Hellobee Boards

Sounds like separation anxiety and he knows the crib means you leave!

Unfortunately I think you're reinforcing him to cry to get taken out of his crib and go to your bed. I would stop that cold turkey and talk to him repeatedly about it. "It's time for you to go to sleep in your crib. I'll come check on you if needed, but you must sleep in your crib." Maybe try Ferber with checks and resettling and telling him he must stay at intervals (for example 3 mins, 5 mins, 7 mins). But whatever you do, make him stay in his crib! I doubt it's the crib as much as the attention.

We sleeptrained our kids so I didn't have a problem with letting him cry at bedtime because it was normal for us to tuck him in and leave. He basically cried hard for 10 minutes, then yelled, threw all his loveys and friends on the floor, and then, most annoyingly, kicked his crib slats or crib headboard with his feet over and over for like an hour. He was using the bottoms of his feet so I know he wasn't hurting himself but it was loud and annoying. We would tell him through the monitor not to kick and that it was time for sleep. At the height of this regression he wouldn't sleep for like 2 hours after we tucked him in. He needs at least one lovey to fall asleep so I think if we saw he didn't have any in his bed we would go in after one hour, silently hand him all the friends he threw overboard, say goodnight and leave. Then he would wake up like an hour early in the morning and start throwing and kicking again. We would do the same thing - tell him not to kick through the monitor and not go in until his normal wake time.

If he woke up in the MOTN, we usually let him fuss for up to 20 minutes, go in and check on him to make sure he's not ill, offer him a sip of water and a little hugging in the dark until he got drowsy again (prob 15 minutes) and then put him down.

Basically we just tried to stay as consistent as possible and it passed after a few months.

@gingerbebe: I was also going to mention the 18 month regression.
Best thing to do is remain consistent to pre-regression routine and not introduce new sleep crutches (unless you are ok with them sticking beyond the life of the regression). It does eventually just stop so it's best to avoid permanent changes for a temporary change in sleep.

This happened to us and we got a nightlight and glow in the dark stars for the wall by her crib. Would hold her hand while she fell asleep and once that worked slowly faded that out. To be fair, I still often wait in her glider while she falls asleep but I probably don't need to do that st bedtime anymore (just naptime because she's always trying to skip).

Yes, and I'm not the person to ask. DD1 started this at about 18 months, and at almost 4 1/2 she's a permanent fixture in our bed/our floor. She hasn't slept in her bed in months. She has serious anxiety about it and trust me we've tried everything.