Monday, May 3, 2010

Frustrated.

The last about week and a half Ben has suddenly refused to nap. Since I am actually seeking advice on this, lemme give y'all some back story. First of all - the schedule we had is not MY schedule for Ben. It's Ben's schedule that he naturally and organically came up with - I just helped him to maintain it. For a while now, he's been up between 6:30 and 8:00 every morning. I change his diaper, he eats and then goes in his play pen to play and poop. He seems to eat just about every hour for almost exactly 10 minutes each time. After about 2 or so hours of being up, he was ready for a nap, so down he'd go for roughly an hour. Some times a little less, some times a little more. As long as he woke up smiling, I knew he was good for the next 2 hour stretch.

Recently, he's still eating about every hour, still waking at the same time but is refusing to nap unless I hold him for nearly the entire nap. This is super frustrating. On Friday he had one two hour nap and was good for the day. I figured, okay - his schedule has changed and that's cool with me. One two hour nap is awesome - I can get a lot done in 2 hours. So Saturday we tried that. Saturday he did not nap at ALL. Clearly he NEEDED to nap as he was rubbing his eyes and was cranky and napped while he nursed but didn't want to be put down for a nap. Yesterday I thought we were back on track as he did take his first morning nap, in his crib, for an hour, uninterrupted. But that was it. No more naps until he had a complete and total melt down at my parents and napped for about 45 minutes after bawling hysterically.

Now, my kid isn't much of a crier. He fusses and whines but he doesn't often break down and sob. You've all seen the pictures - he's a pretty happy go lucky kid, and usually full of smiles. So even while he's refusing to nap - he's fairly cheerful about it. I say "fairly" because again - eye rubbing and general fussiness ensue when he's past the point of needing a nap.

Today I tried the old "let him cry it out in his crib" trick while I showered. That was a complete and total failure. Not only did he indeed, cry his little head off while I showered but has still yet to nap.

I sure would like him to have some sort of nap at any point during the day. I NEED that break to shower, eat lunch, waste time on FB and just have some quiet time. Is he just beyond needing naps? What are some of your tried and true tricks?

Help.

2 comments:

  1. I'm sure he's not beyond needing naps yet. That shouldn't happen until at least around the two year mark. It might just be that he's teething or just not feeling well. I don't really have much advice other than hang in there, and make sure hubby lets you have some "me" time when he's home to watch Ben. Personally I'd probably give him some Tylenol and not try putting him down until he's actually starting to rub eyes. And then hope and run away to take a shower and plug my ears so I couldn't hear him crying for a while. But that's just me. Maybe there's some other mommies out there with better advice than me. :P

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  2. I wish I knew some sort of magic trick to make this better. :(

    I'm here if you want to vent, even if I dont' have any helpful advice.

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