Nap Week Update

This is how Yogi used to catch his Zzzzzz's.

I spent the first part of the week in hyper Eagle Eye mode.  After reviewing all of the infant cue sections of the Baby Whisperer book, I decided to attend to his cues closely and follow his lead - try to figure out what kind of day sleep needs he actually had.   By Tuesday afternoon it seemed clear that Yogi is a three times a day, short duration napper.  We followed this loose pattern every day this week:

• Mid-Morning Nap (9ish)


• Early Afternoon Nap (1ish)


• Late Afternoon Nap (4ish)

His longest nap lasted an hour and the shortest didn't happen at all (meaning that he stayed in the crib for about an hour but never actually slept).  I found that if I walked us through each of the nap routine motions (get in sleep sack, read story, rock for a few minutes) he didn't do a lot of crying in the crib.  He certainly did do some crying, but it wasn't each time and when it happened I just went in every few minutes and reassured him without getting him out of the crib.  It usually took him around 20 minutes to fall asleep once he was in the crib.

Nap Week has had some excellent benefits for all of so far:

• Yogi is actually getting rest during the day!


• I am able to get some things done around the house during daylight hours


• Yogi and I are no longer sharing hellish meltdown afternoons


• My wife is able to play with Yogi when she gets home from work because he's not crashing the moment she walks through the door

The short story is so far, so good.

Posted in: Five Months