tips for a calmer sleep?

[docsaf]

Hello- my DS is 7 months old. Around 2 months he started falling asleep with no fuss at 8. Even if he did not fall asleep right away, he would talk to himself and fall asleep after 15 minutes. If he was/is hungry during the night, I give him a bottle, change his diaper, and he goes right back to sleep - we did not let him cry it out during the night. the past few months, he usually doesn't even wake up in the middle of the night. He's been sitting up for a while now. About a month ago he started pulling himself up and standing in his crib when he wakes up. the past week, if he doesn't want to go to bed at 8, he stands up and shakes the crib rails and cries/shreeks/wails uncontrollably. the other night he woke up at 1:30 and did the same thing for about 30 minutes. he really wakes himself up instead of calming himself down like he did before. If he doesn't want to go to sleep, I go in once or twice and calm him down and then lay him down. After the 2nd time, I have been letting him cry it out. Until last night, this lasted about 5 minutes. Last night he cried for about 25 minutes before falling asleep. I know many parents who face worse, but it is so painful to hear. I want to do the "right" things. Any advice?

any other tips on how to handle this? I keep checking for new teeth - it doesn't feel like any are coming. I keep hoping it is a phase, but even if so I want it to be a short phase and not do things to make it longer.

[docsaf]

Thanks! I'm not sure if the phase is getting better, but I believe it will. Ryder's 3rd tooth broke through, so i'm hoping that was causing discomfort. There were 2 nights that Ryder screamed for 20-25 minutes. The past few nights, he has cried less than 5 minutes. I hate walking out of the room when he is still shrieking, but as soon as I put him down he starts. I accept that staying longer will not help the situation. He will still shriek as soon as I put him down no matter if I hold him an extra 2-3-20 minutes. basically, he wants to sleep in Mommy's arms instead of his crib.  

[adgal]

Perhaps it's a Ryder thing?  lol.  My little guy has learned that if he shrieks or crawls around the crib, momma comes running.  Now, I just go in, rub his forhead or tummy/back, whatever and say "night night baby, mommy loves you" and leave.  I guess same thing LosingMyMind does....it works for us, although it took awhile.  In fact, I am pretty sure LosingMyMind is where I got the advice!!

[LosingMyMindInGA]

I agree it's a phase.  DS2 has done the same thing. Even now he still has episodes.  What I have found to be the best thing is to say something simple  like "it's ok, Mommy hears you" to let him know I'm there but as long as he isn't hurt I leave him alone and do my best to ignore him.  The more matter of fact you are and the less you deviate from the "normal" routine the better.  He's at the age now where he is testing limits to see how he can get you to react.  Keep it simple.  At 7 mos old it's not going to hurt for him to cry for a little while.  

[Ashelen]

it does sound like it's a phase...I co-slept with my daughter until she was about 17 months so I can't really say I ever faced this problem....but I know a lot of ladies on here have been there and can give you some advice on it...I'm so sorry that bed-time is so rough for you now; we had a different sort of difficult with my daughter. she wouldn't scream or pitch a fit because she was in bed with us but she refused to fall asleep....so I feel your pain.

Good luck hon and I hope you get some good advice on this; our son is a co-sleeper right now (@8wks) but he won't be shortly and I'm fairly sure I'll face this problem as well...so I'm interested to hear the tricks and tips!