I mentioned in a Quick Takes that we've been having some naptime issues.
I've always rocked Anna down for nap. I've always enjoyed that time with her. I put Luke down first in his room and then Anna and I rock. It used to take her under five mintues to go to sleep and she'd sleep like 30 minutes in the morning and two hours in the afternoon.
Then we had Christmas break. And an onslaught of ear infections that wouldn't go away. I don't know if these contributed or if her toddler stubborness just kicked in or what, but naptimes had turned into a struggle.
I was rocking, and rocking, and rocking, and still rocking 30 minutes later. She was holding on to every last second, fighting to not fall asleep. When she finally fell asleep after a marathon, she slept for 20 minutes... It was taking twice as long to get her to sleep as she was actually sleeping. So not working for me. I mean, I do have another child in the house to tend to. And we're hoping to adopt another baby in the near future. I was no longer enjoying the rocking, instead I was dreading it.
So now that I think we have the ear infection under control after multiple rounds of antibiotics and lots of major butt rashes from them, it was time to do something different.
I knew she CAN put herself to sleep. She does it at night, every night. No issues there, 7:00 hits, we read a story, say our prayers, I rock her for a minute and sing to her, say goodnight, lay her down and she plays with her giraffe until she falls asleep. And sleeps until 7 the next morning.
So here's what I've done. I've moved naptime back 30-45 minutes, so like 9:30 and 1:30. She's waking up later in the mornings, so I don't think she was tired at 9. I rock her and sing to her like I do at night. I lay her down and say nigh-night. And then I leave.
And then she would get up. I think she could play in there all day without ever falling asleep.
So today I started by going back in, laying her down and saying "night-night". She stayed down for a few minutes then got back up again. I went in, laid her down and walked out. She got back up after a few minutes, so I repeated. Then she fell asleep. 20 minutes, no tears, no frustration, I got to read a book in between times and all was calm. She's already passed the 20 minutes of sleep mark, so it must be working.
We shall see how it goes, ideally she will soon be going to sleep much quicker without needing me to lay her back down. I still get my snuggle time before her nap, and she is getting a chance to be a little more independent at naptime. I hope it works, it will relieve a lot of stress and make sleeptime much more enjoyable for the both of us. And hopefully make transitioning to a brother or sister a little bit easier. I hate to make too many transitions after the fact because I know it will be enough of a transition for her as it is.
3 comments:
I'm glad your new naptime routine is working! It sounds like you're doing all the right things.
I think my kids are allergic to nap time. Isabella was a terrible sleeper (night and day) until about 6 months when we bit the bullet and did sleep training with her...at night. She slept from 6:30pm-6:30am with no wakings and now at 19 months old is sleeping from 7:30/8:00pm-7:30/8:00am with no wakings. BUT, for most of her life, she has been a terrible napper. She napped for 15-45 minutes at a time (2-3 times a day) until she was around 12 months old. Then, she started taking 2 45 minute naps and I was in heaven! Then, the naps moved to over an hour. Then, by 14 months, she was NO LONGER falling asleep at all for her afternoon nap and was so crabby all evening when I got her up. SO, we had to move her morning nap later and later until she finally made it past lunch time. She now sleeps from 1:30-3:30 or 4:00. I never thought that was possible.
Isaiah also doesn't like to nap. He typically sleeps for 10-30 minutes and I rejoice if he sleeps for 45 minutes at a time. I decided that we are nap training him at a younger age. I started yesterday (he is almost 4 months). I put him in his bed and leave him there for 45 minutes at a time whether he sleeps or not. Not too successful yesterday, but today, after 2 short naps this morning, she has been sleeping almost 3 HOURS this afternoon! Hence, I am catching up on blogging!! LOL!
Good luck with nap training. I think some kids just don't "train" even if we want them to. Hopefully Anna gets the sleep she needs and you get the break you need each day!
Julie - I'm so very thankful that Anna is a wonderful sleeper in general. She's always slept perfectly at night. I shouldn't even care about her naps :-). However, this new routine we have has been wonderful. She's so easy to put to sleep now and will sleep 45 minutes in the morning and 1.5-2 hours in the afternoon!
I hope Isaiah keeps napping like that for you!
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