEM! It, too shall pass.

This is one of the funniest things I found with my kids. Leave her and she
will figure out how to get down. This usually does not last long. They
acquire a new skill that leaves them in a lurch!!!!! Sorry she hit her
mouth. It can be frightening.