Help, my 1 year old won't sttn anymore

We've created a monster. My son will be 13 months on Monday. I teach in queens and have to get him up by 5:45 every morning to take him to my parents. Over christmas break I really really wanted to sleep in a little bit- so we started putting him in bed with me around when he woke up at 5:45 (ish) and he would go back to bed until about 7.

Now, almost a month later he we have continued this- mainly because I have an hour commute and desperately need to sleep. But every night he is waking up anywhere between 12:30 -4:00 to come into bed with us.

How do we exactly get him to stop this. I know we will have to do some sort of cry it out. My questions are this. He stands in his crib crying waiting for one of us to get him. Do I go in there lay him back down and tell him to go back to bed? If I do this, and he stands right back up, should I lay him down again? Do I not go in there at all and hope that he will just lay back down eventually? Do I go in every few minutes? Should I change his diaper (its usually pretty full or will that just wake him up even more?)

Thanks for all the help! What worked best for you?

Re: Help, my 1 year old won't sttn anymore

What about camping out in his room? When my DD is not feeling well or teething and wakes at night I stay in her room. She stays in her crib and I lay on her floor. Sometimes I rub her through the rails or just hold her hand to let her know I am there. Sometimes I am there for a few minutes only and on a couple occassions I have gotten a pillow and blanket and slept there for a few hours. It works for us and once she is feeling better she doesnt wake anymore.

Re: Help, my 1 year old won't sttn anymore

Help, my 1 year old won't sttn anymore

I wouldn't change his diaper unless absolutely necessary. It will probably wake him up more. I would try CIO. You can go in in intervals if that works for you and if it doesn't then try not going in at all. It's not easy to hear them cry and watch the meltdown on the video monitor but it worked for us and we're all sleeping better. GL!

Re: Help, my 1 year old won't sttn anymore

I would not camp out in his room if I were you. I would do CIO. Go in, lay him down, tell him you love him but it's night night time, and leave. Then if he stands back up (and he will), wait 5 minutes before going in and do the same exact thing...nothing extra...do not take him out of the crib. If he stands up again add 2 minutes (go in after 7 minutes) and do the same thing. Keep adding 2 minutes. If he stops crying and starts up again the clock restarts. If he is whining the clock does not start.

The longer him going to your bed or you being there for him to sleep, the longer this is going to take to break this. It would be different in cases of illness, but this isnt the case. He got into a bad habit.

In the future, you are probably best just to tell him its not wake up time yet when you want to sleep in and try to make it as dark as possible.

Message edited 1/19/2013 6:50:32 PM.

Re: Help, my 1 year old won't sttn anymore

I had the same thing happen to me. DS would cry and that would be the signal to get him. I'd bring him in bed with us at the same time every nite - around 4am. We just continued to do that because DH never woke up, and I had to get to work. DS grew out of it... when he turned 3.

Re: Help, my 1 year old won't sttn anymore

Posted by LadyH

I had the same thing happen to me. DS would cry and that would be the signal to get him. I'd bring him in bed with us at the same time every nite - around 4am. We just continued to do that because DH never woke up, and I had to get to work. DS grew out of it... when he turned 3.