- Pregnancy
- Baby & Toddler
- Parents
- Getting Pregnant
- Baby Names
- Product Reviews
-
Registry
- Community
-
More
Want a personalized experience?
Download the free app
Toddlers: 12 - 24 Months
Bride2bMO
member
I need to reset naps. Advice?
Bride2bMO
member
I have a post-colic baby who has never gone down willingly for a nap. Ever. We've been through Ferber and extinction a la Weissbluth (we've been working on this for over 6 months), and have given a good consistent effort to each, but eventually regressed back to nursing to sleep (and mostly napping with/on me) since he never really graduated to peaceful naps like all the dang case study babies in the books.
So, as any other moms of "high needs" or post-colic babies might understand, he still never has obvious drowsy signs. It's really hard to know when he's truly tired, other than increased fussiness/tantrums (and obviously by that point, he's overtired).
I want to start over and do this right, crying or not, but I'm not really sure if I should be shooting for one or two naps. He has mostly been taking one marathon 2 - 3 hour nap, with significant assistance from me. He has never, ever, taken that long of a nap on his own. Again, he screams in protest every time we put him in his crib, and I hate the idea of him crying for a long time if he's not even tired, but it's so hard to know! And any time he wakes up alone in his crib, he cries, which most people say means he's still tired, but I don't know how long to leave him. Maybe he's still tired, or maybe he just misses me and he's pissed?
I need to update my ticker, he's just shy of 13 months. Should I try to get back on a 2 nap schedule? He wakes for the day around 7, goes to bed from 7pm to 8pm, depending on whether he had 1 or 2 naps that day.
Warning
No formatter is installed for the format bbhtml
This discussion has been closed.
Re: I need to reset naps. Advice?
Hi,
I just posted below about resetting naps as well. DD will be 1 on Friday and I think she is dropping her PM nap. She is also very high needs, fussy etc.
I am kind of in the same boat you are in. I don't know what to tell you. I think if he has been taking 1 marathon nap I may just leave it at that.
I am sorry I am not much help...just know we are in the same boat
Do you have a copy of Ferber? I borrowed one from the library and it was his older addition. I went out and bought the newer addition, which goes much more in depth on a lot of what your concerns are. It has a chart of how much sleep they should be getting at what age. It doesn't clearly say one or two naps, just the total nap time. Also they talk about waking up crying. It doesn't mean he is still tired, it has to do with what part of the sleep cycle he wakes up in. There is nothing wrong with him waking up crying and nothing you can do to change it.
Aw, sounds pretty rough. DD was down to 1 nap at 9 months... I wouldn't try 2. I don't have much advice, but my DD doesn't show tired signs, either. So I basically put her down 5.5-6 hours after waking, she naps 2 hours, and then I put her down for bed about 5 hours after waking from nap.
I did not do CIO with DD , but once she started STTN at 13 months, she started napping without a fuss. If she's not tired she chats to herself or the toys she brought with her into the crib until she is. Good luck!
I do have it, I need to pull it back out. I read it cover to cover over 7 months ago, along with a few other sleep books, and got so overwhelmed I haven't looked at them much since!
Oh, poor guy! He has renewed his screams and is coughing and gagging from crying. It's been 36 minutes. Ugh!!!!!!! Can you guys see why I don't have the nerve to do this every day and just give in and nurse to sleep?
Nursing to sleep doesn't bother me...but not being able to unlatch and set him down without waking him up does (this isn't an issue with nightsleep, fortunately!). My house is a wreck, I need to work during naps! And there is the fact that SOME day this kid will have to give up the boobs permanently.
Yes, we do have one, and he's so tuned in to it that he now starts crying the second we turn on the sound machine and pull down the shades.
Then I try to read and/or sing, but by that time he's usually sticking his hand down my shirt and crying (whether he just ate or not). Poor guy.
I hate, hate, hate CIO. Gah! 42 minutes...
Asleep after 45 minutes. I'm going to clean the house, but I'll still check this post later.
Thanks for all of your replies. And please don't think I'm evil for letting him cry so long. No one hates it more than me. Well, no, he probably hates it more than I do.
WOW! good for you!! ( for sticking it out!!!!)
I also am a big time sucker with the whole crying thing but I am to the point of something's gotta give! bedtime is a nightmare:( the longest I have done CIO is 15 min.... you have given me hope.... maybe I can do it tonight...
It sounds like one nap does work for him, so I wouldn't push him back into doing two.
DS finally started sleeping on his own for naps (he also had months and months of only sleeping on the boob, or *right* next to me), and what worked for us was rocking and nursing, and then I put him down when he is completely asleep, and nurse him for a minute or two after he's laying down (he sleeps on a mattress shoved next to our mattress on the floor). He usually goes for abotu 40 minutes or so, and then wakes up and fusses/cries, in which case I'll go in and nurse him again - which usually ends in him sleeping for another 40+ minutes. So even though I still have to do "nap maintenance", I still end up getting more than an hour of time on my own. I figure that even when he's almost weaned, nursing before sleeping will be the last session dropped, so I'm in no hurry to have him drop it if that's what he needs.
Could you think about doing a floor bed for naps only, so you could nurse him down and then sneak off? I've been working on unlatching DS while he's in the rocking chair, and then putting him down, which works like 50% of the time.
Oh and re: not being sleepy, I give DS about 20 minutes of rocking and nursing, and if he's not almost sleeping, then we stop and he goes and plays for another hour or so - you could try that and see if it's easier to get him to nap.
Aaaand, Elizabeth Pantley has "the No-Cry Nap Solution" - just another book to read if you're interested...
Hope any of that helps, I'm just throwing out suggestions!
DS2 - Oct 2010 (my VBAC baby!)
Nosoup4you,
Thanks! The floor bed is about the one thing we haven't tried. I am willing! So the 45 minutes of crying just now only bought him a 35 minute nap. It hardly seems worth it for all the stress it causes both of us, you know?
I am willing to meet him halfway, so long as I get just a short time to myself, so the floor bed might be just the trick. Thanks!
DS2 - Oct 2010 (my VBAC baby!)