I couldn't pick my favorite few pictures from today, so I decided to post them all. This is a very long post about napping so feel free to not read all of it and just look at the pictures. If you have any good napping knowledge to share I would appreciate it.
Ben isn't a very good napper and it has been a struggle for us the last few months. He doesn't like to nap in his crib so he cries at nap time, and he will only nap for about 30 minutes when he is in his crib. So by the time I get him to sleep he is up soon afterwards and then an hour later he is tired again and the cycle starts over again. That makes it very hard for me to get anything done during the day.
So today Ben started Nap Boot Camp!
I don't have bible study this week which is on Wednesday mornings, so we don't have anything scheduled this week until Kindermusik on Friday. That gives us almost the entire week to try to get on a good napping schedule.
Ben sleeps from 7pm-7am at night (he wakes up once between 2:30 & 5). So I decided to try to get him to nap around 9am, 12:30, and 4pm.
This morning before his 9:00 nap we read a couple of books, rocked for a couple of minutes, and then I put him down drowsy but awake. I want him to be able to go to sleep on his own at nap time like he does just fine at night. We have been working on this for the past month, but he usually cries for a long time and then I can't take it anymore and go put his pacifier back in his mouth. I am trying to keep from having to go back in there so he doesn't need me to do this with every nap.
Ben started crying as soon as I left the room, but not too bad. After about 10 minutes he really started crying hard and I started feeling really bad and doubting what I was doing. Thankfully by minute 13 he stopped and went to sleep. Yay! He slept for only 35 minutes though. The book I have been reading said to let them cry it out for half an hour if they take a short nap. So I let him cry about 10 minutes and then couldn't take it anymore and put his pacifier back in. Immediately he went back to sleep, but only for 5 minutes. Again I tried to let him cry it out, this time for about 15 minutes, but he wasn't going back to sleep so I got him up.
For his second nap Shawn was home for lunch so I had him try putting Ben down so he won't just be accustomed to me putting him down for a nap. After reading a couple books Shawn put him down and he went right to sleep! Awesome! This time he slept 40 minutes. I let him cry for about 15 minutes then gave him his pacifier and he went back to sleep for another 40 minutes. I was so happy he got almost an hour and a half of sleep.
My mom came over to watch Ben after that so I could run by the office and go to the grocery store, and so Ben would be home for his 4:00 nap. When she put him down he went right to sleep. He slept for 35 minutes and then was up. He wasn't needing a really long nap then because he was going to bed a couple hours later, but I do wish he would have slept for at least 45 minutes.
We really seemed to make some progress today with him going to sleep on his own. Hopefully he will continue to do well with that tomorrow when I put him down every time. Our biggest challenge seems to be his short naps. Does anyone have any advice? I know he isn't just a cat napper because if I hold him while he naps then he sleeps much longer than half an hour. I wouldn't mind letting him cry it out, but when he wakes up he starts crying so hard that there is barely any sound coming out and it just sounds so awful that I can't stand it. I really don't want him to rely on me coming in and giving him his pacifier each time though.
He was such a good and happy baby today. I know how important napping is for a baby, so I am trying my best to quickly resolve these issues.
We would appreciate any advice!
Wish me luck with tomorrow!
