Amy is a very happy baby... 99.99999999999 % of the time. Yet, recently, she's begun to be fussy in the evenings. I figured babys just do that and you can't have a perfect baby forever, but my sister thinks she's tired.
Let me tell you a bit about Amy -- very kindly, at about 3 weeks old, she started deciding to sleep for the most part through the night. She would wake up sometimes at 3 or 4, but usually would manage to go for 7-9 hours without feeding. She'll fall asleep on her own without much fuss...we just wrap her up like a burrito, put her in the bassinette and go to bed ourselves.
But, during the day, she cat naps...20 minutes here, 10 minutes there... sometimes, if I go for a walk and have her in the Baby Bjorn, she'll fall asleep. Monday I was up on campus talking to some of my old professors for almost 2 hours and she slept almost the entire time.
This is the problem I run into. I guess I don't see any "nap" signs. Or when I do, she seems to prove to me that she doesn't actually want to be put down in the bassinette. Case in point: she'll rub her eye...I wrap her and place her down with her binki. She fusses. Kicks her blankets and arms out. Coos and kicks. Spits her binki out about 30 times and fusses. So, I pick her up. It's not as if I'm standing over the bassinette while all this is happening. I only peek in on her when she really is more fussy and I notice her binki's out. How come at night she doesn't spit out her binki?
Jenny suggested I put her to sleep earlier at night and see if that helped her get more sleep and be less fussy in the evenings. So, last night I put her to bed at 8:30 (she usually goes down at 9:30 or 10:30). She was up at 3:30, waited a little longer when I put her binki in, but at 4:am definitely wanted to eat. I'm not complaining...she did go for a long stretch, but it wasn't as cool as having her sleep from 10:pm-6:30am like she usually does.
So here's my question to all you mothers out there: How do I get her to nap, without throwing off a REALLY good thing (namely having her sleep SOOOO well at night)?? Ideas?
5 comments:
Read that book we talked about. I'm not kidding. My visiting teacher saved my days by recommending it to me and I've recommended it to dozens of other mothers. It's amazing. Remember - you DO NOT have to read it front to back. Just grab the section for the age you are and read that and don't worry about the rest. Ari is a snacker and a small napper and it drove me insane. Then I remembered that I had that book from RJ's babyhood and read the sections for her age and implemented them. And I mixed in some "Happiest Baby on the Block" with it. Talk to Jessica too. She had some similar issues with Miley and might be able to give you some more hints. Good luck! You can do it!
I want to know what book Jill is referring to- is it "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" per chance?
Serge says that your first sentence (Amy is happy 99.99999999999% of the time) is a classic example of a mother who can't admit her daughter isn't perfect. We did the math, and by those numbers she's only been unhappy for 0.000065 seconds of her life up to this point. :)
Jill, is right. It took me about 4 months to figure out what on warth was going on with my child. But along the way i figured out a few things. I would love to get together and talk, and I can bring over a few of the books I read (suggested by Jill) that helped tremendously. Before you know it you will have Amy taking long naps during the day, AND slepping well at night. I'll call you.
Thanks for finding my blog:). Now my suggestion - of course everyone is different but I have found with my babies that they don't really get into a routine until at least 4 months or even longer. Maybe that's not the case with others, but that's when I start a routine of nap in the mid-morning and nap in the mid-afternoon. As far as what Jill said, do it! She's a pro and has great children!:)
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