Friday, February 22, 2008

Nap Time

Taken when I was getting 2 hours of sleep at a time and would never have posted about how tired I am because he is sleeping through the night but only taking short naps.

Do you know what I would do if someone put me in my bed in the afternoon and told me to go to sleep? Kiss them and then go to sleep is what I would do.

Asher sees the world differently though. Nap time has always been a precarious thing at our house. He started out not a great sleeper at all. Then we moved to a great sleeper at night, not so much during the day. Then we went to sleeping great at night and taking a 3 hour nap. Then back to great nights, short naps. Now we are at wake up at 5:45 ready for the day and them take a 30 minutes afternoon nap and call that sufficient sleep.

Granted, he is teething right now. Normally, if he wakes up too early (like before 6:45 am) then he just gets to have a little private meditation time in his bed. But since he is teething, I am cutting him a little slack. He is whiny and clingy, which is very unlike him, so I know that he not feeling great. I'm very grateful that the Lord has given us teeth, but they are kind of a hassle as they come in.

But like right now, I just laid him is his bed for his afternoon nap. He still takes 2 naps most days. Sometimes I think he is ready to go to one (which ideally would be a really long one, but it never is) but then he changes his mind and acts like he still needs two of them. So anyway, I put him down at 1:30 and it is now 1:49 and he just fell asleep. He cried for 19 minutes off and on. He doesn't do it every time, but by now, shouldn't he see the whole nap thing coming and just go with it?

So any napping wisdom that anyone would like to pass on this way is welcomed. You know, the tried and true, works everytime for every kid secret that makes your baby sleep 13 hours at night and take a 3 hour nap..without the use of Benadryl, preferably.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

When you get some great advice, send it my way!! Kendall's not a great napper either!! Good Luck!

Bethany said...

Sorry Jamie...I got nuthin'. Tye has not gotten too much into the teething thing yet. Just the 4 front and he got all those while he was sick anyway. I will ask around for any advice. See you this week.

Anonymous said...

Hey girl,
Both of my babies are really good sleepers (both still take 2-3 hour naps even though Caleb is 4).
But I had similar sleep disruptions when they were teething. A pediatrician friend of mine said to put some benedryl on a Q-tip and run it over their gums..it is healthier than the oral gel stuff and it works better..and man, it did the trick. I also sometimes applied this when they were awake and it alleviated the pain tremendously. So I guess I DID mention Benedryl, but not in the "hey, I drug my kid to sleep" way!

Anonymous said...

Also, I ran across this article a couple days ago and thought maybe you might be interested..has some good ideas for helping kids to sleep better.

http://health.yahoo.com/experts/joybauernutrition/25128/bedtime-snacks-that-help-you-sleep/

Patti said...

Making the morning nap early (usually within two hours of waking up) has worked well for both of mine. My aim for Hudson is a.m. nap at eight-thirty or nine, and p.m. nap at one (as per the Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child guy). Even though he is still not a great night sleeper, naps go pretty well (usually at least an hour and a half for each) when we stick to that. It is kind of restrictive though. I end up having to wake him up if we want to go somewhere. Harper transitioned to one nap at around 16 months, but she still takes a great afternoon nap.

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