Naps
Natalie has decided that she's done with naps. Or that she's done with the way we have ALWAYS done naps....for the last two years. I always rock her to sleep for her nap, then move her to her crib/bed. But now that she goes to sleep on her own at night (took a month, but we got that down), it seems she's confused at naptime with what to do.
So today, I tried every trick in the book at naptime. I even resorted to my "fall-back" naptime method of walking up and down the hallway while she falls asleep on my shoulder. Nothing worked.
So I decided that Natalie would have "quiet time" in her room for an hour. She didn't like it...obviously, but she didn't cry the whole time. She played with some toys, cried intermittenly, and finally fell asleep in her rocking chair after 45 minutes.
I pretty much refuse to believe she's done with naps. So she will have an hour of "quiet time" in her room each day whether she sleeps or not. That way I still get the time to work, and she can at least have some relaxing time in her day. We'll see how this goes...
Is she still in a crib? Honestly, I would just do it like any other sleep training. Develop a routine, and then put her in her crib. Then, depending on what your type of parenting is go from there. If you're a cry it out person, then cry it out. I could never handle it for long (sometimes I could more than others, just from pure exhaustion!), but I definitely don't judge anyone who does. It's all what is right for you. Keep going in and rocking and putting her back down. It will be a FIGHT, but if you think she still needs the nap, then it's worth it. Also, (and don't hit me) it's a lot easier to teach them to fall asleep on their own when they are younger and don't really understand that you're on the other side of the door. We are going through a sleep issue and the fact that he screams, "Mama, Nooooo, Mama, Stop it" when I try to leave the room makes me die a little inside. It's definitely harder now than when we did it the first time. (Although that sucked too!)
ReplyDeleteI'm re-reading this, and I just want to say that I hope I didn't come off as a jerk. I've totally been there (and am there right now) so I totally understand your struggles. I just wanted to share what I've learned and what I wished I did differently. And honestly, the only reason that I sleep trained him so young was my mom was watching him while she was working from my house and she said she couldn't rock him to sleep every time. I didn't want to at all. I liked rocking him then, when he was little and sweet. Not so much now when he's huge and throwing a fit because he wants to watch TV! (Haha kidding... kind of...)
DeleteYou didn't come off as a jerk at all! i appreciate the advice and comment!!!
DeleteI totally agree- it's something that would have been so much better if I did it earlier and I will try with the next one. But I also nursed her up until her second birthday (just at night for the last 6 months) and that makes it extra tricky because she usually just fell asleep nursing at night. And I don't see a way around that, because I plan on doing the same thing with my next one. Also- i not so secretly/secretly loved rocking her to sleep too- it's a bittersweet transition.
She's not in a crib anymore which is what makes this extra tricky. And I think moving her to her big girl room in the next three months is just going to unleash a whole new slew of anxiety for us all.
Sigh, thanks for the advice and for the comment!