What I have learned (well, been taught) about naps to be true.

[Peek-a-boo]

x Marking my spot.   

[EllenS]

The thing I find helpful about the Weissbluth book is the scientific info on the biology of sleep, and why (for example) an OT baby will take longer to fall asleep and will wake sooner or wake in the night.

I also noticed that he stated repeatedly that ANY approach to sleep work as long as the parents are consistent.  He advises parents to think carefully about what sleep habits they are setting up for their child, and whether they will be able to maintain them in the long run.  He seems to endorse CC and CIO simply because it is a specific plan that can be repeated, and many parents won't be consistent with anything else. 

That's why I'm so glad I found BW - we "start as we mean to go on" and have specific techniques that we can be consistent with instead of resorting to CC or CIO.

[ryancsmom]

Thanks Lyndsy for sharing this!  It makes a lot of sense.  I will keep that in mind and try it out for my DS.  I'm so tired of calculating A time and watching the clock, it's kinda stressful sometimes!   

[Aly Mac]

To reiterate and preface what Lyndsy (orginal poster) has said.  This worked for us when L was around 10months or older, when her cues seemingly 'disappeared' and nap time was a disaster - lots of crying and frustration (by baby and mummy). I didn't know when I should be putting her to nap, and she was getting more frustrated and tired. This does by no means mean that I ignored her cues...so if she was really tired, then we put her to have a nap/bed. But I often missed the window and that made things even worse. Even now, going to one nap, if she is really showing tired signs then I respect that and start the sleep routine.  I also think this really depends on the temperament of your child.  Mine is textbook/angel, and loveeeessss routine. Thrives on it, but needs her sleep. I'm not sure it would work as well for a spirited and a touchy baby,because I have no experience with one. But when all else is failing, then you can try it.

I guess in the end, this is something that I tried, and works for my lo and my family.  First and foremost, listen to your child, watch your child, and find the solution that works best for them.

[lyndsy_p]

I don't think anyone has said anything wrong, but in case a newbie comes along I wanted to point out our stance on CIO and controlled crying and that our main discussion on sleep and caring for our children is BW.  I hope I haven't offended anyone - not my intention at all.  Just being uber-cautious I guess.   

No offence taken. I pick and choose what I take from those books and truely understanding sleep and staying consistant with a plan is what I learned. The books themselves really laid the ground work, but BW'ers like Aleesa were the real key in deciding that a napping by the clock system was what worked best for my spirited/textbook baby.

[EllenS]

My lo is spirited/textbook as well.

[Peek-a-boo]

One thought I wanted to add . . .

I think it's important to remember that BW is always about reading cues, but that how you read the cues of a 3 or 4 month old baby and the cues of a 9 or 10 month old baby are very different.  With a younger baby, every yawn is important and 5-10 minutes can make a huge different.  As my DS got older,  I found it important not only to pay attention to yawns and eye rubs, but also hopped-up-behaviors. I also found a huge part of reading his cues was recording and analyzing patterns over time.  Keeping a sleep log and noticing that even if I saw yawns after X amount of A time, he was NEVER ready to take a nap after so little A time was huge. 

What these ladies are describing seems like an example of reading cues over time . . . noticing that for their LO at this age, a set clock time for naps is successful. 

I think age is a huge factor in the success of this particular strategy though.  For me, the older LO has become, the more important it has been for me to track patterns over time rather than yawns in the moment.  I'm not disregarding his cues, I'm just seeing them better with a wide angle as he ages.

 

[lyndsy_p]

I think age is a huge factor in the success of this particular strategy though.  For me, the older LO has become, the more important it has been for me to track patterns over time rather than yawns in the moment.  I'm not disregarding his cues, I'm just seeing them better with a wide angle as he ages.

 

I agree that with age it does help to see the bigger picture. I am a logging maniac too.

[EllenS]

Well put, Bethany.  It's about knowing your baby.  I KNOW her prime naptimes by experience and lots of trial and error, I didn't just pick an arbitrary time and force to to conform to it.

[Lucysmom]

I didn't just pick an arbitrary time and force to to conform to it.

I know people who just do this as they heard that it was "the thing to do", much like CC is "the way to get your child to sleep thru the night".    Unfortunately I think people associate Weissbluth with both of these things, as if those are the main "take home points" from the book.  He does have some interesting stuff in there for sure, but it is kinda overlooked by most folks.  My sister's first child was a Weissbluth baby, and I got my hands on her second child and she is a BW baby through and through!    Guess who has better sleeping habits? 

[Aly Mac]

Bethany and Ellen, totally agree 

I certainly didn't 'pick a time' either.  It was  a result of watching her cues over time and really seeing what worked better for her.  eg: putting her down with less A time, gave her less stress, and a longer nap than a longer A time did (worked this one out while experiencing 45min naps too..).

Lyndsy, I know this wasn't your intention, but I think it's been a great discussion point. It will definately help me with giving any nap advice in regards to explanation.  thanks 

[lyndsy_p]

Lyndsy, I know this wasn't your intention, but I think it's been a great discussion point. It will definately help me with giving any nap advice in regards to explanation.  thanks 

No problem.

[Fiona (Leah & Kians Mom)]

As others have said the main reason I got the Weissbluth book was to try and help me understand ds colic, or rather to try and help me help him. Although everyone told me there was nothing I could do he would grow out of it etc I found reading this book helped me a lot and re enforced the fact that I could actually do nothing . It has some really interesting points on sleep and the biological process and I just found it interesting. I havent actually had a look at it in a few months once the colic passed, but as I said ds being spirited is extremely difficult to read( no tired signs at all) and I am starting to watch the clock a bit. A set morning nap time for us definetly works, I put him down after 2 hours instead of 3 the other morning to keep the nap time as we had to go out and he slept. It doesnt work for our pm nap yet but maybe as he matures it will and by then I too will have worked out better what works for him in the afternoon. At the moment it's a bit trial and error.
Have been a BW devotee for a long time now :-)

[jess, lukeys_mom]

same here fiona - ds also colic and the book just helped me be patient, know the colic wasn't my fault and that i would have to be patient with implementing some aspects of BW. i was so frustrated for a while that it wasn't working. to me the weissbluth book offered so much more insight into sleep than the cio techniques, i felt like those were only the suggestion if the other techniques didn't work. also read the ferber book but disagreed with so much of it (ie late bedtime as a solution for nw's, etc) but anyway.....i love BW . i guess we all do and that is why we're here, right?

[Mom_to_L&S]

One thought I wanted to add . . .

I think it's important to remember that BW is always about reading cues, but that how you read the cues of a 3 or 4 month old baby and the cues of a 9 or 10 month old baby are very different.  With a younger baby, every yawn is important and 5-10 minutes can make a huge different.  As my DS got older,  I found it important not only to pay attention to yawns and eye rubs, but also hopped-up-behaviors. I also found a huge part of reading his cues was recording and analyzing patterns over time.  Keeping a sleep log and noticing that even if I saw yawns after X amount of A time, he was NEVER ready to take a nap after so little A time was huge. 

What these ladies are describing seems like an example of reading cues over time . . . noticing that for their LO at this age, a set clock time for naps is successful. 

I think age is a huge factor in the success of this particular strategy though.  For me, the older LO has become, the more important it has been for me to track patterns over time rather than yawns in the moment.  I'm not disregarding his cues, I'm just seeing them better with a wide angle as he ages.

 

I agree with your post a 100%. When Lena was about 10 months old, I too learned to "ignore" her eyerubs and yawns after an A-time of 1H30 after starting the day. At first, I did react to the cues and put her down for a nap, with a very angry Lena as a result 
No way was she ready for a nap after such a short A-time even though she was yawning.
I had to come to the conclusion that she isnīt much of a morning person and seems tired while she is actually not.
The set nap times worked for us since then.
Now that she is on 1 nap, our nap starts around noon, regardless of wake-up time.

Sophie