Oh boy dear readers I am at a loss. I know these troubles are not ones specifically to me, and that all mother’s go through this, which is why I am reaching out to you for help and suggestions. I am fully aware that any time I get used to a schedule it will change, but for some reason I find this new change extremely frustrating. What am I referring to? Well the ever changing nap schedule of course. What am I to do??
Thinking back, I feel that I always had a bit of trouble with naps when it comes to my son. For a while he wouldn’t take them, then I would have to hold him to nap, and then FINALLY I got him to nap in his crib. I did this by rocking him to almost sleep, and this my friends worked and he was taking 2 nice naps a day. This has been happening for a while now and I liked it.
During his naps is when I work. On average I got about 3 hours to myself a day (two 1 1/2 hour naps on average..sometimes more sometimes less). I knew how to plan my day, as well as other activities and that felt good. I was happy and he was happy. This is till about 2 weeks ago when Christian decided to change the rules.
It started with him not allowing me to rock him to sleep. He would get to almost asleep, and he would POP up and squirm out of my arms. So I said fine….you will just go in the crib. This is when he’d scream and cry, to which of course I was a sucker and took him out. He mainly would do this in the afternoon, so I decided it was time to let him cry it out. For a few days he was asleep in 10 minutes. Wooo hoo I had done it!
Not so much…we now have no real schedule at all. Throw in a little day light savings time and we are really screwed up. If I try to put him down at 10:30 then he’s up normally before 12…which leaves him exhausted by late afternoon without an afternoon nap. Some people say to try to hold out till around 12, but even if I could get him to hold out that long, I think I’d be stuck at home all day. Why? Because my son sleeps in the car ALL THE TIME! So if I ran any errands in the morning I think he would fall asleep and ruin the afternoon nap. So when do I get out of the house?
As you can see I’m lost. I am not sure why this frustrates me so much. I don’t think it’s necessarily the loss of the “me” time I liked so much. I think it’s the lack of the schedule. Or the fact that the lack of a schedule has left my son cranky. I try to explain to him that he’d be happier with 2 naps, but he just doesn’t seem to care. I knew he’d drop a nap, but I thought I had more time…boooooo
My son dropped his second nap at 10 months. That is something I don’t think any of us is ever ready for. It took a few weeks to get into another routine, but once we were in that he was actually napping longer than his 2 naps combined.
It’s hard being stuck around nap schedules… I totally get that! I hope that you both soon find something that works for you.
ugg! 10 months!? That’s what people tell me..that it will be a nice and long 1 nap but so far that hasn’t been the case…what time does your son go down?
Yeah, it was fun!! ? He’s now 3 and my daughter is 20 months. They both take 1 nap starting at 1 and sleep for 2 to 3 hours. The in between phase is tough, but hang in there because it does get better!
I’m just now getting a good nap routine for G (8.5 months old.) The key for us is that I have to wake him up after an hour during his morning (10:30) nap. Then I get 2-3 hrs from him in the afternoon 2:30.) Daylight savings has made it a little difficult these past few days tho. I’m also working on letting him CIO. He usually falls asleep with his bottles so 80% of the time he doesn’t cry. It’s rough but I really want him to be a good sleeper and get me some good sleep. Good luck!!!
I loved my old routine! wow 2-3 hours from the afternoon nap? That’s amazing!! I’m jealous! The CIO is hard! My son doesn’t get bottles so it’s rough. ?
Hey Jen,
I know what you are going through. Hang in there, he is probably just going through a growth spurt or else his one year molars could be about to come in. With Amelie I just had to go with her body clock, which meant letting her sleep when she needed. Schedules are so nice, but kiddos don’t often know that. I did errands when she was awake, or waited until my husband got home, or sent him to the grocery store on his way home from work. I spent about 2-3 months working around her weird schedule, and then she went back to a more normal nap schedule. Just try to relax and go with it, and I PROMISE it will correct itself in time. Do the best you can with what you’ve got, you’re doing a great job. He’s a darling little man!