Naptime Nursers Question

Emerald27

Having read my many responses, I'm sure you all know by now that I nurse DS to sleep for bedtime and naps. We've hit an odd phase, so I thought I'd ask about it. Not sure if anything can be or even needs to be done about it.

We've been through the "wrestle" to sleep phase, where DS was just so active that he had to be gently forced to lay with me, and things have been back to normal lately. Normal, for us, has always been that when I notice his tired signals, I lay with him and he nurses happily to sleep easy peasy, and this typically takes 510 minutes.

For the past few days, DS has taken FOREVER to fall asleep. He doesn't try to get up or fuss. He even smiles and giggles and happily snuggles or plays with my hair. It is cute, but it takes a lot of time and makes me wonder:

Is this a sign that he is ready to drop a nap? We are talking an hour or more of laying in bed giggling and smiling before falling asleep...for both naps. Oh, and he usually takes 2 per day. What else could cause this?

Please share your thoughts/experience if your LO did something similar. Thanks!

ncbelle

I found that around that age both of my kiddos just started to fight being nursed to sleep - kinda like they new it meant sleep and they were too busy to stop for a nap!

You could try dropping a nap - it's a bit on the early side but if it works, roll with it!  Otherwise, I'd say it's just a natural progression - it might be that he is ready to have a less mama intensive way to fall asleep or at least a different pre-wrap routine.

Emerald27

Thanks, ncbelle! If I were to try not nursing him to sleep, what would I do instead? He doesn't act this way at night, but only for naps...so I suspect that he will want to continue nursing to sleep at bedtime. I'm happy to try something different at nap time, though! How do you get them to nap without nursing?

Emerald27

I'm honestly not brave enough to drop a nap yet. We've done one nap per day twice, and both evenings were very crabby, to bed early, and up before dawn ready to roll the next day. I'm too chicken to change things!