What to do when DC pulls up to stand in crib?

[newyorkgirl]

DS just figured out how to pull himself up to stand. And now he does it all the time! It's great, but not when we want him to nap or to sleep.

What did you do?

Just let them cry and figure out how to get themselves down? What do you do to prevent them from hurting themselves (since they can slip, let go, hit their heads on the crib, etc.)?

[psusna]

We have been dealing with this for a few months. When he first started pulling up, we helped him get down and that worked for a while, until he kept popping back up :) He knows how to get himself down now and we have the bumpers in to help prevent his feet from getting stuck between the slats or hitting his head. We mainly let him CIO at this point.

Perhaps the funniest part of him pulling up in the crib is that when he wants to know if we are awake, but he isn't hungry, etc. he taps on the rail with his paci -- almost like "is anyone there?" :)

[kmack]

Hey! One thing i started doing was to put ava in her crib during the day so she can play around, while i'm putting away laundry or something. this is when i realized she knew how to get down. but it's not like she is graceful about it, she just kind of lets go of the rail with one hand and then plops down on her butt. since i put the bumpers back up i know she can't really get hurt (although she can still sort of hit the top). it was also helpful to have her testing things out b/c one time she fell backwards flat on her back and hit her head but i was standing right there and said 'oopsie!' or something and smiled, so she just started giggling instead of crying.

[psusna]

Yes! We did the same thing before bath he played while I got his jammies, etc. ready. He loved to let go and "boing" on the bed. He thought it was great fun! Luckily he's never started doing that in the middle of the night (knock on wood) :)

[majorgal]

Luckily, DS learned to get himself down realllllly quickly. Before he did, we would get up and help him down. Now, he pretty much sleeps through the night (thank goodness and knock wood), but if he wakes, we let him cry for a bit...he is normally back down in 5-10 minutes.

psusna: DS used to do a simialr thing with his pacifier (when he used one). But, instead of tapping, he would run it back and forth along the crib rails. It looked like he was in jail, running his cup along the bars. Made us laugh a ton!

[newyorkgirl]

Thanks, I think we will just CIO with respect to the standing up. But the problem is that the bumpers only cover the lower half of the crib. So we bought another set of bumpers to cover the top half - is that crazy or totally okay?

Also, we've watched him - when he pulls up and then lets go, he keeps his body stiff so that he falls back in a full extended position and then smacks his head on the opposite side of the crib. He's just long enough to make it such that we worried he's going to snap his neck or something. Argh!