Concerned/ Confused Dad

[Meg's Mom]

Hi Jamie

Thanks for the update, so glad to hear you are making progress!  From where you were 1 week ago!

What is happening for the pm nap?  How long are you giving him to fall asleep?

Keep up the good work!

[AndDad]

I think I'm part of the problem.  DW does all the naps during the week. So today when I did it, it was almost back to square one.  He did finally fall asleep snuffling.

I think I'm off nap duty until we get into a solid rhythm of sleeping.  We trade evey 2 days for night time and that has been smooth.

In the PM nap we give him 3 to 5PM when he has his dinner.  We do breaks every 40 minutes or so.

[Meg's Mom]

When you say breaks...do you mean take him out of his crib?  If so, at his age i would recommend you give him at least 1hr to fall asleep during which you continue w/ your PD plan as above. Or he will soon learn: "if i don't want to sleep someone is going to let me play if i fuss long enough."

After the 1hr is up, if it were me - i would pop him in the car or stroller (if you think he will fall asleep) so he can get a catnap (30-45min).  This will help in 3 ways: 1) his body will get used to sleeping in the pm 2) it will keep the cortisol levels down - cortisol will make him feel alert, when he should be tired 3) if he is overtired it will add to night waking and over tiredness.

Just my suggestions.

[AndDad]

Breaks are typically 15 minutes of books.  THen repeat the nap time ritual and back to it.   Our break is usually after 40 minutes if he is wound up.

We avoided the other methods of trying to get him to sleep because we thought it would be to "accidental".   But I guess we need to lighten up a little.  It makes sense to try to get him used to sleeping at that time.

Sigh. another day with no afternoon nap.

[AndDad]

So he hit his 11 month birthday today and we went for a single nap.

About 1 to 3PM, so a decent 2 hour r so nap. He went right down too.  Of course he was exhausted.  And 1 or 2 PD at the 45 minute mark.

So hopefully we found his sweet spot!

[LindseysMom]

Good, hopefully this is just what he needs-just one nap and not two.  Hope this routine works well for you guys.

[Meg's Mom]

Funny, i was in the car a lot today and was thinking about your wee guy.  I was going to recommend 1 nap if he still was fighting the pm nap.

If 1pm is his sweet spot great - those that take the 1 nap usually do so between 11.30 and 1.00, so you are right on target.

Let us know how goes it, as 1 nap is not far away for us.

[AndDad]

We're still finding the "sweet spot".  He seems to float between 2 naps and 1 nap. 

I hesitate to call it 2 naps though.  It's usually one nap at 9 or 10 in the AM with an unsuccessful PM nap. 

DW did say he fell asleep in the PM in the car and it turned into an hour+ nap. It was such a treat to come home and see them both rested and relaxed!

At this point, it's mostly play it by ear.