suuuuck
The napping thing is not going very well today. I just read The No Cry Nap Solution by Elizabeth Pantley. I tried to follow her advice about getting them to not need to nurse to sleep: she says to pop them off the nipple when they are drowsy but awake. Nap 1 at 9 AM, he took about 25 tries in the space of 15 minutes or so. I'm not sure if I followed the rules or if he was actually asleep when he let it go peacefully, finally. He woke up after 20 minutes. I tried to get him to go back down but nothing doing. We had quiet time til I thought was reasonable and when he still wasn't looking at all like he would sleep we got up.
Nap 2, it took about 15 tries in about 10 minutes--great. He slept for 35 minutes--hey, it's better than 20. I tried to get him back down. . . I should have just let him fall asleep on the boob so he would actually sleep. All the pop offs just woke him up since I guess the edge had been taken off with the first naplet and he didn't have enough tiredness to combat the interruptions. So he's been awake and crankyish since 12:40. It's 3:00 now and after a couple more failed attempts at lying down (he kept biting my nipple), I've got him in the carrier, bouncing on the ball. He hasn't been waking up refreshed and happy when he naps in the carrier so I need to transfer him so he can get some quality sleep.
. . . ok, transfer successful. That was weirdly easy.
So I've been thinking and here's my new plan:
There is no reason that I really need to not have him nurse to sleep, at least at this point in time. Eventually it'll be nice, but right now I just want him to be in the habit of getting nice long naps that refresh him. So I'm scrapping the pop-offs and focusing on giving him a quality sleep experience. He is only my little baby once; no need to rush him or make myself feel stressed out about it.
The problem remains of what to do with him at daycare when he outgrows the swing. Patty has a minimum of 2 other kids when O is there, so actually holding him til he falls asleep probably isn't an option. But it isn't fair to expect him to go down with no boob AND no motion. :(
I guess I'm ok with her letting him cry a little--she said he went down in about 10 minutes in the crib when she tried it out. She was about to give up on it and put him in the swing that time, but when she went to get him his eyes were closing. I just know that crying isn't great for him, AND not the best thing for the other kids if they're trying to sleep too.
I have an awful pulled muscle in my neck which is making this day pretty awful. Tomorrow can only be better.
Nap 2, it took about 15 tries in about 10 minutes--great. He slept for 35 minutes--hey, it's better than 20. I tried to get him back down. . . I should have just let him fall asleep on the boob so he would actually sleep. All the pop offs just woke him up since I guess the edge had been taken off with the first naplet and he didn't have enough tiredness to combat the interruptions. So he's been awake and crankyish since 12:40. It's 3:00 now and after a couple more failed attempts at lying down (he kept biting my nipple), I've got him in the carrier, bouncing on the ball. He hasn't been waking up refreshed and happy when he naps in the carrier so I need to transfer him so he can get some quality sleep.
. . . ok, transfer successful. That was weirdly easy.
So I've been thinking and here's my new plan:
There is no reason that I really need to not have him nurse to sleep, at least at this point in time. Eventually it'll be nice, but right now I just want him to be in the habit of getting nice long naps that refresh him. So I'm scrapping the pop-offs and focusing on giving him a quality sleep experience. He is only my little baby once; no need to rush him or make myself feel stressed out about it.
The problem remains of what to do with him at daycare when he outgrows the swing. Patty has a minimum of 2 other kids when O is there, so actually holding him til he falls asleep probably isn't an option. But it isn't fair to expect him to go down with no boob AND no motion. :(
I guess I'm ok with her letting him cry a little--she said he went down in about 10 minutes in the crib when she tried it out. She was about to give up on it and put him in the swing that time, but when she went to get him his eyes were closing. I just know that crying isn't great for him, AND not the best thing for the other kids if they're trying to sleep too.
I have an awful pulled muscle in my neck which is making this day pretty awful. Tomorrow can only be better.