Okay, so I have a laundry list of sleep problems that we're dealing with right now, but the one of the moment is naps. My 9 month old boy has trouble getting to sleep and staying asleep for naps. He fights it very, very hard. Recently we have gotten control of nights using PU/PD and my husband being very persistant. We're still dealing with early wake-ups but I see that coming into control soon, too (again using PU/PD to correct).
The problem is naps. Back around 3 or 4 months I was weak and found it easiest to allow my boy to either 1) sleep in the car, 2) sleep in his infant carrier in the house, or 3) sleep on me while nursing on/off. Even with one of these props he has always had a hard time getting to and staying asleep. Of course things have gotten worse and worse and worse. He will now only sleep in the car, on the freeway. And then usually only for 40 minutes or so. On a good day He'll go for 1-1/2 hours. Recently we've made the commitment to move him to his bed for naps and things haven't been going well. We're on day 5 and each day previous has resulted in hours and hours of horrible crying during PU/PD (average is 1 hour 40 minutes). Once he does fall asleep it is only for a short amount of time (10 minutes or so) and then we're back at PU/PD. There are days when he hardly naps at all.
Last weekend when my husband was home and helped with naps my boy responded much more quickly to PU/PD and napped better. But on Monday we (meaning my boy and me) were back to the same fight. I do admit that I am a bit of a softie and have a hard time dealing with the crying but I am working hard to be strong and know that this is what he needs to learn to be a healthy sleeper.
Here is what I do at nap time: wind-down routine is we go into his room, change his diaper, close the blinds, sit for a minute and snuggle. Then I put him in the crib and tell him "Nap time, time to sleep" and he immediately pops up to standing. I tell him time to lay down and lay him down. Then we struggle up, down, up, down. Then he starts to cry and is up less and down more. This goes on for a long time. I do say "time to sleep" each time I lay him back down. When he is laying down I have my hand on his back (not patting or rubbing).
Here is our routine, all times are very approximate:
wake up/nurse/diaper change 7:00
breakfast 7:15
play time/dress 7:40
morning nap 8:45
nurse starts sometime between 9:30 and 10:30
play
lunch 11:00
play
afternoon nap 12:45
nurse starts sometime between 1:30 and 3:00
play
snack 4:30
play
dinner 5:45
bath/wind down 6:05
bed 6:30
I suppose I'm looking for support more than anything. I feel like I'm making no progress with PU/PD at naps. Is this just because he's so ingrained into the old way and it is taking time to un-do it or am I doing something wrong.
Thanks for your help.
Carolyn
