Rainy Mood Nap Time

Jo wakes up from her naps after about thirty minutes and then finishes her snooze on my shoulder. She's passed out as I write this post, and I'm listening to her little baby snores.

Oliver tends to Jo while she sleeps. He tries to pat her and kiss her and tells her she's tired. Then he forgets to be quiet and starts yelling. I shoo him away, and he runs off to bang around with his pots and pans.

I've found the best website to drown out his noise. It gives Jo a little extra sleep and me a little extra relaxation time. Bonus: We don't get many rainstorms here, and this gives me my fix!

Enjoy a little rain and white noise at www.rainymood.com.

No Nap!

OK, so Oliver's not angry about it or anything, but he hasn't been napping! About a week and a half ago, Oliver skipped his nap. He just talked to himself in bed instead of sleeping. It was pretty funny, and I let it slide. That night, he got super crabby, but I refused to put him to bed before 7pm because I didn't want him to think it was just a nap instead of bed time.

Well, yesterday, Oliver didn't nap again. We moved him out of his big boy bed and into the crib. It didn't help. We went to visit my parents later than afternoon, and Oliver kept wanting me to put him in their crib for him to nap. I did, but he didn't sleep until bed time.

Today, I thought he'd definitely nap to catch up on the sleep his missed out on yesterday. Just in case, I put him in the crib instead of the bed. No dice. Oliver has laid awake for the last hour, quietly talking to himself and his stuffed monkey.

I'm not completely against him switching from nap time to quiet time, except he starts to get so tired around 4pm or so. I can't have him sleeping then! So, alas, he's stuck in a transition between needing a nap and not needing one. I remember going through this when he transitioned from two naps a day to one. Two was too many, but one wasn't enough!

Oliver's recently two (he's 25 months old), and, from what I read online, about one-quarter of toddlers stop napping before three years old. I wish my son was in the other 75% group, but I guess you deal with the hand you're dealt. Well, I'd better go rescue my son. I think "nap" time is over.

Still Too Short for the Crib

I was so worried about going to Chicago because of Oliver's sleeping habits. He had been absolutely refusing to sleep for me. I'd even walk or nurse him completely to sleep, and then I'd try laying him down, and he'd cry before he even hit the mattress.

As it turns out, I had nothing to worry about. Oliver went down for his naps and bedtime easily for me there (Although he woke up at night very frequently! At least I was able to put him back down). I finally decided it must be the low Pack 'N Play. It's low enough where I didn't have to heave him upward before lowering him down onto the mattress. In fact, I was able to bend at the waist and gently lay him down.

This morning, I went to put him down for his nap, the first one I've done since returning from Chicago. He was tired and crabby, and he fell asleep on my shoulder. I lifted his legs up to get them on the other side of the railing, and he started crying. Bah!

Then I had a great idea. I took the mattress out of the crib and set it on the floor. I eased Oliver down on that, and he fell straight asleep. His room is baby-proofed, so I'm not concerned about him up there outside of the crib. At night, I'll put the mattress back in the crib, and Andrew can put him to sleep in there for overnights.

I said, "No nap!"

Oliver's been really fighting his naps hard this week. At first, I thought he didn't want to sleep for me (a possibility) because he'll sleep when Andrew puts him down. That doesn't help me on the weekdays. But, then, I thought he might not be feeling well. He had a little diarrhea yesterday and has been farting up a storm. Finally, I decided his new tooth that's erupting might be causing him to sleep fitfully.

I promised myself I'd get up with him as often as he wanted last night since he might be a little sick. He woke up at midnight! What? I fed him, and he wouldn't go back to sleep without Andrew. Then, he woke up at 4am. I fed him, but he wouldn't go back to sleep at all. This is after only napping once yesterday for 40 minutes. Poor baby must be so tired.

At 6am, I nursed him in bed so I could rest my eyes for a little while. Wouldn't you know it; the little man fell asleep!

How (Not) to Get Some Sleep

Oliver's been on a weird sleep schedule since catching this cold. Until today, he's been napping a lot during the day on my shoulder. At night, he's still sleeping, but he's getting up more frequently.

This has resulted in one super tired Mommy. Today, I was desperate for a nap. I thought I'd lay down and catch one while he napped.

Well, my little buddy didn't seem interested in a nap today. He went from 6am to 11am with no nap at all. At 11am, I was about to fall asleep, and I knew he needed some rest, so I tried rocking him while I nursed him. He fell asleep. I crawled into bed with him, and he woke up crying. Shoot!

So I decided to nurse him while we laid on the bed. I figured, he'd drift off into sleep, and then I could. That would have worked if he fell asleep. He was very contented to lay there, sucking away (even after the tap was empty). Well, I reasoned, I could sleep while he sucks. So I started to drift off, but every time I was almost alseep, he'd fall off the breast and whine for me to offer it again.

I decided I'd get up. I wasn't getting rest, anyway. So I got up and brought him downstairs. Within minutes, he was asleep on my shoulder. I rejoiced. Back upstairs we went. I laid him on the bed, crawled in next to him, and...

...he woke up, crying. I've never let Oliver "cry it out" before. At that moment, my tired self decided to let him cry it out. I thought it would be a good trial run at it since I was laying next to him. I did my best to block out his cries, and I tried to sleep with the wailing baby next to me. His cries started getting louder and more desperate. And then, then, they started to get hysterical (literally). Worst mom, ever.

I scooped him up and cooed in his ear. He calmed. Once his crying ceased, I, again, thought of sleep. And, so, I swaddled Oliver up. I took him to the rocking chair and nursed him until he slept (again). I laid us down on the bed where we slept for an hour and a half. I feel fantastic!

Once I woke, I crept out of bed and set up the monitor. I snuck downstairs. That's about the moment when Oliver's mommy detector went off, as he woke up, crying. I ran back upstairs and unswaddled him. I changed his diaper, cooed at him on the changing table, and then took him downstairs. Almost immediately, he fell asleep on my shoulder.

So, here we are again. I'm at the computer, getting my blog on, as Ollie sleeps noisily against my chest.

We'll get this napping thing down one day. Won't we?

Getting Ollie Used to Napping

Getting Oliver used to napping is no easy feat. Even on days he's not having it, I try to get him at least in the routine of napping by laying him down at roughly the same time every day. I'll nurse him until he sleeps, and then slip away. Often, he'll wake up five minutes later, crying. I'll come back and try one more time. If that fails, I'll let him sleep in my arms.

Today, he seems to be sleeping really well. I gave him a bath first! I can't give him a bath every day, but I think I'll give him a bath at the same time (every third day). Hopefully, he'll get used to sleeping around 1pm or 2pm every day.

We're slowly making progress at the nap thing, and it's helping me out a lot. Since I slipped away from him 15 minutes ago, I was able to quickly fold the laundry, unload the dishwasher, and now take a little break to blog and drink the coffee I brewed at 10am.

It's baby steps, but I think we're headed in the right direction!

Update: Ollie woke up 10 minutes later. I tried to nurse him back to sleep without success. I finally let him sleep in my arms, where he slept for an hour and a half! Now if only he could learn to do that in his crib or on my bed...

No Naps for Ollie

My son hates to nap. The weird thing is, he sleeps so well at night. After his first week at home, he'd sleep from 8:30pm to 5:30am, waking up for feedings. These days, he only wakes up for one feeding and can sleep as late as 7 or 8am.

When it comes to napping, though, he's a stinker. He'll sleep as long as he's in my arms. As soon as I set him down, he wakes up crying. His longest nap in his crib is 15 minutes (he did that twice this week!). I've tried setting him down when he's still a bit awake, but then he cries as soon as he's touching the crib. I'll try a few times a day to set him down for a nap, but I don't want him to start associating his crib with crying. So, inevitably, I give up. He needs to nap, so I let him sleep in my arms. More recently, I've started laying down on my bed with him curled next to me. He'll sleep for two hours in that position.

I'd love for him to be able to nap on his own for those two hours. Then, I could shower! Currently, I can only shower when Andrew's home. I hate that, because he gets home at 6pm every night, and I go to bed at 9pm. Sometimes, I shower in the middle of the night after Oliver's feeding, just to maximize my time with Andrew. I seriously go three days without a shower at times. I could also straighten up the house more if he would nap. Right now, I can quick do a load of laundry or dishes as he happily plays in his bouncy chair, but I'd love to be able to deep clean and get our house looking really nice.

How do you teach your baby to nap? It seems like all the advice online is how to teach a baby to sleep through the night, but he's got that down pat!