What is EASY?---Need nap help

[Marisa's Mom]

I also consider my dd a "high needs" child.  She was "touchy" as a baby, but she's probably changed since entering toddlerhood.
Anyway, what are Marisa's days like now?  By the way, love that name!

Marisa is still "high needs", very needy/clingy. She's currently trying to stand/walk, so she's conflicted ... she wants a bit of independence, yet she still has separation anxiety.

I guess in the EASY scheme, I need to work on S and Y. She's the baby that never naps. We still have a "fuzzy" daytime schedule, trying to fit in a consistent afternoon nap. Sigh... she just can't relax for a nap, even when it's clear she's tired and needs her nap. When I pick her up and try to hold her so that she can rest her head on my shoulder and wind down for a nap, she will get active & twisty on me ... yet she's able to just drop her head on DH's shoulder when she's ready to nap to relax. She definitely behaves differently with me than with DH. DH is better at getting her to nap.

Otherwise she's a great baby. She finally sleeps through the night. Unfortunately, this coincided with her self-weaning a few weeks after her 1st birthday. I miss nursing her, it was our "special" time together, you know?


Here's what today looked like:

7:30 Breakfast (2/3 banana; pasta sausage, zucchini, carrots, yellow squash)

9:15-10:30 nap

11:00 Snack (1 waffle, yams)

1:40 Lunch (1/2 slice bread; some creamed style corn w/egg; 1/3 avocado)

3:45-4:40 nap

5:10 Dinner (spaghetti w/veggie medley; big serving of applesauce; 1 cracker)

8:00 Snack (cheese; 1/2 rice cake)

8:20 Bedtime

[LŠuren]

Sigh... she just can't relax for a nap, even when it's clear she's tired and needs her nap. When I pick her up and try to hold her so that she can rest her head on my shoulder and wind down for a nap, she will get active & twisty on me ... yet she's able to just drop her head on DH's shoulder when she's ready to nap to relax.

My thoughts on the first part of this indicates to me that because of your babies temprament, you need to tell HER when it is nap time, this is usually the case for spirited babies and possibly touchy.

The twisty thing, indicates to me that she is fighting her sleep and you should put her in her bed in this case as she is trying to settle herself (although only reading into this from what you have said)  Tracy talks about this in one of her books.

[Marisa's Mom]

The upside is that lateley DH has been putting her in her crib at bedtime while she is still somewhat awake, and she has her eyes open as she watches DH raise the crib gate and walk out of the room.  DD has always had the association that Mommy is for playing, and Daddy is for sleeping.

Naps are another thing though. I didn't mention that yesterday, I put her in her crib hoping she'd settle herself. Of course it can sometimes take her up to an hour to get to that point.

Sometimes naps are accidental. For example, I'd change her diaper before nap time, then put her in her crib (safe place) while I go wash my hands. But before I go pick her up, I do a few quick things around the house like move laundry from washer to dryer, wash dishes, etc. Well, there have been 2 times when I went back to pick her up and I found her already napping.

[HeatherC]

I'm going to put the second part of this post in the Naps Forum to get you some great advice with helping her nap.  Since you already have a good routine in place, I think all you need is to get some longer naps out of her and you'll both be super happy.  Best wishes!

[Marisa's Mom]

As soon as I hold him he twists and arches.  This is a settling sign and I put him down as soon as he does it.  Also probably 90% of naps  my son kinda whimpers, mantra cries to sleep. If I touch or talk to him he screams the house down. I ve learnd this kinda cry and its really a "mommy Im going to sleep now" cry.  Interesting enough he will do this back sleep too if he wakes.  I think if you maybe work on getting her in the crib awake and getting her to put herself to sleep the naps will get better.  If she isnt quite ready she will learn to talk to her self, whimper etc.  I also would not hold her when shes twisting, thats a settling behavior and you should reinfoce that its ok by putting her down.

I know exactly what you mean about that certain trying to go to sleep cry! She does the exact same moan. Babies are funny, aren't they?

What I didn't know was that the twisting is a settling behavior. I think it's because she tends to twist with me, but not (or not as much) with DH.

She has on occasion cried/moaned herself to sleep in the crib for a nap. Sometimes she turns on the soother toy
(Flutterbye Soother, like this
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0002XO5TM/ref=sr_11_1/103-4814318-4806226?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance)
on her own when she is going to sleep. Or she'll wake up and turn it on herself. I wish I could pop my head in her room to see what she is doing, but I don't dare. I need to get more comfortable with letting her cry/moan on her own during the day for naptime. If I don't get her to nap at home, I put her on
(Ergo Baby Carrier, like this http://www.ergobabycarrier.com)
and take her for a walk, she will usually fall asleep that way after an hour, and then I just continue wearing her until she wakes up.