# 11 month old won't sleep because she stands up in crib and can't get down



## Owachi (Jan 15, 2007)

My 11 month old dd has always been a good sleeper, sleeping through the night after two months. However the last few weeks she has been waking through the night due to teething. She has always been the type I can lay her down in the crib for naps and bed at night and she will play a little bit and fall asleep. Well she recently learned how to pull herself up in the crib and can't get back down. Everytime she even stirs a little bit at night, instead of going back to sleep she stands up and then screams because she can't get back down. I have tried to wait it out (not with her screaming but just standing) to see if she will get tired and let go but she will not. She is getting up 5-6 times a night and I can only get her to sleep by nursing her and lay her down so she won't stand up. Does anyone else have this problem?


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## Kate Carmichael (Mar 14, 2006)

I know a lot of people who have had this problem. I think the only thing you can do is to go put her back down, and I think the quicker, the better, so she doesn't escalate. I would also try to avoid, if you can, starting new routines that you wouldn't otherwise be doing if she weren't standing up, so she doesn't develop new habits that inhibit her sleep when she's through this stage. Keep it low-key, boring, and dark, and let her know that it's time to sleep.


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## CrazyCatLady (Aug 17, 2004)

If you can't bring her to bed with you. All you can do is just put her down, time and time again until she stops doing it (these phases are usually short). Maybe put the crib closer to your bed so it isn't such a process to get up?


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## nighten (Oct 18, 2005)

My 11 month old is having a similar problem: she rolls over in her sleep and automatically pushes up to "crawl" and then sometimes will sit up in bed (we cosleep) before she wakes. When she's in her crib for naps, she does the same thing but will sometimes stand up and THEN she wakes, and she's scared and cries.









I posted a while back asking for help and was told to try letting her calm herself by "playing dead" so to speak, in the bed but that didn't work at all for us. Someone else mentioned that at this age their bodies and brains are working so hard in terms of mobility that they're "practicing" any time they can. And that actually makes sense to me, since this is a fairly new thing with her, and I've since heard from several mamas whose 11 month olds were doing the same thing!

I *think* it's better when we let her crawl as much as she wants in the day. I usually put her in the mei tai and carry her while I do housework but lately am trying to let her be on the floor (or standing or whatever) as much as she can, so that she'll get all the "practice" she needs in the daytime.

Honestly, I think your best bet for now is bring her into your bed and when she wakes herself standing, soothe her best you can. From everything I've gleaned, this is a common stage they go through prior to full on nonstop walking. So you're certainly not alone and she will outgrow it. But the main thing we've tried to do is just calm and soothe her when she wakes herself up (even partly) from movements. And that, for us, means nursing her back to sleep both during daytime naps and at night, and letting her sleep in our bed at night. For daytime naps we're still using the swing some (papasan style so it's still okay sizewise) or just letting her get more sleep in my arms, nursing, after she wakes herself in the crib.

Slowly but surely, this too shall pass.

HTH. Poor thing. It's hard, learning how to do all this mobility stuff.


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