Or not! Sleeping is the number one issue that has stressed me out being a new mama. I'm not exactly sure why I let it get to me so badly, but I do. I guess it has a lot to do with my type-A personality and wanting Wes to get a certain amount of sleep during the day and have some kind of predictable schedule. So here is my experience with sleep thus far:
When Wes was born he was essentially sleeping through the night from the day we brought him home-- crazy, I know! Don't hate me though, it's nothing that I did, no special secret technique... he was just born that way. Napping on the other hand has not been nearly as easy. Obviously when he was a newborn he just mapped off and on all day. But once he was old enough to start implementing some type of napping schedule, that's when things went downhill. Wes decided at this point to only take 30 minute naps. This completely stressed me out!
When I went back to work Wes finally started sleeping more than 30 minutes at at time and was taking three 2 hour naps. Since I have been home for the summer he has been boycotting his third nap making me think he doesn't really need it. Brandon has been wanting us to move to a two nap schedule for a long time now to free up our schedule some and I felt like Wes was telling me, "it's time, Mom!" So I decided to give it a whirl. The first day was great! He slept from 8:30-11 for his morning nap and then 1:30-3 for an afternoon nap and went down to bed at 7:30. I was super pumped until we tried the same schedule for day two. I tried to put him down at 8:30 again only this time he was up at 9:05! I let him stay in his crib for a while thinking, he will go back to sleep, which he does a lot. Sure enough I let 45 minutes go by and he was not asleep! Instead, he laid in his crib chatting with himself and blowing spit bubbles. Gahhhh!
I know there is no solution, and babies have good nap days and bad nap days, but it is still frustrating. I certainly feel like he needs more awake time. When he wakes up after 30 minutes of sleep and starts playing in his crib I highly doubt he was really tired in the first place. His awake time was just not long enough. I'm going to keep playing with is schedule--but ultimately I'm going to try to move to the two nap schedule. Maybe I will try keeping him up until 9 tomorrow instead of 8:30.....trial and error I guess! I will let you know how it goes! Any advice is MUCH appreciated :)
Hi Anna, don't know if you remember me from Geneva, I was Deborah Sweigart then, but through Nicole Okerlund I knew you had a baby and asked Nicole to show me a pic on fb. When she did I saw you started this blog. I enjoy blogs and wanted to tell you I made the chicken tortilla soup recipe tonight and it was very good! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI have a 9 month old, so this post on sleeping sounded so familiar. We read "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" and really gained some good tips through that book. Also, Emalegih didn't fall into a real schedule until 6 months, I thought I was never going to sleep again! But the best thing I did was be consistent in the routine for naps and bedtime. Wes will eventually fall into his own schedule! I blog at www.jdp-ourlifeintexas.blogspot.com if you want to check it out!
Hey Deborah! Of course I remember you! Thanks so much for your post! I have actually read most of that book, and I agree, it's great! I think I have read every book on sleep out there honestly but Wes just wants to run the game :) We had a very good nap day today, so positive thinking! I will definitely check out your blog! Thanks for your comment!
ReplyDelete