luria@ucbvax.ARPA (Marc Luria) (09/24/85)
Our son, Yaakov, 9 mo., recently learned to stand himself up by holding on to something but is afraid to sit down. We have read about this problem in Penelope Leach and a couple other books. Their advice is to go to the child when he cries and gently lower him down. They say it should only last a couple weeks. This is what we have been doing during the day and his fear has decreased considerably. The problem that they don't mention is that Yaakov has been doing the same thing in the middle of the night. Usually we just let him cry for a minute and he goes right to sleep. Now, however, he wakes up and immediately pulls himself up. Since he can't get back down, he will cry indefinitely. Also, by the time he wakes us up from this position he is usually so agitated that it takes awhile to get him back to sleep. Does anyone have any suggestions? Have your children gone through similar periods? How long did it last?
laman@ncr-sd.UUCP (Mike Laman) (09/27/85)
In article <10457@ucbvax.ARPA> luria@ucbvax.UUCP (Marc Luria) writes: >Our son, Yaakov, 9 mo., recently learned to stand himself up by holding on to >something but is afraid to sit down. We have read about this problem >in Penelope Leach and a couple other books. Their advice is to go to >the child when he cries and gently lower him down. They say it should >only last a couple weeks. This is what we have been doing during the >day and his fear has decreased considerably. > : : : I can't say I have had the same problem with our two older children. The third one is a little too young :-) (~6 weeks). I would suggest that instead of just lowering the child, that you hold his hands slowly placing them where he should put them while you bend his legs. (You didn't say you had tried this.) He will probably be more receptive if you make this a game to play when he is in a better mode, or get to him before he gets upset. (Fat chance, I know). I doubt he will learn much of anything while screaming his head off. In other words, I'd suggest you show him how to get down. We all know kids are great at following examples (when they are in the mood). Do it every interval you think the child would be receptive for it. I would think he will get the hang of it sooner than by you doing it all for him (i.e. lower the child yourself). After all, you want the child to learn it. Does anybody have any better ideas? That's about all that comes to my mind. Oh, I also "encourage" our little ones (younger than 2) by a saying a gentle "yyyeeeeaaahhhh" while softly clapping our hands when the child does it. I hope some of it helps you. Mike Laman UUCP: {ucbvax,philabs,sdcsla}!sdcsvax!ncr-sd!laman