Thursday, September 10, 2009

Naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaps...

One of the most frustrating and confusing processes in the BabyWise schedule system is determining naps and adjusting them accordingly as baby grows. I have found it extremely frustrating and a source of stress because Audrey isn't a good nap taker, on or off a regular schedule. It's hard to pick up on cues that the experts say you should watch for, that will tell you when baby is ready for a nap adjustment, when those 'cues' are always present! For example, one sign that baby is ready to drop a nap is if she consistently takes more than 15 minutes to fall asleep and wakes up more than 15 minutes early. That is almost every day for at least one if not both of her naps when it comes to Audrey.

On the other hand, all resources say that the schedule Audrey is on right now should be the schedule that carries her into her 14 month, if not beyond, plus or minus a 30-minute adjustment in the morning. I still feel like the schedule she's on is right, but at the same time it's so easy to question it on days when it takes her 45 minutes or more to fall asleep, or she only sleeps for 45 minutes out of the 2 hours she's down! Even though the quiet alone time awake in her crib is almost as important as a nap, it's hard to watch her sitting there awake and knowing that somewhere around 75% of kiddos her age can take 2 solid two-hour naps every day. I guess I just have to keep going like we're going and accept that she's just not that good of a nap-taker! At least she sleeps 11/11.5 hours at night!

5 comments:

  1. yes---night sleep is way more valuable than nap sleep!

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  2. From what you said the book says about waking up and falling asleep and what Audrey is doing, it sounds like maybe she is giving cues to eliminate one nap...not napping all together. You are right...it does sound like a puzzle, but from a fresh set of analyzing eyes...maybe she would nap for longer if there was only one a day? You are such a great mom!

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  3. Some times Lynnde only takes one nap a day, other days she takes two naps. I just leave it up to her. Lynnde tells us when she is tired. When Lynnde isn't feeling well or hitting a growth spurt she wants to sleep more. I just don't let Lynnde take a nap past 7:00 pm, then she will go back down at 10:00 pm for the night and sleep all night long. -Carrie

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  4. and remember---the guidelines in the book are just that....you can probably write your OWN book in a couple of years! Title: WISE BABY

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  5. We do what Carrie describes; just let the baby tell us when he's tired and adjust naps accordingly. When Elias was around a year, he was down to one 90-120 minute nap a day. (He's still taking that nap at 2.)

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