I made a disheartening discovery yesterday. I decided to crack open the book The No-Cry Nap Solution because G was sleeping for 30-45 minutes for her naps (as usual), but when she would wake up she would be rubbing her eyes (her sleepy sign) within 5 minutes. Little girl, why are you waking up if you are still tired?
I thought 45 minute naps were just her norm. I had talked to several other mommies who had 45-minute nappers. Keith was a 45-minute napper when he was a baby. I was a 45-minute napper. Doesn't it make sense that our daughter would be a 45-minute napper?
I am okay with her being a cat-napper. It is inconvenient - I could get so much more done if she would sleep 2-3 hours like many of her little 3-8 month old friends. But I was dealing with it and accomplishing tasks when I could. Things got so much easier last week, in fact, when we started her on Zantac and she was more willing to entertain herself during her waking hours, freeing me up to do more. But the Zantac uncovered this new problem. Now that she isn't so miserable from pain, she shows her sleepiness more. When she is crying I know it isn't pain, so it must be something else - being tired. While I am okay, from a scheduling standpoint, with her being a cat-napper, I am NOT okay with her getting inadequate sleep and being cranky all day. It makes my day miserable, and I'm assuming she is miserable as well.
I did the No-Cry Sleep Solution with Gwen when she was 8 weeks old. It worked wonders! She was such a good little sleeper as a 10-week-old! She would sleep 6 or 7 hours, which is pretty good at 2 months. But then the reflux got worse and her nighttime sleep diminished. She woke up every 90 minutes. I was doing what I could just to survive with only 90 minutes of sleep at a time and no daytime naps, so I would let G breastfeed to sleep (note: this was a bad idea). What else are you supposed to do when you are that tired? She was sleeping in bed with us, so whenever she woke up I would just let her start to eat, I would fall asleep, and I would sometimes wake up an hour later with her still latched on. It got to the point that she couldn't sleep without being latched on.
Over the course of a week with lots of crying, rocking, walking, and singing, I weaned her off of eating to sleep and taught her that there are other ways to fall asleep. She was still unable to fall asleep without eating during her waking time (because it calmed the reflux), but she didn't have to be eating as she was falling asleep. The Zantac corrected the problem of her eating every time she woke up (last night I got her to go back to sleep twice without eating with just a binky and some singing).
With all of our nighttime improvements, daytime sleep was not getting any better. I switched her from our bed to her crib, which she was okay with, but would wake up within 45 minutes. Author Elizabeth Pantley explains that often cat-nappers wake after one sleep cycle and are unable to go back to sleep without help. They are not truly done with their nap, but parents assume that they are because they are wide-eyed. The 45-minute nap has only served to take the edge off, so when they have been awake a short time they start to get tired. Further, they get more and more sleep deprived throughout the day and get extremely cranky.
Pantley gave a few suggestions. She said that you can reproduce what you did to get your child to sleep. Right now, I rock G and sing her to sleep. This is extremely relaxing and enjoyable, but I know that it is not practical for our lifestyle and it is not something I want to do every time she takes a nap (but it is a big improvement over her eating to sleep). The second suggestion she gave was to place your hands on either side of the baby in the crib and bounce them back to sleep. But you have to be there right when they wake up (which for G happens over a window of about 15 minutes) and it doesn't work well for babies who wake up quickly (G will look fast asleep and then be wide-eyed within a few seconds). It works better for those who stir for a couple of minutes before waking fully. This was not practical as I have tried intervening the moment G wakes up and it usually doesn't work. It also eats up any free time that I am able to get from her normal 45-minute naps. The third suggestion she gave was a cradle swing. We had tried one of these with G when she was younger and she hated it. I gave up, we returned the swing to its owner, and I never looked back...until yesterday.
It occurred to me that maybe G hated the cradle swing because it made her reflux worse. And after her final nap yesterday (in which I had to hold her the entire time to get her to go to her second sleep cycle, and she was STILL awake for 10 minutes between the two cycles) I was desperate. So I hopped onto amazon.com and bought the cradle swing that I had contemplated purchasing a couple of months ago; $126 + $3.99 for next-day shipping. The shocking part isn't the $126 I spent on the swing, but the $3.99 I spent on shipping. I hate spending money on shipping because I feel like it is money down the tubes. I could have gotten free 2-day shipping, but the possibility of her napping well one day sooner was enough incentive to pay for next-day shipping.
Pantley explained that you have to train your baby to sleep from the first to second sleep cycle so they get a full nap. After they have done this many times with your help (or the help of a swing or other item) it is natural for them to go seamlessly from one cycle to the next on their own. At that point, you can wean them from sleep interventions. Plus, learning to transition during daytime sleep can help them to learn to transition during nighttime sleep as well.
This morning, I rocked Gwen in the glider rocker in her room. I decided I wasn't even going to try to put her down in her crib because it was more important at that point for her to get a good nap than to be in her own bed. I rocked her for 37 minutes. She woke up. I thought she was back asleep so I stopped singing. Then she woke up again for 35 minutes. I was determined that she was going to learn that we do not leave the nursery until a nap is complete, so I kept on rocking her and singing to her for the 35 minutes until she fell asleep. She slept another 50 minutes. That was a pretty decent nap and I was proud of myself for persisting. But my arms were numb from holding her, I was so sleepy from being in a rocker with white noise in a darkened room, and I got nothing done during her nap. However, thanks to the good people at UPS, G's new swing was sitting on the front doorstep when she woke up. I popped her into her jumperoo and set about assembling the swing as fast as I could, hoping that it would be done before her next nap. From the moment that I ripped the tape off of the box to the moment I put the swing in her nursery, it took me 30 minutes. Because of some other things I had to achieve between naps (feeding her, changing diapers, etc), I finished the swing just 5 minutes before her next nap time. I put her in the swing, and she started smiling. Good sign. I turned the swaddled her and turned the swing on. She stopped all fussing when she started moving side-to-side and the little birdies in the mobile started doing their dance. She fell asleep peacefully. At 33 minutes I heard a few little noises over the monitor but resisted going in to check on her. Things got quiet again. It has not been 1 hour 22 minutes and my little angel is still asleep.
I thought 45 minute naps were just her norm. I had talked to several other mommies who had 45-minute nappers. Keith was a 45-minute napper when he was a baby. I was a 45-minute napper. Doesn't it make sense that our daughter would be a 45-minute napper?
I am okay with her being a cat-napper. It is inconvenient - I could get so much more done if she would sleep 2-3 hours like many of her little 3-8 month old friends. But I was dealing with it and accomplishing tasks when I could. Things got so much easier last week, in fact, when we started her on Zantac and she was more willing to entertain herself during her waking hours, freeing me up to do more. But the Zantac uncovered this new problem. Now that she isn't so miserable from pain, she shows her sleepiness more. When she is crying I know it isn't pain, so it must be something else - being tired. While I am okay, from a scheduling standpoint, with her being a cat-napper, I am NOT okay with her getting inadequate sleep and being cranky all day. It makes my day miserable, and I'm assuming she is miserable as well.
I did the No-Cry Sleep Solution with Gwen when she was 8 weeks old. It worked wonders! She was such a good little sleeper as a 10-week-old! She would sleep 6 or 7 hours, which is pretty good at 2 months. But then the reflux got worse and her nighttime sleep diminished. She woke up every 90 minutes. I was doing what I could just to survive with only 90 minutes of sleep at a time and no daytime naps, so I would let G breastfeed to sleep (note: this was a bad idea). What else are you supposed to do when you are that tired? She was sleeping in bed with us, so whenever she woke up I would just let her start to eat, I would fall asleep, and I would sometimes wake up an hour later with her still latched on. It got to the point that she couldn't sleep without being latched on.
Over the course of a week with lots of crying, rocking, walking, and singing, I weaned her off of eating to sleep and taught her that there are other ways to fall asleep. She was still unable to fall asleep without eating during her waking time (because it calmed the reflux), but she didn't have to be eating as she was falling asleep. The Zantac corrected the problem of her eating every time she woke up (last night I got her to go back to sleep twice without eating with just a binky and some singing).
With all of our nighttime improvements, daytime sleep was not getting any better. I switched her from our bed to her crib, which she was okay with, but would wake up within 45 minutes. Author Elizabeth Pantley explains that often cat-nappers wake after one sleep cycle and are unable to go back to sleep without help. They are not truly done with their nap, but parents assume that they are because they are wide-eyed. The 45-minute nap has only served to take the edge off, so when they have been awake a short time they start to get tired. Further, they get more and more sleep deprived throughout the day and get extremely cranky.
Pantley gave a few suggestions. She said that you can reproduce what you did to get your child to sleep. Right now, I rock G and sing her to sleep. This is extremely relaxing and enjoyable, but I know that it is not practical for our lifestyle and it is not something I want to do every time she takes a nap (but it is a big improvement over her eating to sleep). The second suggestion she gave was to place your hands on either side of the baby in the crib and bounce them back to sleep. But you have to be there right when they wake up (which for G happens over a window of about 15 minutes) and it doesn't work well for babies who wake up quickly (G will look fast asleep and then be wide-eyed within a few seconds). It works better for those who stir for a couple of minutes before waking fully. This was not practical as I have tried intervening the moment G wakes up and it usually doesn't work. It also eats up any free time that I am able to get from her normal 45-minute naps. The third suggestion she gave was a cradle swing. We had tried one of these with G when she was younger and she hated it. I gave up, we returned the swing to its owner, and I never looked back...until yesterday.
It occurred to me that maybe G hated the cradle swing because it made her reflux worse. And after her final nap yesterday (in which I had to hold her the entire time to get her to go to her second sleep cycle, and she was STILL awake for 10 minutes between the two cycles) I was desperate. So I hopped onto amazon.com and bought the cradle swing that I had contemplated purchasing a couple of months ago; $126 + $3.99 for next-day shipping. The shocking part isn't the $126 I spent on the swing, but the $3.99 I spent on shipping. I hate spending money on shipping because I feel like it is money down the tubes. I could have gotten free 2-day shipping, but the possibility of her napping well one day sooner was enough incentive to pay for next-day shipping.
Pantley explained that you have to train your baby to sleep from the first to second sleep cycle so they get a full nap. After they have done this many times with your help (or the help of a swing or other item) it is natural for them to go seamlessly from one cycle to the next on their own. At that point, you can wean them from sleep interventions. Plus, learning to transition during daytime sleep can help them to learn to transition during nighttime sleep as well.
This morning, I rocked Gwen in the glider rocker in her room. I decided I wasn't even going to try to put her down in her crib because it was more important at that point for her to get a good nap than to be in her own bed. I rocked her for 37 minutes. She woke up. I thought she was back asleep so I stopped singing. Then she woke up again for 35 minutes. I was determined that she was going to learn that we do not leave the nursery until a nap is complete, so I kept on rocking her and singing to her for the 35 minutes until she fell asleep. She slept another 50 minutes. That was a pretty decent nap and I was proud of myself for persisting. But my arms were numb from holding her, I was so sleepy from being in a rocker with white noise in a darkened room, and I got nothing done during her nap. However, thanks to the good people at UPS, G's new swing was sitting on the front doorstep when she woke up. I popped her into her jumperoo and set about assembling the swing as fast as I could, hoping that it would be done before her next nap. From the moment that I ripped the tape off of the box to the moment I put the swing in her nursery, it took me 30 minutes. Because of some other things I had to achieve between naps (feeding her, changing diapers, etc), I finished the swing just 5 minutes before her next nap time. I put her in the swing, and she started smiling. Good sign. I turned the swaddled her and turned the swing on. She stopped all fussing when she started moving side-to-side and the little birdies in the mobile started doing their dance. She fell asleep peacefully. At 33 minutes I heard a few little noises over the monitor but resisted going in to check on her. Things got quiet again. It has not been 1 hour 22 minutes and my little angel is still asleep.
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