I mentioned in Noah's 19 month post that I had "fixed" Noah's nap strike (fixed doesn't seem like the right word, but neither does any other word I can think of). I said I would explain further, so here it is.
On Thursday October 6, when he was 18.5 months old, Noah began a b-RUTAL nap strike. He just would not nap. He would scream in his crib for as long as it would take for me to get him out (up to 3 hours on a couple of occasions). The nap strike lasted for 15 days.
On the 16th day, it ended. On day 16 I just plopped him in his crib. No comforting first. Just a bum change, telling him it was naptime, and then putting him in the crib. He cried for half an hour and then slept for 40 minutes. The next day he cried for 20 minutes and slept for 20 minutes. And ever since then he has just cried for a couple of minutes and then had a normal nap.
For the 5-7 days before the nap strike ended, I had stopped being so hardcore. I stopped letting him cry in his crib for so long (it was frying my nerves), and I was no longer forcing him to stay awake in the car if we happened to have to go for a drive to town after a failed nap attempt. However, Day 16 was the first day I just plopped him in the crib with no comfort first. I really didn't like the idea of that, because I liked nursing him and rocking him to sleep. But I had no idea what else to try, so I did it even though it felt wrong to me.
Apparently even though it felt wrong to me, it was the right thing to do, because the nap strike ended. It just goes to show that all those people who always say, "If it feels wrong to you as a parent, then it is wrong," - they can be wrong about that (I mostly hear this from judgmental people when they're discussing CIO). CIO feels wrong to almost every parent. It certainly felt wrong to me. But after trying everything else to get Noah to sleep, it was the only thing that worked. Yes, it felt wrong. But it was right, because none of the other methods got my son the sleep he so desperately needed (even staying on the boob constantly).
Putting Noah in his crib for naptime without any rocking or nursing beforehand felt so weird and wrong. And it still does (I have to make a conscious decision every single day to not try doing it again). But obviously it was the right decision, because he is napping again.
By the way, ever since the nap strike began I have been putting Noah in his crib awake at bedtime. Everyday. I still nurse him first, but only for about 10 minutes. Once he's done drinking, he goes in his crib. And since then, he has been sleeping straight through the night almost every night. I miss cuddling with my sleeping, nursing baby (ahem, I mean toddler), but at the same time I like nursing for only 10 minutes at night, instead of 20 to 30 minutes. I have more time with my husband this way. And that's important, too.
Showing posts with label Nap Strike. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nap Strike. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Monday, October 24, 2011
19 Months Old
It has been extremely difficult getting around to writing Noah's 19 month stats. I just sent him off with Daddy for an hour, so instead of taking some time to relax or make dinner, I'm doing this.
-I haven't weighed or measured Noah this month, but I assume he is just slightly heavier and taller than last month, when he was 27lbs and 35 inches.
-He is in size 4 diapers during the day and night.
-He wears size 2T and 3T clothing. Most 2T clothing is too short, though.
-He wears size 6 shoes.
-He nurses on demand, 4-6 times a day.
-He exclusively feeds himself his solids, either with his hands or with a spoon and fork. If he is given a utensil, he will always use it. He also drinks out of a regular cup quite well, although we try to use a sippy cup as often as he will let us since we run less risk of him purposefully pouring out his water.
-He has 16 full teeth. The only ones left are his 2 year molars.
-He broke his leg on Saturday, September 24, 2011. The diagnosis wasn't confirmed until the following Thursday. He is doing a lot better now, but he is still limping.
-As of his 19 month birthday, he had been on a nap strike for 15 days, where he absolutely refused to nap unless he was actively nursing or in the car. I think we might have beaten that now, though. Update on that separately. Soon, hopefully.
-Half of this month he was been sleeping 11 to 11.5 hours at night, getting up to nurse twice. I went along with this because it started happening right after he broke his leg. But when naps went to crap and Noah woke up wanting to nurse already at 11:30pm, I buckled down. Since then he has been sleeping straight through the night 2/3 of the time and getting up to nurse sometime after 5am 1/3 of the time (one nurse a night is normal for him and I don't mind it).
-As of his 19 month birthday, he had been on a nap strike for 15 days, where he absolutely refused to nap unless he was actively nursing or in the car. I think we might have beaten that now, though. Update on that separately. Soon, hopefully.
-Half of this month he was been sleeping 11 to 11.5 hours at night, getting up to nurse twice. I went along with this because it started happening right after he broke his leg. But when naps went to crap and Noah woke up wanting to nurse already at 11:30pm, I buckled down. Since then he has been sleeping straight through the night 2/3 of the time and getting up to nurse sometime after 5am 1/3 of the time (one nurse a night is normal for him and I don't mind it).
-Bedtime is after 8:30pm most nights, and we've been sleeping in until about 8am or later every morning.
-He no longer signs to nurse, eat, or for water. He's strictly verbal.
-At 15 months Noah was saying 18 words. At 16 months he was saying 42 words. At 17 months he was saying 79 words. At 18 months he was saying 137 words.
-His verbal comprehension continues to be amazing. He understands everything we say to him. We can even reason with him.
-He still wants gets into everything, but he is continuing to obey the word "no" more consistently.
-Currently, his favourite "toys" are our Dyson vacuum cleaner, my hair dryer, any cleaning implement, or anything electronic that isn't meant to be played with.
-He just jumped for the first time, actually getting air. We weren't trying to teach him, he just suddenly decided to stand there on two feet and figure out how to jump up and land again. And he did it.
-He no longer signs to nurse, eat, or for water. He's strictly verbal.
-At 15 months Noah was saying 18 words. At 16 months he was saying 42 words. At 17 months he was saying 79 words. At 18 months he was saying 137 words.
-At 19 months Noah is saying way over 300 words. However, I am not very good at writing them all down, and I need to find a way to automatically alphabetize them on the computer because it's really hard to go through the list to see if a new word is really a new word or not. As a result, I have only recorded 281 words.
His old words that he's still saying are: Mama, Dada, uh oh, more, this, that, cat, night night, hot, up, yes, woof woof ("what does a dog say?"), baa ("what does a sheep/goat say?"), moo ("what does a cow say?"), car, ball, shoes, cracker, Noah, water, orange, clock, blech, hi, done, dirt, Bert, puff, swish, fluff, book, buzz, Papa, Nana, boo, fish, phone, again, home, sunglasses, Gramper, sit, stretch, glasses, food, laptop, love, hair, quack, bye, tshirt, shirt, aunt, poop, slide, cheese, Colton, danger, banana, feet, please, clock, cold, toes, ooo-ooo-ahh-ahh (monkey sound), bad, burger, boo-boo (as in, an owie), nurse, block, fly, stuck, chalk, out, fit, hat, bye-bye, and shit (yeah, I'm not proud of that), pool, eyes, nose, rice, pour, no, apple, bath, heck, help, eat, T.V., pup, corn, cook, moon, sun, on, off, mouse, brush, ice, neigh, push, yay, peach, buddy, you, hi, mess, flip, hose, toast, home, see you, pieces, pear, foot, me, tape, open, meat, ok, out, street, outside, keys, bits, pee, flies, away, whoa, cheerios, cut, gas, wet, hey, bless.
His old words that he's still saying are: Mama, Dada, uh oh, more, this, that, cat, night night, hot, up, yes, woof woof ("what does a dog say?"), baa ("what does a sheep/goat say?"), moo ("what does a cow say?"), car, ball, shoes, cracker, Noah, water, orange, clock, blech, hi, done, dirt, Bert, puff, swish, fluff, book, buzz, Papa, Nana, boo, fish, phone, again, home, sunglasses, Gramper, sit, stretch, glasses, food, laptop, love, hair, quack, bye, tshirt, shirt, aunt, poop, slide, cheese, Colton, danger, banana, feet, please, clock, cold, toes, ooo-ooo-ahh-ahh (monkey sound), bad, burger, boo-boo (as in, an owie), nurse, block, fly, stuck, chalk, out, fit, hat, bye-bye, and shit (yeah, I'm not proud of that), pool, eyes, nose, rice, pour, no, apple, bath, heck, help, eat, T.V., pup, corn, cook, moon, sun, on, off, mouse, brush, ice, neigh, push, yay, peach, buddy, you, hi, mess, flip, hose, toast, home, see you, pieces, pear, foot, me, tape, open, meat, ok, out, street, outside, keys, bits, pee, flies, away, whoa, cheerios, cut, gas, wet, hey, bless.
-Some of his new words are: plate, baby, kick, acorn, grass, light, dark, medicine, horse, cake, after, bar, house, two, three, go, doctor, windy, lid, hide, Elmo, get, it, fix, button, thank, beep, one, cookie, high, chair, highchair, whack, walk, tower, cute, breakfast, bawk (chicken), back, moose, lion, tiger, dinner, pocket, Ernie, draw, wall, welcome, Granny, Matt, Lynsey, aunt, Giliane, Nick, Hilary, cuddle, boat, pen, puck, ready, picture, coming, dude, cool, clothes, soother, green, purple, blue, both, you, I, love, fries, toys, red, playdoh, stick, hockey, hit, ribbit, frog (which comes out as f#ck), colour, found, plug, pizza, coffee, cricket, broke, ring, hug, rice, watch, arm, leg, ear, closet, open, dukie (dutch slang for washcloth), chicken, Abby, sweep, music, Emmie, Lexie, other, room, welcome, rain, clap, table, yellow, crayon, crib, music, lotion, cube, self, ice cube, new, giraffe, bite, blanky, dance, meow, cow, dog, rabbit, tomato, tree, bathroom, cup, window, honk, pretty, grape, fork, spoon, knife, goose, bang, Scout, peek-a-boo.
-In case you didn't read through that long list (I don't blame you), Noah says frog, but it comes out as "f#ck." Quite perfectly pronounced, too. It has embarrassed me several times.
-He is putting many two word phrases together. For example: thank you, bless you, get it, get you, got you, hang on, etc.
-He knows that poop and pee go in the toilet, and he shows interest when we go to the bathroom, but I haven't gotten him a potty or even started to bother training him. I am in no hurry.
-His verbal comprehension continues to be amazing. He understands everything we say to him. We can even reason with him.
-He still wants gets into everything, but he is continuing to obey the word "no" more consistently.
-Currently, his favourite "toys" are our Dyson vacuum cleaner, my hair dryer, any cleaning implement, or anything electronic that isn't meant to be played with.
-He just jumped for the first time, actually getting air. We weren't trying to teach him, he just suddenly decided to stand there on two feet and figure out how to jump up and land again. And he did it.
-He loves to colour with us. We colour with paper and crayons, or on his big AquaDoodle mat. I love AquaDoodle.
-He knows most of the main colours: green, orange, blue, red, yellow, purple, and black. He spends most of his time concentrating on green and orange, though. Especially orange.
-He'll count "one, two, three..." but most of the time when he's counting he says "Two, two, two, two..." as he points to different objects. This slays me. It's hilarious.
-He loves to play with playdoh. I bought it when he broke his leg and wasn't supposed to walk. I bought a Sesame Street set of shapes and cutters and things, so when he wants to play with playdoh he'll usually say "Elmo! Cut!"
-He L.O.V.E.S. Sesame Street. He either asks to watch "Street" or "Elmo". He absolutely adores Elmo, and his second favourite character would probably be Abby Cadabby. He even knows that if I spell "E-L-M-O" that spells Elmo. I tried spelling it so he wouldn't hear the word, but he figured it out pretty quickly.
-This is the very first month he has shown an interest in loving stuffed animals. Before now he was only attached to "Pup," his lovey. And that was only after having him in his crib for months and months. This month he fell in love with a puppy at Build-A-Bear, so we made one for him. He adores that puppy. He hugs him and kisses him and cuddles with him. We call him "Scout," which Noah pronounces something like "Suck."
-Time outs are still extremely successful around here. They've been so successful, we don't need to use them that often anymore.
-No illnesses for Noah this month. The count is at 13.
-He is getting much less shy, but he still has separation anxiety from me.
-He is such a smart, sweet, gentle little boy who just loves other kids and babies. He shares, he's nice, he's empathetic... I'm so proud of him!
-Time outs are still extremely successful around here. They've been so successful, we don't need to use them that often anymore.
-No illnesses for Noah this month. The count is at 13.
-He is getting much less shy, but he still has separation anxiety from me.
-He is such a smart, sweet, gentle little boy who just loves other kids and babies. He shares, he's nice, he's empathetic... I'm so proud of him!
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Day 10... Sigh
We are on Day 10 of the Nap Strike.
Do you really want to know how it's going?
I am at the point that if someone makes even an offhand comment about their child taking a nap, I kind of want to punch them in the face. Because their kid naps. And they're either bragging (in my frustrated mind) or being whiny babies and complaining about nothing because if their child is napping at all, they are LUCKY!
We are so deep in the no-nap hole that I can't see us ever climbing out of it again.
But I will continue to try.
Do you really want to know how it's going?
I am at the point that if someone makes even an offhand comment about their child taking a nap, I kind of want to punch them in the face. Because their kid naps. And they're either bragging (in my frustrated mind) or being whiny babies and complaining about nothing because if their child is napping at all, they are LUCKY!
We are so deep in the no-nap hole that I can't see us ever climbing out of it again.
But I will continue to try.
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Nap Regression Continued
Ok we're on Day 7 today and the sleep regression is officially now a nap regression. I pretty much fixed the almost 2 week long night time sleep issue on Friday(?) night when Noah woke up already at 11:30pm. Which I am so not down with. So I let him work it out himself, since that is the only thing that works for him. It took 2 hours of crying (!!!), and a couple of much shorter crying jags since then, and night time sleep is fixed.
Nap time is still a hot mess. A. Hot. Mess.
Unless we are in the car, Noah will not nap. He is not ready to be done napping, this I know. But he just won't nap in his crib. Since Thursday, unless we have been in the car, he has not slept a wink during the day.
Wait, yesterday, Tuesday, he might have slept for 15 minutes after he cried for 2 hours and 45 minutes. But I don't know for sure because we don't have a video monitor, so he might have just been sitting quietly in bed trying to fool me into thinking he fell asleep so I would come get him when he started crying again. (That's not a joke. He would actually do that.)
Seeing as I am obviously the person in the world who knows my son the best, I know there is nothing I can do differently that will make any difference to the outcome. So my plan is just to continue to try. I remind him that it's naptime, and if he closes his eyes and goes to sleep I will come get him as soon as he wakes up. But if he cries and doesn't sleep, Mommy won't come get him for a long time because he needs to sleep. Then I let him cry for 2-3 hours before I get him. (You might have to be Noah's mom to understand how I could possibly let him cry for that long. He is one stubborn child, and right now naptime is a battle of wills.)
Possibly the suckiest part of this regression is that I actually think I may have caused all of this. The very first day that it happened I nursed him but he wouldn't fall asleep, so I put him down awake, which is normal for us. He started crying, which is also normal for him, but usually he falls asleep in 5-10 minutes.
Well, after 5-10 minutes I decided to see if just going in there and reminding him it was naptime and time to sleep would help. I was never ever able to do this when he was younger, because if he saw me it would just make him cry even longer. However, it had been about 11 months since I had last tried it, and I thought MAYBE Noah was old enough that it would be helpful instead of harmful (even though I doubted that would be true, I thought it was worth a try).
Well, it definitely didn't work. He continued to cry for 3 hours. And has refused to nap in his crib ever since.
Nap time is still a hot mess. A. Hot. Mess.
Unless we are in the car, Noah will not nap. He is not ready to be done napping, this I know. But he just won't nap in his crib. Since Thursday, unless we have been in the car, he has not slept a wink during the day.
Wait, yesterday, Tuesday, he might have slept for 15 minutes after he cried for 2 hours and 45 minutes. But I don't know for sure because we don't have a video monitor, so he might have just been sitting quietly in bed trying to fool me into thinking he fell asleep so I would come get him when he started crying again. (That's not a joke. He would actually do that.)
Seeing as I am obviously the person in the world who knows my son the best, I know there is nothing I can do differently that will make any difference to the outcome. So my plan is just to continue to try. I remind him that it's naptime, and if he closes his eyes and goes to sleep I will come get him as soon as he wakes up. But if he cries and doesn't sleep, Mommy won't come get him for a long time because he needs to sleep. Then I let him cry for 2-3 hours before I get him. (You might have to be Noah's mom to understand how I could possibly let him cry for that long. He is one stubborn child, and right now naptime is a battle of wills.)
Possibly the suckiest part of this regression is that I actually think I may have caused all of this. The very first day that it happened I nursed him but he wouldn't fall asleep, so I put him down awake, which is normal for us. He started crying, which is also normal for him, but usually he falls asleep in 5-10 minutes.
Well, after 5-10 minutes I decided to see if just going in there and reminding him it was naptime and time to sleep would help. I was never ever able to do this when he was younger, because if he saw me it would just make him cry even longer. However, it had been about 11 months since I had last tried it, and I thought MAYBE Noah was old enough that it would be helpful instead of harmful (even though I doubted that would be true, I thought it was worth a try).
Well, it definitely didn't work. He continued to cry for 3 hours. And has refused to nap in his crib ever since.
This is what you should not do.
Let that be a lesson to you.
So while his stubbornness is the real "reason" behind all of this, I think my mistake was the catalyst. I went in there, and I ruined everything. I can't give up on naptime when he's only 18 months old and still needs a nap, but I also can't imagine him finally stopping this ridiculousness. He is incredibly persistent.
So while his stubbornness is the real "reason" behind all of this, I think my mistake was the catalyst. I went in there, and I ruined everything. I can't give up on naptime when he's only 18 months old and still needs a nap, but I also can't imagine him finally stopping this ridiculousness. He is incredibly persistent.
Note to everyone: ALWAYS TRUST YOUR INSTINCTS MIXED WITH YOUR SPECIALIZED KNOWLEDGE OF YOUR OWN CHILD.
If you don't, you will probably screw yourself over.
(No offense to anybody, but I am not looking for suggestions on what the problem might be. I already know that it's stubbornness.)
Friday, October 7, 2011
Fricking 18 Month Regression!!!!
Did you know this existed??? I just found out today.
Since Noah broke his leg two weeks ago, his night time sleep has been disrupted. He has had only three good, normal nights, but every other night he has gotten up and wanted to nurse twice, instead of once or not at all. This was ticking me off. However, things have gotten much worse.
The past two days Noah has flat out refused to nap. As in, not a wink of sleep. Yesterday he screamed his head off for 3 hours before I finally got him out of his crib. Today he screamed for almost 2 hours before I got him. He would not nap.
I am going insane. I absolutely refuse to start bad habits like taking him for a car ride everytime he needs a nap, or letting him nurse in my arms for his entire nap. I love and appreciate our nursing relationship, but I am NOT willing to do that.
I know everyone is going to want to give suggestions on what I should do and what might be wrong, but I have obviously spent many hours dissecting every possible reason for why he won't sleep, and I have come to the following conclusion:
He is being stubborn. If you have followed my blog for a good length of time, you are aware that Noah has never been a big fan of sleeping, much less napping. And he is old enough now to realize that he actually doesn't ever have to nap, because he can scream for 5 hours and someone will eventually come get him. It's not like when he was younger and would cry for half an hour or less and then give up. He realizes now that we can't ignore him forever. It's a battle of wills.
It's not hunger, it's not pain, it's not teething, it's not overtiredness, it's not undertiredness. It's frigging stubbornness. And I am going to flip my lid.
This weekend it's Thanksgiving in Canada, and we will be travelling long distance during Noah's naptime on both Saturday and Sunday. This will give me a break from wanting to throw myself out the window every afternoon because my nerves are so frayed from listening to hours of crying. Then we start again on Monday. Maybe two days of napping in the car will "interrupt" the ridiculousness and things will be back to normal, but that will surprise me.
I have recently been talking about how 18 months old is so far my very favourite age, that it's the most fun and the easiest.
I may take it back.
When he's supposed to be awake, it's fantastic. He is an amazingly, cheerful, intelligent kid. But this sleep thing is kicking my butt.
Hopefully Noah will soon realize that crying for hours every afternoon pretty much sucks, and that things would be a lot easier on him if he just SLEEPS.
Since Noah broke his leg two weeks ago, his night time sleep has been disrupted. He has had only three good, normal nights, but every other night he has gotten up and wanted to nurse twice, instead of once or not at all. This was ticking me off. However, things have gotten much worse.
The past two days Noah has flat out refused to nap. As in, not a wink of sleep. Yesterday he screamed his head off for 3 hours before I finally got him out of his crib. Today he screamed for almost 2 hours before I got him. He would not nap.
I am going insane. I absolutely refuse to start bad habits like taking him for a car ride everytime he needs a nap, or letting him nurse in my arms for his entire nap. I love and appreciate our nursing relationship, but I am NOT willing to do that.
I know everyone is going to want to give suggestions on what I should do and what might be wrong, but I have obviously spent many hours dissecting every possible reason for why he won't sleep, and I have come to the following conclusion:
He is being stubborn. If you have followed my blog for a good length of time, you are aware that Noah has never been a big fan of sleeping, much less napping. And he is old enough now to realize that he actually doesn't ever have to nap, because he can scream for 5 hours and someone will eventually come get him. It's not like when he was younger and would cry for half an hour or less and then give up. He realizes now that we can't ignore him forever. It's a battle of wills.
It's not hunger, it's not pain, it's not teething, it's not overtiredness, it's not undertiredness. It's frigging stubbornness. And I am going to flip my lid.
This weekend it's Thanksgiving in Canada, and we will be travelling long distance during Noah's naptime on both Saturday and Sunday. This will give me a break from wanting to throw myself out the window every afternoon because my nerves are so frayed from listening to hours of crying. Then we start again on Monday. Maybe two days of napping in the car will "interrupt" the ridiculousness and things will be back to normal, but that will surprise me.
I have recently been talking about how 18 months old is so far my very favourite age, that it's the most fun and the easiest.
I may take it back.
When he's supposed to be awake, it's fantastic. He is an amazingly, cheerful, intelligent kid. But this sleep thing is kicking my butt.
Hopefully Noah will soon realize that crying for hours every afternoon pretty much sucks, and that things would be a lot easier on him if he just SLEEPS.
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