Hi Elodie,

I know when my daughter was a baby, I remember reading that it's best to reserve the crib only for sleep, not playtime. I think you are experiencing the reason now! I would try just taking her out of the crib if she starts playing. If it's time to sleep, you might need to get her to sleep some other way like rocking her first, then put her down so she doesn't get to play (and of course you'll want to get her out right when she wakes up). Hopefully she will get the message that the crib is not the place to play . One word of caution: she may get used to going to sleep this way (rocking) so you might want to try to go back to the other way asap once she's used to not playing in the crib (it may take some time to re-train her to fall asleep by herself).

I know it's hard when it's so cute to see them pull themselves up! My daughter did it too (of course, my daughter ended up hardly using her crib, but that's because we let her sleep with us). Consider one of those stand-up "saucer" toys (Exersaucer, for example) if you don't have one already. That way she'll get the standing up play time she wants. And make sure to let her have plenty of floor time where she gets to explore a safe area of your home (maybe arrange the furniture so she can start to "cruise" using the sofa and chair(s) to hold her up) during awake time.

Patti
SAHM in SoCal and administrator of the Sleep Forum group, http://www.mothersclick.com/group/sleep-forum