Nap Strike Suspended

Thank you all for your suggestions in my Nap Strike Plea. Today was the sixth consecutive day of a nap. Though some have been delayed later than they would usually happen, they still happened.

The downside is that now bedtime is a nightmare, which was never the case when he napped before. Tonight is the first night of first putting him down at 8 PM. So far, a half hour of struggle has gone on - which seems to be typical now. Cross your fingers for me!

Thank you all so much!

Lynne

Lori, I started waking him up a full hour before he was used to getting up. He'd slipped into waking up at 8:30 - and me along with him. I jumped into waking at 7 AM as soon as I was able to manage it and then waking Alex at 7:30 AM. That left at least four hours between his waking and the usual time of going down for a nap. I'm finding though that he seems to need to be awake at least 4.5 hours, which is still a bonus if he naps at noon instead of 11:30. I introduced a naptime routine beginning at 11 AM. It involves my putting on a "quiet time" DVD - which in our case is either Baby Einstein's "Lullaby Time" or "Baby Shakespeare". Both of those DVDs have a very slow and mellow pace to them. I'll also read some of his "Quiet Time" books with him, those drawn with more muted colors and which contain just stories and no "fun" non-fiction things to learn or test himself. In our case, the books are "Peter Rabbit", "The Velveteen Rabbit" and a book about a puppy's bedtime entitled "Biscuit". If at all possible, I'd take him out for a short trip or walk making sure to return by 11 AM. Then, lastly, I cut the nap short from three hours now down to two by the end of the week. Out of all of them, I think waking him up earlier did the most work followed by the naptime routine "Quiet Time" for at least 30 minutes before the nap. I'll be bummed for you if you've already tried all of these, but here's hoping! Lynne I am happy to report that he fell asleep by 8:30! A half hour struggle seems to be the pattern right now. Sorry, I didn't see your follow-up Jodi. I seized on my early night to scrap! And now...it's time for Mommy's bedtime. There won't be any struggle coming from her. Good night all! Lori, sorry to hear the sleep schedule shifting didn't work. However, I will suggest that you try to work in another sleep schedule shift just for your sake. Within only two days, I felt a world of emotional difference just having that half hour in the morning to myself. For months, I was living behind the 8 ball, being woken by Alex as late as 8:30 AM, sometimes as late as 9. By that time, he could have possibly been awake for a half hour and there would be absolutely no time for myself from that point on. Having the half hour in the morning to have my coffee, read my email and some new posts on here, make my To Do list, clear the drainboard -whatever it was - made a WHOLE lot of difference for me come noon or 12:30 if Alex was not napping yet. Usually by 12:30, I'd be so fried, I'd just give up and take him out of his crib. Now, I'm not any longer because I don't feel as hassled and cheated. So, maybe just for you? Lynne No worries, Daniella. I know well of your separate inner circle of no-sleeping-through-the-night hell. I can say I never suffered that one beyond his newborn-ness. Alex's late schedule is a remnant of his newborness, since 8:30 PM and 8:30 AM used to be two of his eating times. Those were just two that stuck when he started giving up middle-of-the-night and early AM nursing. For me, the hell was his just not sleeping at any point between 8:30 AM and sometimes as late as 11 PM. So, yeah, I could get a full night's sleep of at least 7 hours. I would just about lose my mind during my waking hours. And BTW, I posted too soon. He didn't nap today.