what do do about baby throwing lovey out of crib?

[yankeedoc]

My 11 month old dd has started throwing her lovey out of the crib at night. Then she cries hysterically because the lovey is not there. Then I come in and put it back. Then she stands up and throws it out. Repeat ad nauseum.

What to do? I think she is throwing it out because she doesn't want to go to sleep and her bunny represents bedtime. But she loves it and as soon as it is on the floor and she can't see it she gets very upset. Is this a stalling tactic? Is it just a game that she thinks is funny? If your baby did this, when did he or she stop?

Please help if you have any ideas, I spent two hours last night from midnight to 2 AM putting her bunny back in her crib. I can even sit there and catch it when she drops it! I thought about tying it to the crib but I am worried about the safety hazard.

[bluestar2]

My DD has done this with her beloved "baby" she sleeps with every night. I tell her I will pick it up for her only once and if she throws it out again, then "no more baby". It seemed to do the trick. She was a bit older than your DD though (18 mos?) and I knew she could understand me at that point. Occassionally, she will throw everything else out but not her "baby" LOL.

[murpheyblue]

My DD doesn't have a lovey but she has a binky (actually several for bedtime) and she used to do the same thing and it drove me batty. I would catch them too since that seemed less satisfying to her than hearing them hit the floor.

DD was closer to 18 months when she was doing this. I would tell her not to do it and if she did it repeatedly I would confiscate them for a dew minutes. If, upon return, she kept dropping them I'd pick them up, give them back to her and then leave her room for a little while. We don't CIO so I would return if she got upset but she would usually be quiet for a few minutes after the return.

I guess I could have done the cold turkey approach but I'm too much of a wuss. It took a while for her to stop dropping them but she did. Like any phase, it was infuriating at the time but it came to an end.

[mudder17]

Fortunately Kaya never did that, partly because we have a crib tent, although the lovey can fit through the bars (and she has done that to get the lovey out of the crib when she's on the outside). The first time she did this it was actually in the pack and play and when she did it, we just ignored it (since it was during a nap) and she gave up and the next time, she was very careful not to throw it back out. But Kaya was older, so I'm not sure. You could invest in a crib tent. :) We actually had it because of the cats, but they're not in her room at night so that really hasn't been the issue, but we've kept it on her crib, knowing that without it, at some point, she'll think about climbin out of it!

However, a less pricey option...MAYBE use one of those linky things (for toys) to attach the lovey to the crib? My friend used them to attach a variety of toys to her son's crib and she never made it very long so that it wouldn't wrap around her son's neck or anything like that, but it was long enough that he could play with the toys.


Eileen

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