I was so happy with the progress we were making with nap time, but then Thursday came. We went to Refresh in the morning and she fell asleep in the car on the way home. She took a wonderful 2 hour+ nap. Later that day I went for a walk and she fell asleep in the stroller for about 30 minutes. After allowing her to fall asleep while on the move I did not have an easy time on Friday. She took 2 half hour naps that day. I NEEDED her to sleep longer for quite a few reasons: (1) I was spoiled from the previous 2 days, (2) I had to pack because we were going away for the weekend, (3) I tried 5 times to get her to nap only being successful twice. She kept telling me she was tired so I kept trying - big mistake. That only gets me frustrated. So, Friday didn't go my way. Since we were in Tecumseh for the weekend I let her fall asleep for all but 1 nap in the car. Saturday she took her usual 3-30 minute naps and Sunday she didn't get a chance to sleep until we were driving home from church. She was still talking to herself when we turned down their street and by the time we got out of the car she was out cold. She slept for 2 hours with the help of the white noise. Then took another hour nap on the drive home.
I thought I was using the "No Cry Sleep Solution" method of getting her to fall asleep on her own, but after skimming the book as a refresher I realized that I am in fact using the Sleep Lady Shuffle. Very similar concepts, except that with the no cry the parent makes the call on how quickly to move. I would rather not have another thing to debate and question myself over so I'm going with the sleep lady who says to move every 3 days. She's doing great! I found that I might be waiting just a bit too long to lay her down so last night I tried to get her eased into bed when she was still just a teensy bit more awake. I ended up having to sit by her crib for 30 minutes, but amazingly it still worked. I decided not to confuse things with nap time and keep the chair in the same place for both naps and bedtime. Monday was a fairly decent day, Tuesday good, today awesome. She took a 2 hour nap this morning and is now at 45 minutes for her 2nd nap. I already cleaned the whole house so I'm pretty much just chillin'. Wow! Really? I'm just sitting here...guilt free. aaahhhh! This is nice. I love nap time.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
it's actually working....I think
On Monday, I started using the "No Cry Sleep Solution" techniques for putting Claire to sleep for her naps. I felt like it was a good time to get started since rocking her to sleep was taking much longer than it used to; quite often 20 minutes or so. Here's how it's progressing so far.
Day 1:
Attempt #1 was completely unsuccessful. She slept in until 10:00 this morning so we had a late start on our naps. I rocked her until she was drowsy and then laid her down. To prevent myself from getting frustrated and throwing in the towel on day 1, I set a goal of 20 minutes at the side of the crib. After my allotted time I gave up and figured we'd try again in an hour or so. She was happily playing in the living room at about 3:15 when all of a sudden she had simply had enough. She wailed through her diaper change just desperate to go to sleep. It didn't take more than a minute of rocking once I got her calm and she was out cold. Poor girly. Total nap hours: 1
Day 2:
She slept in today until about 9:00 so we started trying our first nap around 11:00. I rocked her until the little eyes started to close and then laid her down. She woke right up. After 45 minutes of off and on singing, she started crying. It was about time for her to eat...so we gave up. A couple hours later we gave it another shot. I saw my first glimmer of success with this nap. She fell asleep after 20 minutes of singing and slept for her typical 30 minutes. I was going to try again 2 hours later, but Adam came home from work and wanted to go for a walk. I thought she would certainly fall asleep during a long walk, but of course, I was wrong. She stayed wide awake the whole time and enjoyed the ride. Total nap hours: 0.5
Day3:
It was amazing, miraculous even! Two hours after she woke up we went into her room as usual. I rocked her for about 5 minutes and once her eyes closed I carefully laid her down in her crib. I think it helped that I waited just a bit longer than yesterday. She woke up, but I remained calm and kept singing. After about 7 minutes she was out - on her own, in her crib!! She woke briefly after 30 minutes, but went right back to sleep for another 1 1/2 hours. Heaven! About 2 1/2-3 hours after she woke we gave it another try. It went just about the same except that there was a little crying when I laid her down. She slept for another hour. I spent less than an hour total helping her get to sleep today and she took 2 "normal" naps for the second time in at least 4 or 5 months. Total nap hours: 3 hours
I'm hoping for another great day tomorrow, but I will not expect much so that I don't get frustrated. We'll see how she does with me sitting a little ways away from the crib.
Day 1:
Attempt #1 was completely unsuccessful. She slept in until 10:00 this morning so we had a late start on our naps. I rocked her until she was drowsy and then laid her down. To prevent myself from getting frustrated and throwing in the towel on day 1, I set a goal of 20 minutes at the side of the crib. After my allotted time I gave up and figured we'd try again in an hour or so. She was happily playing in the living room at about 3:15 when all of a sudden she had simply had enough. She wailed through her diaper change just desperate to go to sleep. It didn't take more than a minute of rocking once I got her calm and she was out cold. Poor girly. Total nap hours: 1
Day 2:
She slept in today until about 9:00 so we started trying our first nap around 11:00. I rocked her until the little eyes started to close and then laid her down. She woke right up. After 45 minutes of off and on singing, she started crying. It was about time for her to eat...so we gave up. A couple hours later we gave it another shot. I saw my first glimmer of success with this nap. She fell asleep after 20 minutes of singing and slept for her typical 30 minutes. I was going to try again 2 hours later, but Adam came home from work and wanted to go for a walk. I thought she would certainly fall asleep during a long walk, but of course, I was wrong. She stayed wide awake the whole time and enjoyed the ride. Total nap hours: 0.5
Day3:
It was amazing, miraculous even! Two hours after she woke up we went into her room as usual. I rocked her for about 5 minutes and once her eyes closed I carefully laid her down in her crib. I think it helped that I waited just a bit longer than yesterday. She woke up, but I remained calm and kept singing. After about 7 minutes she was out - on her own, in her crib!! She woke briefly after 30 minutes, but went right back to sleep for another 1 1/2 hours. Heaven! About 2 1/2-3 hours after she woke we gave it another try. It went just about the same except that there was a little crying when I laid her down. She slept for another hour. I spent less than an hour total helping her get to sleep today and she took 2 "normal" naps for the second time in at least 4 or 5 months. Total nap hours: 3 hours
I'm hoping for another great day tomorrow, but I will not expect much so that I don't get frustrated. We'll see how she does with me sitting a little ways away from the crib.
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