Author Topic: Catnap ideas  (Read 1792 times)

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Offline Kinlagh's Folks

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Catnap ideas
« on: August 16, 2005, 20:15:51 pm »
Crib naps are going very well and we even luck out every now and then with a catnap.  However, because I don't want it to be a full nap in her crib, I need some ideas on where to catnap.  She won't sleep in her stroller and I don't have a car - catnap timing is before DH comes home with car.  So any ideas?
Michelle

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Offline Leah's Mom

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Catnap ideas
« Reply #1 on: August 16, 2005, 20:28:40 pm »
Hard one - my initial thought was the stroller. That's where DD takes her catnaps. The only ohter place I can get her to take the catnap is in my arms.  :oops:
Christine
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Offline Kinlagh's Folks

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« Reply #2 on: August 16, 2005, 20:46:00 pm »
She's usually too interested in the surroundings to take a nap in her stroller.  When there's nothing else to look at, she stares at the shadow the stroller is making on the ground.  Yes, her head hangs half way out  the stroller to see.  Would actually make for a cute picture.

Leah is gorgeous by the way.
Michelle

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Offline Matthew's Mommy

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Catnap ideas
« Reply #3 on: August 18, 2005, 19:20:54 pm »
What are her morning and afternoon naps like?  What is the awake time between the morning/afternoon nap, and the afternoon nap and bedtime?I'm thinking that she may be ready to eliminate the catnap all together.

I'll check back!
Jane
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Matthew July 27th, 2001
Brendan October 21st, 2004

Offline Fiona (Leah & Kians Mom)

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« Reply #4 on: August 18, 2005, 19:30:08 pm »
We had the catnap gone at this stage but also found that between the age of about 3 months to 6.5/7 months dd coudn't switch off enough to nap in her stroller. Nosey little madam  :roll:
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« Reply #5 on: August 19, 2005, 12:53:27 pm »
Jane, I've posted for you before because we were having problems with her bedtime wind down.  (that's much better by the way)   So now we're still in between 2-3 naps.  Lately it's been 2, but the 2nd one can finish around 2:30 and her bedtime is around 7:30 which means she's up for 5 hours.  So you can imagine she's a little cranky near the end.  Here's our day.

dd wakes 7-7:30
I get her up 7:30-8
A: 2.25-2.5 hours
S: 1st nap 9-9:30 (can be 45 mins, can be 1.5 hours)
A: 3-3.5 hours
S: 2nd nap is anywhere between 12:30 and 2pm. (depending on first nap wake time) 

But because she's in transition mode, her waketimes are always different.  So it's hard to predict day to day what her naps are going to be.  We usually play it by ear based on am wake time and first nap wake time.  So for days where she's up before 2:30 from her 2nd nap, we usually try to get in a catnap (out of crib).   But because I don't have a car in the afternoon (no problem catnapping here), and she won't nap in the stroller, I was just looking for other ways to get her to nap.  Is resting watching a DVD considered real rest?  She sometimes falls asleep here.

Thanks again Jane!
Michelle

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« Reply #6 on: August 20, 2005, 19:11:12 pm »
You'll have to excuse me.. I loss my memory when I delivered my placenta.. so I tend to be forgetful!  I'm hoping that one day I'll find those brain cells-- but I fear I am losing more with each passing day!

Did I send you some information about early rising?  I went back and checked my sent box.. but sometimes messages will sit in my outbox and never be sent out.  Kinda frustrating..

I had a consultation for Brendan, when he was close to 6 months old.  I was banging my head against the wall, and had run out of strategies in improving his naps.  He was the King of the Cat nap.. and I finally dethroned him!

A couple of things I did..

1 I had to work on his early rising and naps at the same time. They were hand in hand, affecting each other.  Brendan would wake at 5 am, but would still be sleepy (or sometimes at 5:30). What he was doing was waking before the last sleep cycle.. which biologically resembles a nap or the beginning of night sleep-- very light.  So, I made changes to his environment-- made the room as dark as possible.. not a speck of sunlight enters that room. I also purchased a sleep sack (best purchase I have ever made!), because he was getting cold around 4:30, and he would fling off his blankets. The temp. dips in our house, partially due to the air conditioning.  Also, I "double diapered" Brendan, so that he wouldn't soak through..when he did, his sleeper would get cold and wet and wake him up. I used loads of diaper cream, to create a barrier.

After environment changes, I made changes behaviourally. 
-- Made sure he was wide awake at the beginning of his night sleep and was falling asleep in his crib, independently.  Sometimes he would start to fall asleep on his top up bottle.. when he did this, I would stop the feed and wake him up. I also fed with the light on, talked to him.. etc.  A few times, he would fall completely asleep.. so I would wipe his face with a wet clothe.. I know.. cruel. But I needed to reteach him to fall asleep in his crib independently.
-- When he woke at 5 am.. if he was chatting.. I would leave him be.  Literally, he would chat and chat and chat.. I would just lie in my bed.  When he started to cry, I would go in as discreetly as humanly possible..  I would rub his back, if he was hysterical then I would do pu.pd, some mornings he would just fuss.. not cry, so I wouldn't enter his room. Only if he was hysterical, I need you cry, that I would go in. 

-- I decided that 6:30 would be our start time, So if I was in the room, I would leave.. go back in and reenter doing a dramatic wake up-- turn lights on with a dimmer, "Good morning"-- the key is you want to be consistent because it acts as a cue-- "when mommy is in my room, with the lights off, I am to go to sleep.. when the lights go on, then it's time to wake up"

Some mornings were rough and yucky.. some mornings were great.  It took about a week of utter consistency and patience to iron it out.  We still return to early rising, when there's been a change-- vacation, teething, dev. milestone and ear infections have all triggered his early rising. I would go back to the above strategy and within 3 days he's back on track (Thankfully!)


-- I went back and looked at her previous daily routine. make your dramatic wake up to be around 7 am, since that was her previous start to the day.

-- What I would recommend doing, is to look at setting your naps a little more by the clock, ie. morning nap after 9 am, regardless if she is early rising, since you will be working that out, and her afternoon nap to be no earlier than 1:00.  If she has a great morning nap, than make her afternoon nap 3-3.5 hours from her nap wake up.  (which you are already doing) but if she is having a lousy morning nap, ie. pulls a 45 min nap and wakes up at 9:45.. then don't put her back down until 1:00.  Those days will be a little rough.. but you won't have many of them.  Once the late afternoon cat nap is gone, what tends to happen is the morning nap will lengthen to 1.5 hours and the afternoon nap will be 1.5-2 hours as well.  Also, make sure she is going into her bed awake but drowsy.. I used to wind down too long, in fact Brendan would start the stages of falling asleep in my arms.. and I was robbing him of the opportunity to fall asleep independently.  I thought I was teaching him to fall asleep, because he would lie down in his crib, shift once and then fall asleep.. but I was actually rocking him to sleep.  Once I made this change, his 45 min. napping days were long gone!

Generally, the hours of awake time is 2-2.5 hours/ 3 hours/3.5-4 hours (before morning nap/before afternoon nap/before bedtime)

It was wonky in the beginning, he would wake around 2:30 pm.. and those days I would do a lot of one on one interaction, cuddles and snuggling to help him get until bedtime. I would also pull bedtime back to between 6:30-7:00.. once everything improved, then I returned bedtime to 7-7:15 ish.

Hope this helps!
Jane
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Matthew July 27th, 2001
Brendan October 21st, 2004

Offline Kinlagh's Folks

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Catnap ideas
« Reply #7 on: August 27, 2005, 18:43:37 pm »
Thanks again Jane.  As usual, your advice was appreciated and helpful.  To answer a few of your questions/comments

Quote (selected)
Did I send you some information about early rising?
I did get your message re: early rising, but the problem seemed to have resolved itself.  Think dd just needed a little time to adjust after a trip to visit family

Quote (selected)
Made sure he was wide awake at the beginning of his night sleep and was falling asleep in his crib, independently
  DD doesn't have problems with independent crib time.  She has been falling asleep alone for months (thank goodness).  We've just had a few bumps in the road like crying when putting her down at bedtime, but probably due to milestones.  Things are getting better there too.

Quote (selected)
Look at setting your naps a little more by the clock, ie. morning nap after 9 am
  This is really working.  Since setting a time for naps (9:30 and 1:30), our 2 naps are well over 1 hour.  Usually 1.5 and yesterday the afternoon was closer to 2 hours.  YAY!!!!!  Will next try to make her 2nd nap at 2pm now that nap #1 is lasting longer. 

And she's doing fine without the late afternoon catnap too.  They're a thing of the past. 

Thanks again Jane.  Great advice!!!
Michelle

Proud mommy to Kinlagh Emilie
Born 19/01/2005