Standing up in cot when put down to sleep

[brightonbythesea]

Okay, there must be some experienced people out there who know what to do about this.
My 9mo DD has always been a good self-settler, will go off by herself in about 10 minutes, with a little bit of gentle complaining sometimes.

She is now at the stage where she is a very confident stander and cruiser, and likes to do so immediately on entering her cot, along with a bit of bar rattling and laughing. Last night she did this and I went back in every 5 minutes or so, lay her back down and said 'it's sleep time'. This took 40 minutes before she gave up, time I really could use with spending on other things. Is this the right thing to do, or is it better to just leave them to it until they get fed up and just go to sleep?

I though for her afternoon nap I would just leave her this time, instead of returning like I did last night. We are now 20 minutes into bar rattling and intermittent whining!

Words of wisdom greatfully received, she is driving me bonkers!

Well it took 25 minutes, but she did actually just get down and go to sleep, I resisted going in and putting her down. Perhaps I've just answered my own question, but would still like to hear other solutions if any!!

Leave her to it I think. I go in after 20 minutes if DS hasn't settled off (he's now 16mo) and I hear him crashing about like nobodies business! I tend to go in, offer water and a quick cuddle in the cot in the dark and then go out again. If I go in more frequently it seems to wind him up more and he takes longer to settle. Some days he settles within 30 secs, some days it takes nearly an hour for him to drop off at bedtime.

Leave them to it. They need to learn to recognise their own tiredness and lie down to sleep - if she's not upset, then you're just giving attention and entertaining her by going in!

We tuck our toddler DS in, he smiles angelically as though he's about to go to sleep, then as soon as we leave the room he is leaping around the cot, and his favourite game is opening and closing a drawer he can reach from his cot he laughs away for ages, it often takes him an hour to go off to sleep. Fine with me, he obviously just needs to unwind on his own. It is pretty funny listening on the monitor though.

The best advice my own mother gave me was 'if they're happy, leave them to it' which solves most dilemmas ime

Thanks guys, I think you're right about going in giving her attention, it took longer last night than today because I guess she knew I'd go back. And every time I did she'd give me a giant grin and an extra rattle...good advice from your mum shreddies

I remember when DS was about 10mo I had tonsillitis and felt APPALLING, was on my own with him, and he kept doing this at nap time. He would scream, I'd go in, he'd laugh etc. eventually I cracked and just left him to it, and he settled off on his own within about 10 minutes and no actual proper crying. He was trying it on and being a monkey!

Haha, my ds is 9mo and just started doing this too. Took him over an hour to settle last night.

Thankfully I remember this from when dd was a baby. It is quite infuriating, though very cute! But with her we found that after a few nights/naps she learned not to do it, as long as we left her to it, only going in when she cried, and laying her down saying 'lie down, night night'. Same words every time.

It will definitely pass. They are funny aren't they?

funnily enough, I decided for her nap this afternoon to leave her to it and she fell asleep in about 25 minutes. Tonight I popped her down at 6.30 expecting a good half an hour of standing and rattling, and she went to sleep in about 2 minutes flat with none of it!

My Ds does this too - you can hear on the monitor him running up and down the cot, then when I go in he flings himself down and pretends to snore whilst giggling. Its taken an hour tonight for him to wear himself out!