While most of the time I post about all of the sweet memories we make and all of that, it isn't always rainbows and sunshine around here! Lately we have been struggling with Ryan and his nap schedule - or lack thereof. He's never been on a daytime routine because of having Katie's and Jack's routines to keep in mind, and that has worked for us. But on days when we are home and it would be a normal naptime (for instance, days when Jack does not have school), it sure would be fantastic to have him nap (and at the same time as Jack would be even better)!
Just before he was 9 months old, Ryan was waking at night quite a bit. I don't know if it was teething or congestion from allergies or what, but knock on wood that has been better. Part of it could also have been being overly tired. Yes, that does happen - if sleep patterns are disrupted, they sleep even less often times! Mix that in with lack of schedule during the day and I was going nuts! We didn't want to address the daytime sleep issues until after spring break.
When we got back from the beach, I got a humidifier to help with any congestion. That has helped some - or at least I think it has. It certainly hasn't hurt! And we started trying to pay attention to Ryan's cues of being sleepy. And it wasn't working. Like at all. We would rock and rock and literally the minute we stood up, he would scream. I put him in his crib to "cry it out" -- two hours later, he was still crying. So that obviously didn't work. I tried different times of day. I tried one nap per day. Nothing was really working. I even called the pediatrician's office! Their suggestion? Change the bedtime routine and do NOT rock him. Let him learn to soothe himself to sleep at night when he is used to sleeping better and hopefully that will carry over to napping. So we did it. And it went so much better than I thought it would! He cried for maybe 2 or 3 minutes at first - and then it got to be less and less. And this week? He is quiet and goes to sleep!
So we do our bedtime routine and get him ready for bed and read a book and then attempt to feed him a bottle (that would be the "other issues") and rock and sing Jesus Loves Me and then lay him in bed. And it is finally working for bedtime!
Now. Napping. I have to say - he is doing SO MUCH better with the falling asleep. And he doesn't cry for minutes and minutes and hours. But it is still not really smooth. It is improving though! Here is a brief synopsis of posts I have done on Instagram or Facebook related to our Napping Saga.
April 18: Remember that whole he-needs-to-take-naps-and-
April 19: A Ryan-needs-to-nap-in-the-c
April 21: An update on the napping! Yesterday he fell asleep within 5 mins but then only slept for 20 mins. An hour of crying later and he fell asleep again for another 20 mins. And that was all the napping he did yesterday. Today, we dropped Jack off at MDO and came to TJ Maxx and I turned around and see this. I think we have the self-soothing under control. Now if we can just work on napping in his bed!!!!
April 27: I'll call today a Monday Mommy Success! We went to an event at church and the boys had a blast in childcare! I had to work wonders in the car to keep Ryan awake until we got home...fed him a bottle and I layed him down at 12:11...AND HE SLEPT UNTIL 2:02!!!! And Jack was asleep a few minutes after 1. So I got a full hour to myself!!! Woohoo! Did the treadmill and both the plank and squat challenge for today! Hooray!
April 29: Wow! I layed Jack down at 1:45 and he's still asleep. I layed Ryan down at 1:59 and just had to wake him and try to feed a bottle before Katie's birthday dinner (woke him at 4:33). Holy cow!!!!! -- that means he slept for TWO HOURS AND THIRTY FOUR MINUTES!!!!!
So from all of this I have learned that potentially Ryan does a better job if he gets a short nap in in the morning and then can be home and get a really good nap in during the afternoon. Of course there are issues with that because we have to pick Jack up in the middle of the afternoons two days a week. But I am just doing the best I can with all this craziness.
Today he slept maybe 30 minutes in the jogging stroller when we were out on a walk (probably slept around 10:10 - 10:40ish). And then he played on the floor...and he ate lunch around 1. Then I took him upstairs and attempted a bottle (unsuccessfully) and then layed him down. I could hardly believe it! I kept checking the monitor to make sure he was really still asleep and every time he sure was!
It would be great to be able to get a good 1.5 hour nap in the morning and then a 1.5 hour nap in the afternoon, but I will take what I can get! His morning naps are usually only like 24 minutes (no, not a typo - it seems it really is that long typically...very precise! ha). But if we have to get in the car and head anywhere for any reason, he is out in the carseat. A moving car and a remotely tired baby equals a car nap.
I'm also hoping that this summer when we don't have Katie's school schedule to worry about - plus Ryan would naturally phase down to one nap a day - we will really work on getting one good nap at a similar time each day. For now, I am thankful that he got a good nap today. And boy, oh, boy am I hoping that this becomes a trend! I do like the fact that I can just lay him down after maybe 20 seconds of rocking and he rarely makes a peep. So I will take small victories any day!
And since I love pictures, here is one from our walk yesterday! He actually fell asleep right after I took this - ha!
Today he slept for 25 minutes this morning and 30 minutes this afternoon - both in his crib. Ugh. Ryan - please sleep longer!!!! :) I am thankful he isn't just screaming, but for the love! A total of 55 minutes of napping in one day just isn't enough! Hopefully he will get that message soon :) And here is just one more of him today! He is getting into everything these days...today I noticed a difference in his ability to pull up on just about anything. Watch out, world!
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