16 month old still won't sleep in crib!!!!! please help....

[Xariklia]

My best friend is at her wits end. her ds screams and screams when she puts him in his crib. she has tried everything, she really has. and he is definetly not in any kind of pain, because he will sleep anywhere else like a rock. she can't bear to hear him scram so she caves in and brings him into her bed where he sleeps all night. she tried ferberizing, but he just got more worked up when she would come into the room to calm him down. it would make things worse. she tried staying in the room, sleeping on the floor, nothing. she tried putting her pillow or clothing in his crib, nothing. she rocks him to sleep, and then tries to lay him down, and he starts screaming. she puts him in awake too, nothing. i don't understand, how he can be sleeping for almost an hour outside his crib, but them he wakes up screaming. she is considering getting him a toddler bed, i know he is too young, but he doesn't fall out of their bed. but there is no guarantee that the toddler bed will work either. does anyone have any experience in this matter with any suggestions? i am all out of things to tell her and i feel so helpless. i want to help her. my dd is 4 months younger than her son and she has no problems sleeping. but my techniques don't work on him. please help me help her ds. thanks

[Rachels]

Why does she need him to be in a crib? If he does well in her bed, why not keep him there? Or if she's tired of that, how about a slow transition-- a mattress on the floor next to her bed for a while, etc. That's what we've done as Abigail has gotten older, and it works great.

-Rachel
Mom to Abigail Rose
5/18/02

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"We have a secret in our culture...it's not that birth is painful, it's that women are strong!!" - Laura Stavoe Harm

[StaceyKim]

does she put any crib toys in there? play music? does she follow a nighttime routine? how long has she tried to put him in the crib using the same method?

DS loves his FP Ocean Wonders crib toy and falls asleep to it every night.

[jal]

I posted a reply in the Bitching Post that in summary said we had the same problem and fixed it by replacing the crib with a twin size mattress placed directly on the floor and had DS sleeping in it on his own within 3 days.

[Melanie]

Sounds like a free range baby to me. If there is no reason for him not to sleep in her bed, and everyone sleeps happy there, why not go for it? Ds slept with us until 2 years when we he got to be such a "big" sleeper that no one else was getting any sleep. He went straight to his crib mattress on the floor (part of the night until he woke and I brought him in with us). When he turned 2 he got his own big boy bed (a full size in case we need to lay down with him).

Ferberizing is not for everyone.

[Laurelsmom2002]

DD went into her twin bed at 15 mo, she went from up about 4x a night to sleeping through the night 5x a week and when she would wake up- it took a little cuddle and she would roll over and go back to sleep and sleep the rest of the night. I didn't go the toddler bed route cause the usual toddler bed weight limit is 50 lbs and that would mean i couldn't cuddle her back to sleep in her own bed. My dd also wouldn't cyo as a sleep method, she may pass out from exhaustion after crying, but then wake up after she got a little sleep and start crying again. I just figured the twin mattress is more comfortable than the crib. If she's anxious about falls- do as others have posted and put it on the floor for a while