Kid standing up in crib but unable to get back down, affecting sleep

Question

Our 10-month old child up until recently slept pretty well. We had an established nighttime routine that she reasonably quickly adapted to and eventually (by about 5 months?) went to sleep without fuss when we would put her down in her crib. And then, about a month ago, she started sleeping through the night after a gradual night-weaning process. For both going to sleep and staying asleep at night, a pacifier is an important comforter for her. By this point, she is able to find pacifiers in her crib and put them in her mouth herself.

A few weeks ago though she started climbing up on furniture. Then she learned this neat little trick where when she woke up in the morning before her normal wakeup time, instead of finding a pacifier and going back to sleep, she gets up on the side of the crib and cries. She isn't confident in her ability to sit back down yet after standing up, so she just stands there and cries. And no, she is not waking up because she no longer needs to sleep: she is very drowsy and cranky when she gets up, and will fall asleep with one of us if we get her out of the crib.

And in the last few days, she's started doing this same thing (stand up in crib, unable to sit back down) when we put her down in her crib to go to bed, and it takes several times of laying her back down (waiting 10 minutes or so in between putting her back down) before she falls asleep. And again, she is actually tired when we put her down to sleep.

How can we re-sleep train our baby? How can we get her to go to sleep again without fuss at night, and (more importantly, see below) get her to sleep until her normal wakeup time again? She wakes up 0-2.5 hours early, it varies from day to day.

My question is different than this one, since that question focuses more on baby's safety when climbing up on the crib wall rather than how to get baby to sleep.

My question is similar to this one, but the specifics of the situation are different enough that I didn't find an answer there particularly useful for my situation.

Answer 1

With a bit of luck, the old parenting rule ”it’s just a phase” will apply here as well.

Your child has just mastered the first half of the get-up-get-down routine yet. And very soon, she will be confident enough that she can sit down again and settle for sleep. For a while, you may have to gently guide her back down and back to sleep (not easy, because she is quite worked up having found herself stuck in an uncomfortable situation).

Do you remember the phase when she managed to turn, but not turn back? And you had to help what felt like a million times because she was stuck in a position she couldn’t get out of? This is basically the same situation. What could work is to “practice” the whole get-up-get-down movement during the day (when she’s awake and alert) to get through the phase quicker. Only then she will be able to go back to sleep on her own again. If the problem persists, please see the other Q/As or ask a new question.

Answer 2

This is a HOOT! Concerned parents often are too-concerned. If I understand this comment, the parents feel the child does not know how to sit down after standing up at the crib rails. Really? So, the helpful parents feel they must get up, go in, calm the baby and place her back to sleep? Did I get that right? This comes under Parent Training, which any normal child will endeavor to do. It is the child's job: The baby is training the parent to respond to her every time. It is difficult to let natural consequences play out. If the loving parents do not enter the room, the child will soon learn to sit down, not cry and even find some self-soothing activity. This is better for the child but very difficult for anxious parents. We have all been there. Who will run the home, parents or child?