I think that if I ever had to go it alone on my own as a SAHM without my helper, none of my kids would nap.
We are at that phase (at least, I hope it is a phase!) where Noey would choose not to nap if it was up to him, and Naomi just doesn’t want to be put down. She would snap awake as soon as she touches the rocker/bed/swing. It’s terribly annoying.
I had one of those days last week when Noey didn’t nap at all. I wouldn’t be as grieved about it if I could claim back the 1.5 hours I spent in the room trying to put him to sleep. That and the stress I went through of hearing Naomi scream her head off outside the whole time.
It has always been difficult to get Noey to sleep and to get him to stay asleep thereafter. He still needs me to lie down next to him while he strokes my elbow, my leg, clambers all over me, and generally squishes himself against me as much as possible. It drives me absolutely insane. Especially when it carries on for more than an hour. I know I should have “trained” him out of it. Believe me, we tried. But between his persistence and my desperation for him to just sleep already, we haven’t made much progress. We’ve carried on with what works and at least that gets him to nap for 1.5 to 2 hours a day everyday, and to sleep at a decent time at night.
Until now.
Noey’s saving grace has always been his schedule. At least I could count on him going to sleep at certain times. Could, being operative these days. The problem now is that his school hours have screwed up his schedule somewhat. I’ve been very happy with his transition to school thus far, except for this nap problem. School knocks off at 2.30pm, and at this point, he is tired. Unfortunately, the car ride is too short for him to fall asleep. And once he gets home, he’s re-energized and I have to drag him to sleep, kicking and screaming.
Naomi also complicates matters by not having a fixed afternoon nap or feed schedule, and generally not being too good a napper altogether. (Her night-time sleep is awesome though, so I really shouldn’t complain.) It’s just that the need to squeeze in her feeds and put her to sleep is very difficult when I also have to be the one to put Noey to sleep.
So far, I’ve tried:
1) Putting him to sleep immediately once we get home. I get him to wash his face and hands, change his clothes and it’s off to bed. Problem: There is a lot of protesting and he takes ages to fall asleep. Also because he takes a while to fall asleep anyway, it is too late to give him a snack when he wakes up as it is too close to dinner time.
2) Letting him have a snack before packing him off to sleep. Problem: He’s not the fastest eater, and sometimes, he’s so happy playing with his toys in the meantime, it’s still some work dragging him off to sleep. And if I miss the magic window and try to put him to sleep too late, he doesn’t sleep at all.
3) Taking a long drive in the hope that he’ll fall asleep before we get home. Problem: He refuses to take that last pee in school so I have to bring him home or somewhere else to pee first. It also still has to be a pretty long drive!
4) Bringing him out somewhere for tea and run some errands before heading back, and thereby letting him fall asleep in the car. This is what I’ve taken to doing most recently, and it is proving to be the most effective, fun and productive for everyone. The one thing I do feel guilty about is having to leave Naomi at home with someone for the period we’re out. Bringing her too is more than a bit tricky, especially if they both fall asleep.
In all cases, I need someone else to hold Naomi for a while. I’ve tried putting them both to sleep at the same time, something I’ve only been successful at maybe 2-3 times this entire month. Noey gets too excited when Naomi is around and would keep trying to paw her, talk to her, squeeze himself next to her such that neither would get to sleep. Or Naomi would simply not be interested in sleeping and start making so much noise to be carried that Noey wouldn’t sleep either.
Argh.
Them taking turns to nap results in me having no time to do anything, including take a nap myself, so I’ve been crashing out pretty early every night. Thank God my helper is back and order has been restored in the house! Noey’s schedule and Naomi’s too are now a work in progress. Two kids is certainly at least twice the work. Luckily for them (and for me) it’s also double the cuteness.
Now, let’s just shut those big eyes, shall we?
I can relate so much to this post! Vee can take ages to fall asleep too and is such a super-light sleeper that I need to be nearby all the time. Else when he wakes up, can't find me and starts wailing or walking, he'd take ages to get back to sleep again.<br /><br />Hopefully baby #2 (who's arriving soon) would be a superb sleeper, so that I can retain my sanity. And yes, I can't
Totally totally get you here.
Kudos to you for managing a whole month without the helper! Hope this phase passes soon for you. By the way, do you think there's a possibility that Noey is transitioning to a no daytime nap routine? I didn't realise it could start so early but one of my friend's sons who is Noey's age doesn't nap at all in the day! He seems perfectly fine in every way so his mum just let him.
wassup with these kids and naps?!! <br /><br />i totally agree with you on the cuteness too. try getting us to face this agony every day if they don't look this cute! then again, all kids are super cute to their parents. haha!
OMG I could've written this entry myself. <br /><br />K has the same problem as Noey cos she gets home on the school bus at 2.45pm. It's so stressful trying to get her to eat her snack, wash up and then quickly nap cos if she takes too long to nap, then she wakes up too late from her nap and then her night bedtime is screwed (I'm like you- I need my early nights now. 8.30pm is lights
Actually I think the tods are dropping their naps around this age, but I am going to persevere and make Kate nap for as long as she can (till pri 1? haha)! <br /><br />My mum has varying amts of success on weekdays, though my Mil and Sil are good at playing games with Kate to make her nap… for me, making both sleep at night within a reasonable amt of time for the next 2 weeks are going to a
gimmi nap times! i need naps! lol. it's a phase! they'll grow out of it. one of these days they're going to regret not napping when they could still afford to. lol.
Oh man i feel so much pain just reading this post! <br /><br />Here is what I suggest:<br /><br />a. Let Noey crash whenever he wants.. if he doesnt want to nap, so be it. He'll sleep like a log at night. After a while, his body will readjust the internal nap/sleep schedule and he may very well just nap at 2:30ish :)<br /><br />It DOES mean that you cannot do your own stuff as much, but at
Hi,<br /><br />Am a reader of your blog, a colleague of Corsage. I've two boys, the older one is the same age as Noey and here goes – my boys are 14 months apart. They really drive me insane. <br /><br />My older one went through the same problem as Noey earlier this year. He's a dec 08 boy and I put him in school cuz he's kinda shy and I just like him to make some friends. Not too
I guess your friends have said it all… because Noey's in the pm class (I presume), it's very difficult to get him to nap by the time he gets home. <br />Try giving him some quiet time in his room; that what I do for my boy because he's at the age (he's just a little older than Noey) where he can do w/o a nap but I need some afternoon time with my baby. I'll leave my boy in
Thank you everyone for your suggestions and encouragement! I feel sooo much better after hearing from all of you!<br /><br />@<a href="#c351689744277897673" rel="nofollow">MieVee @ MummysReviews.com</a> Hi there! Noey's exactly like that too — he'll feel around for me in his sleep and wake up if he can't find me. And it takes ages to put him back to sleep too. I have to warn you that
@<a href="#c3106395088859977919" rel="nofollow">pei fen</a> Ah, I was just going ask you about how you manage Kristy's schedule! I guess it is a bit tricky when they get back so late. I'm still thinking about whether to shift Noey to the morning session for next year. He's settled down nicely with his classmates and I like his smaller afternoon class, except for this nap thing! It'
@<a href="#c3641622354465993423" rel="nofollow">Adeline</a> Hi there, thanks for leaving me a note. I felt so encouraged by your experience! I'm so looking forward to the day when Noey will just go to sleep on his own. He's getting eyebags from all this late sleeping. Sigh.<br /><br />You're amazing having 2 boys 14 months apart btw! :)<br /><br />@<a href="#c2546491355865376316" rel=