Regular readers might remember that Siena had trouble with the pacifier and getting back to sleep after waking up in the middle of the night and wanting her paci. Well, now it’s a new thing. Whenever she gets up in the middle of the night, she quickly gets herself standing and holding on to the crib rail (which is cute as all get out), and then she starts screaming (which isn’t). She hasn’t figured out how to lie back down. If we get up quickly enough and set her back on her back, she’ll fall right back asleep (last night scream time: 3 AM; last night sleep time: 3:01 AM). If we let her go in hopes that she’ll figure it out, as we did one night last week, she’ll just scream louder and louder and get the crib accoutrements all soaked with tears and snot. That night it took 30 minutes to get her back down after we went in, and then she was up again at 5 AM and required holding to get back to sleep (not a fun night).

The basic process she goes through is this:

1. Start sleep on back.
2. Roll onto side during sleep.
3. Tip over and sleep on stomach for a bit.
4. Wake up (here is the problem).
5. Instead of rolling back over, push self into sitting position (here is the point of no return).
6. Grab crib rail and pull self into standing position.
7. Scream bloody murder.

Help!

Any thoughts on how to get through this phase, or experiences of how long it lasted and how you handled it, would be helpful!

Fortunately, she has had some nights where she sleeps through. We just need to get her getting herself back to sleep again, as she used to do before she discovered the joys of standing (which bless her, she finally has done).