So Little Bug’s naps have been all out of whack. Night time sleep has had some disruptions too.

Well, I was reading the Chronicles of a Babywise mom blog last night and came across this post: http://babywisemom.blogspot.com/2008/01/easy-nap-fix.html

It’s titled “Easy Nap Fix”. The Babywise mom says that if a baby is staying awake too long, they will not take a good nap because they become overtired and overstimulated. This is especially true in younger babies, but can be true in babies Little Bug’s age too.

Babywise Mom also talks about how important it is to figure out your baby’s optimal wake time so that you know when to lay baby down for a nap before they get overtired and overstimulated.

Often times, parents keep baby awake longer in hopes that the more tired they are when they lay down to nap, the longer they will sleep.

The complete opposite is true.

I was laying Little Bug down for her first nap 2 hours after she woke up in the morning.

She was consistently only napping 45 minutes.

Babywise Mom says if you have a baby who isn’t napping well, the first thing to try to fix it is to lay baby down 15 minutes earlier than you had been. (I decided to lay Little Bug down 30 minutes earlier than I had been because I saw her sleepy signs around then this morning.)

At 9am I did Little Bug’s nap routine with her (change diaper, rock her and sing “Jesus Loves Me” then lay her in crib awake) and she did not cry one bit. (Another sign that baby is staying awake too long is if they cry for lengthy amounts of time when you lay them down.)

The 45 minute mark came and all was quiet in the nursery!

And now, here it is 11:00am and she is still sleeping!!

*****

Note: I wrote the above yesterday morning.

I’m sad to report that yesterday must have been a fluke. :(

Little Bug woke at the same time this morning and I laid her down for her morning nap at the same time this morning but she has yet to fall asleep half an hour after laying her down.

She is just in her crib talking and playing. :)

Which I guess would mean that I’ve laid her down too early because if she was tired, she’d go to sleep instead of play.

I can only guess that yesterday’s fluke might have been because she was so tired from not napping well during previous days.

I’ll be sure to notice when she stops playing and goes to sleep and then tomorrow that is the time I’ll lay her down!

Ugh … Why aren’t babies born with instruction manuals?

- Elaine