19 Mo. Old Refuses to Sleep in Crib

One mom in my mom's group hung pictures of he and her husband next to the bed so he could see their faces at any time.

Question... after letting him cry and getting no sleep, did you put him back in your bed? Some children will continue to have problems if they see that crying will get them back in mom and dad's bed. As a retired preschool teacher and live-out nanny, I instructed parents to just leave them in the crib and let them cry. Go in after 10 minutes, pat them, give them a kiss, say night-night and leave. The period of time will then get longer the later it gets. It will be trying on all in the house hold, but statistically the children began sleeping through the night after 3 or 4 days. They realize that they will not get put in your bed. Some may think it's a bit cruel, but SuperNanny does the same.

You could also put your child in a JR bed. Mine was in a toddler bed by about 19 months. Make sure it has railings or buy them to keep him from falling out. Realize that you may have the same problem and now he has the freedom to get out of bed and walk into your room. Just walk him back to his bed, say goodnight and go back to yours. This will be repeated I guarantee you. Again, stick to your guns and don't cave. The same rules apply as above. It should only take 3-4 days. And it may get worse before it gets better. Usually, that last night is the worst.

Believe me... when he starts going down on his own, you'll end up waking in the room numerous times during the night just to make sure he's ok. This will keep you up for a few nights thereafter just listening and checking to make sure all is OK. This too will end and normality will set in. :)

I had this same problem. What finally worked for me was sleeping in his room for a couple of days. I discovered that my son was so afraid of missing out on something that he would keep himself awake for days just so he would be there for it. My husband actually got pictures of my son sleeping standing up with his head hund over the side of the crib like he was making sure I was still there on the floor in my sleeping bag. It took 2 days to get him to start falling asleep in less then 20 minutes. I have to admit though that if that had not worked I would have gone bonkers trying to find something that would.
Hope you get a pieceful night soon
H. S. Mother of 4

Hi V.,

I'm sorry to hear about the situation with your 19 month old. We went through something quite similar with one of my twin daughters. At the time she was about 11 months or so. After so long of sleeping with us (either in our bed or in a bassinett in our room) she didn't want to sleep in her crib in her room. What we found was that if we set her down in her crib and rubbed either her stomach or back (even though she'd still be crying), she eventually fell asleep within about 15 minutes. That worked for her and hopefully something similar will work for your child as well.

Good luck :)

R.

I'd say take him to a furniture store or toys r us and let him pick out a fun bed for himself. He's not too young now to be in a bed.