I’ve never been really good at figuring out optimal wake time for Little Bug. Or maybe I should say that figuring out Little Bug’s optimal wake time has been the hardest aspect of Babywise for me.

I’m not sure if laying Little Bug down at exactly the right time is so important now that she is over a year but I know there was a period where she had to go down on time or she wouldn’t get a good nap in at all. I would say that phase was when she was 8 months and younger. After 8 months if she was laid down “late” it didn’t matter as much because she still slept well.

With all her nap craziness since turning one I’ve tried just about everything to get her in a good napping pattern once again.

Tweaking wake times here and there hasn’t made a bit of difference. Her nap lengths continue to be all over the map and there is no rhyme or reason that I can figure as to why one morning she takes a 2 hour nap and then the next morning she might only take a 30 minute nap (and wake up cranky, I will add).

So, I’ve decided consistency is what she needs and what has been missing since the day she turned one.

Starting today I’ve decided naptimes are 10:00 and 3:00. I am going to be very consistent in the “naptime routine” and laying her down at the same exact time every day for a week.

I’m going to take notes on what she does when laid down and how long she sleeps.

Then, at the end of the week, I’ll study the notes and tweak things from there.

My hope is that she will just learn 10 and 3 is naptime and will just SLEEP!

Once again, I do not feel she is ready to drop a nap because there have been days that we have had to skip the morning nap (every Sunday for church, birthday parties, doctor’s appointments) and one nap just doesn’t cut it for Little Bug those days.

We did Independent Playtime (IP) this morning after breakfast for 5 minutes and Little Bug did awesome!

I opened her blinds to let the sunshine in, put her farm on the floor (favorite toy) and a basket with several other toys, put the baby gate up on her doorway, set the timer for 5 minutes and left.

All went well until the timer went off. It scared Little Bug. Opps!! I ran in there as soon as it went off and scooped Little Bug up in my arms and started playing with the timer and making it go off several times. The first few times she was still scared of it, but eventually I got a big smile out of her!

Before we do Independent Playtime again this afternoon, I will let her play with the timer some more and make it go off.

By the way, this is the reason for the timer…

When you first start IP it’s not usual for a toddler to stand at the gate and whine and cry the entire time. The timer teaches the child that mom comes back when the timer goes off and not when you start crying and whining.

Soon I will be posting about IP and why I have decided to start doing it and what benefits it has for children.

Little Bug is napping now. I laid her down at 10. I forgot to look at the clock and notice what time she stopped crying/talking/playing. I think it was around 10:30. Anyway, today for lunch Little Bug is getting her milk in the Born Free Sippy!

My future posts will probably be mostly about weaning/naps and IP until we get all these things ironed out and working smoothly. I want to document how it goes so I can have a good reference for #2!

- Elaine