Desperate Times

We are in serious trouble over here. I think our whole world changed yesterday.

Emmett can (and does) climb out of his crib.

My 22 and a half month old has done this a couple times in the last few weeks but not consistently. I've foolishly been putting him in his crib for time-outs occassionally and yesterday he came out like 10 times. He napped just fine though. And went to bed okay too. But around 9pm he wandered out with his trusty blanket and his empty water bottle. He often wants us to refill it once or twice a night. And I wonder why I have to wash his PJs and sheets almost everynight!

From 9 to 10:30 we put him back in bed five or 6 times. And then it was 5 times in 10 minutes. And then, until 1:30am I sat on the floor in front of his crib and pushed him back in everytime he tried to climb out. Hundreds of times! And he obviously cried a lot too. I would have just locked him in there and let him cry it out, but Alden is in there and Emmett attempted to get to him and wake him up several times. Good thing Alden was on the top bunk last night. And after missing four hours of sleep last night Emmett slept in... an entire hour! A tiny bit of help for me. Thank goodness Roland is catching on well to the sleep thing and I was only up once to feed him. And thank goodness Aaron didn't have to leave quite so early this morning.

So what do I do now? I have long relied on Dr. Weissbluth's book, Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child. When I consulted it frantically at 10:30 last night, and then read again carefully this morning I found a few suggestions - one of which is doing pretty much what I did. I followed his rules of being non-engaging: no talking, no eye-contact, etc. He says it can take several nights but should be solved after that. I have the greatest respect for old Dr. Weissbluth but worry about his time tables. With Alden, the whole extinction sleep training thing was supposed to take 3-5 days - we stuck at it for 3 weeks before seeing results! But because it finally changed our lives completely with Alden, I've been a big believer. The other suggestion in the book is to get a crib tent to keep them in. Sounds great to me! The only drawback is the $70 pricetag. And when I read reviews some people complained about the quality - and only one company makes these for some reason. If it weren't for Alden in there, I'd just lock Emmett in - which I did try for naps this morning and found him asleep in front of the door.

So, thoughts? Comments? Inspirational words? Please share! I'm thinking about giving it one more try tonight to see how it goes - and then head for Babies R Us tomorrow if needed.