Getting Your Babies to Nap...

I had been meaning to write a post about how I got Hadley to nap for awhile now, and then two weeks ago, God decided I needed some mommy humbling, and BAM...my excellent napper decided she would boycott her second nap of the day that she had been consistently taking since she was four months old. What is the saying..."We make plans and God laughs." Sigh...

Even though we are currently in the middle of the "Two -> One Nap a Day Transition" I still feel like we were pretty successful with Hadley in terms of establishing a routine for her, and getting her to take consistent, long naps from a pretty early age. I certainly don't consider myself an expert, and I will be the first to say that what worked for us may not work for you. I know that when I was pregnant, and specifically the first few months of parenting, I scoured the internet for any blog, book, or tip that would help me make Hadley a napper, and if this post helps just one other person get their baby to nap, then I will be thrilled!

I thought the best way to write this post would be to divide it by schedule and age group, but before I do, here is the general overview of my thoughts on nap time.

When I was pregnant, the main books I found helpful on sleep training and nap times were: On Becoming Babywise: Giving Your Infant the Gift of Nighttime Sleep, The Baby Whisperer Solves All Your Problems, and Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child. I may not have agreed with all the advice in each book, but the main take away that I got from all of them is ROUTINE, ROUTINE ROUTINE. Make your days as predictable and similar as possible so that your baby knows what to expect and when. Obviously there will be exceptions to this, and days where you just simply have to deviate from the established routine (church, doctors appointments, vacations, etc), but if you're able to keep to a fairly consistent routine, the easier it will be for your baby to fall into the rhythm of your family.

I also found that having the same order in which we tackled activities in our day was important. For us, we followed an Eat, Awake, Sleep formula for our day. Hadley would wake up and immediately nurse/have a bottle, then she would be awake for awhile, then she would sleep, and the cycle would repeat itself. As she got older we still stuck to this routine, and only her awake and sleep times were modified. 

Lastly, we were pretty firm on having Hadley sleep in her own crib, in her own room as much as possible. The first night we brought Hadley home from the hospital she slept in a bassinet next to our bed, and she kept us up ALL NIGHT! The very next night we moved her bassinet into the guest bedroom down the hall, and never looked back! At six weeks she was sleeping in her crib, in her own room. I know lots of moms who had their babies sleep in their bedroom for months and loved it, and I say more power to you! Hadley was just a noisy sleeper and kept us up. ;) I do think, however, that putting Hadley in her crib from almost the beginning helped us avoid trying to force her to sleep there later on. 

Also, we were not afraid to skip out on activities if it meant Hadley wouldn't be able to nap. If there was something we really wanted to go to, then we would get a babysitter, or we would rotate which one of us got to go. I know a lot of people may not agree with this, and that's totally fine. I also know that this strategy will probably not work with subsequent children, because Hadley will have activities of her own and won't want to be stuck at the house that much. We will just have to cross that bridge when we get there. Again, this is just worked best for us and for Hadley.

So quick recap...routine, eat/awake/sleep, consistency in where your child sleeps.

With those bullet points in mind here is what Hadley's schedule looked like at 0-3 months...

Newborn to Three Months:

From 0-3 months, Hadley operated on a three hour cycle. She would wake up, eat and play, sleep for about an hour and a half, then wake up and start all over again. This is what Hadley's typical schedule looked like:


7:00am-Wake up, nurse, diaper change
7:30-8/8:30am-Awake time. (At first, awake time wasn't a whole lot more than the time it took for Hadley to nurse, get a diaper change, and look around for a few minutes. This stretched to about 1.5 hours the closer she got to three months.)
8:30-10am-Nap
10am-Wake, nurse, diaper change
10:30-11/11:30- Awake time
11:30-1pm-Nap
1:00pm-Wake up, nurse, diaper change
1:30-2/2:30pm-Awake time 
2:30-4pm-Nap
4pm-Wake, nurse, diaper change
4:30-5/5:30-Awake time
5:00-6:00-Cat nap
6:00-7:00pm-Awake time: Go on a walk, bath time, jammies, bedtime story
7/7:30: Nurse/bottle, bedtime
10:00pm-Dream feed, right back to bed

**Hadley went from 10pm-5am without waking, starting at around 8 weeks, and slept from 10pm-7/7:30am at 12 weeks.**

Hadley slept in her crib at night starting at six weeks. As far as naps go, she would take one of her naps in her crib, and the other naps usually on the couch next to me. Around three months I realized that it would be okay for her to take all her naps in her crib, and that she and I would still bond even if she didn't nap right next to me on the couch. (New mother logic right there).  She did just fine with transitioning all her naps to her crib, so I called it a win!

4 Months-12 Months:

Essentially the same schedule as above, but her Eat/Wake/Sleep cycle was stretched to four hours. So Hadley's total awake time was about two hours, and her naps were two hours. I made the switch to this schedule when Hadley showed me she was ready. Essentially she would be staying up longer, and I found I would be waking her up from her shortened nap to eat, which told me she was ready to move to a four hour schedule. Here is a rough example:

8:00am-Wake up, nurse/bottle, diaper change
8:30am-10am-Awake/play time
10am-12pm-Nap
12pm-Wake up, nurse/bottle, diaper change
12:30pm-2pm-Awake/play time
2:00pm-4pm-Nap
4pm-Wake up, nurse/bottle, diaper change
(**From 4-6 months, Hadley would sometimes take a cat nap from 5-6, just to make it until 7/7:30pm**)
4:30-7pm-Awake time: Walk the dog, bath time, jammies, bed time story
7pm-Nurse/bottle, bed time

Hadley has been on this same schedule since she was four months old and it has worked great!! When we added solid food into the mix we would feed her directly after her bottles as part of her "awake" time. 

Now about two weeks ago Hadley decided she was a big girl, and no longer needed that second nap. She would nap great for her first nap from about 10am-12pm, but then when I would go to put her down for her afternoon nap, she would roll around her crib, talk to her stuffed animal...pretty much do everything but not nap. I tried shortening Hadley's morning nap, but that failed miserably. She would be cranky and tired when I woke her up, but still wouldn't take an afternoon nap. 

Hadley trying and failing to stay up later in the mornings

So I switched tactics and tried keeping the morning nap, but pushed it back a little so that she was going down for her first nap later. This was moderately successful the first day, but she still required a late afternoon cat nap to make it to her 7pm bedtime. Today was the second day of this strategy and it went MUCH BETTER. Hadley woke up at 8:45am, stayed awake until 11:30am, napped until 2:30pm, then stayed awake the rest of the day until her bedtime. I'm hesitant to celebrate quite yet, though. Once I see that she is taking one long, mid-afternoon nap consistently for a week, then I will get excited!

Hadley was still a little sleepy after her nap so she laid her head down on the high chair :)

So there you have it, Hadley's nap time diaries. Sorry for all my relatives who read through this novel only to find out there were basically no Hadley pictures! Sorry, but brownie points for reading all the way through! 

For everyone else, I hope this helps you get your little to sleep, or at the very least gives you an idea for something you haven't tried yet!  I will say that I was pretty lucky...Hadley really likes her sleep, and even on the days she's fought me on naps, she never cried for too long, and would just play around in her crib until nap time was over. I know if you have a baby that is crying and miserable, naps can be a tough thing to handle!! To that I would say, just play around with your schedule until you find a routine that works for you and your baby. I do believe that babies need to be taught how to sleep and sometimes that means letting them cry it out. (eeeekkk don't hate me!) You can go in and pat their back and reassure them, but don't pick them up, rock them, read to them, etc. Your baby needs to know that it is nap/rest time and tears won't change the situation. If they are fed and changed, and don't have a medical need that requires your attention, then let them be. Once they know the routine and when nap time is vs eating/playtime, getting them down to sleep will hopefully get easier!!

And just so you know you are not alone in your baby not napping, here is baby Hadley wide awake during nap time...

 

Hang in there mamas, and happy napping!