Tuesday, March 10, 2009

No More Naps

Sigh. It looks like the afternoon nap is now, for the most part, a thing of the past. For some time now it has been increasingly difficult to get Captain Adorable to go to sleep. The devices to help him sleep (singing and/or rocking in Ergo until he falls asleep) became more and more work because the time required for him to nod off became longer and longer. When I realised I was spending an hour plus gently trying to get him to bed, coupled with the fact that he wasn't falling asleep till 10:00, despite our starting the bedtime routine at 8:30, I decided it was time to do away with the afternoon nap. After all, Ms. Resourceful's little one hasn't been napping for months now and Ms. Breadwinner's toddler stopped napping at around the same age as Captain Adorable...and Capt. Adorable isn't really asking for naps anymore. He sleeps if I ask him to, but no matter if I wake him up after one hour (which means dealing with a grumpy boy for about 20-30 mins afterward) he still doesn't go to sleep till 10:00 and I need him to go to sleep earlier with less input from me.

But oh me oh my how I like those naps. If I am tired, I can sleep also. If I am not tired, I get time to play on my computer or whatever I choose, totally uninterrupted. I can count on the nap as a part of the rhythm of the day. I plan activities around it. Shoot, I plan meals around it. And if there is no afternoon nap, that means I am going to have to come up with something to do during the afternoon in addition to whatever morning activity I have planned. Sigh.

Yes, no matter how much I belly-ached to myself, I knew the truth and that was that the nap is done in this house. Unfortunately, the timing is not great for me, since I am more tired now and could use the nap for sleeping myself, but whatever. I will deal. So yes, today is the third day with no (or minimal) nap. If he falls asleep in the car, I let him sleep for 10 minutes (today I even let him sleep for 10 more minutes after we got home, for a total of 20-25 minutes!) rather than try to fight his dropping off while I am driving, which is a losing proposition anyhow. He is a bit more difficult to deal with in the afternoon, for instance he is more prone to getting upset or having a tantrum or a meltdown (although his tantrums are very mild compared with many other toddlers I've heard about), but so far this arrangement is going smoothly.

Last night he fell asleep in approximately 6 minutes and slept from 9:00 in the evening till 7:47 this morning. Perfect. He's in the bath as I write this; we will see how falling asleep goes tonight.

3 comments:

Diana said...

Good luck - 9 till 8, you lucky girl! I wish mine would nap more than 10 minutes at a time without my having to lug her around. :)

Michelle said...

It's a trade-off: less periods of sleep for hopefully longer ones. Man, the transitions can be tough though. My daughter went through nearly six months of disordered sleep and it was brutal - my son (who is just a bit younger than your little guy) is still napping, but I'm starting to see the signs. We still have a quiet period in the afternoon - no matter what!

The nice thing thing is they also start to want to do their own thing, so a rest or some computer time for you may still be possible.

Mandie said...

I dread this day...

Sounds like it was the right time though! 6 minutes! :)