Cribs for sleeping and fun

We have mobiles in the cribs. Lucy and Maren love to them but are distracted by them at times and don't go to sleep unless we hold a hand over their eyes when they are starting to nod off. We think the mobiles are worth keeping because they make the cribs a place where they can entertain themselves, and are hoping that as they mature they will continue to be better and better at soothing themselves to sleep.Has anyone else dealt with the mobile/distraction issue? How did you manage?

 

You could always take them out and put them back later when they're a bit older!!! My girls have lots of fun in their cribs before sleeping and after they wake up before I get them out and they don't have toys or mobiles, just cool stuff like feet and hands and voices - still very entertaining!!!!

 

The boys had mobile until they were about 11 months. They loved looking at them and they only got taken away because they started grabbing them and pulling them down in their cribs. I just put the boys in their cribs and walk out of the room sometimes they went to sleep right away and other time it took up to 30 minutes.

 

we had our mobiles up until they could stand and i was afraid they would pull them down. they loved them. I only turned them on when it was diaper time. One baby would wait in the crib watching the mobile while the other was being changed.. it sure helped in the entertainment department.

Naps and bedtime we had a rule they were not turned on, other than that i honestly didn't think about them. I figure they will find something to watch, if not the mobile than a shadow or something else. the room was fairly but not completely dark.
We never stayed until they fell asleep.

 

We took ours out at around 8 months when they started grabbing and pulling them down. Prior to that, they didn't really seem to pay much attention to them anyway. We bought them the FP elephant projector with music which they still have and love! Perhaps you could get something like that, which turns off after 15 mins? We didn't stay until they fell asleep either.

 

We had two cribs, one in the bedroom and one in the living room. The one in the bedroom had no mobiles or other toys, one of us always soothed and sang them to sleep (if they had not already fallen asleep while nursing).

The one in the living room (which we also used for naps until we started a stricter nap routine around 6 months) had a mobile. It never seemed to distract them if they were tired and falling asleep, but ours was easy to unhook so I could always have done that if necessary.