So I asked you mamas what you wanted to know about most.. and it seems that a few of you are struggling with transitioning..particularly with day sleeps 3-2, 2-1. I pray for all of you that you are not battling with 1-0 sleeps during the day - How would dinner get cooked, how would the washing get done and most importantly how would you cope with going to the toilet and having no one watch you?
Ok let's get down to business.. What you want to know is when is the best time to cut down on a nap? How will you know its the right time? What age should they be? How do you do it?
So the first thing I want to tell you when making the changes is to expect for your life to be out of wack for a week or 2 and expect a les MISERABLE baby. Just deal with it. It shouldn't really take too much longer than a couple of weeks to sort itself out and in the long run bub will be much more content.
So generally speaking babies go from 3 naps to 2 at about the 6-8 month mark and they stay with 2 naps a day until (hopefully) the 15-18 month mark (a little on either side is fine though). But I'm only telling you that because I know mothers like to know age/stage points of reference but to be honest I don't actually ever go on age. I never like to count months on fingers but rather to just look at the child. I know your thinking that you do watch the child (obviously!) but your still not sure. So heres some give aways that your child is ready to transition from 2 naps to 1.... Go through these and tick them off.
1. At least 11 hours of good solid sleep a night.
2. Takes a long time to fall asleep for the morning nap.
3. Refuses an afternoon nap
4. You have that feeling "one nap just isn't enough but two is too many"
5. They aren't going through any particular physical milestone at the moment.
6. They are healthy - no concurrent respiratory/viral/tummy issues
Tick! Tick! Tick! Tick! Now what? Slow is key here. Slowly push the morning nap later by 20-30 minute increments. Do it over a few days. Enter miserable baby. You know your baby, push them as far as you think they go but not too far. Too far and you'll end up with a baby fast asleep in their high chair or screaming blue murder. Try to avoid being in the car or pram at this time as they will just nod off. So over a course of a few days slowly push the sleep back to at least 12pm. 1230 is ideal.
Obviously evening bedtime will have to be made a little earlier because chances are they just won't make it.
Be prepared that sometimes there will be days when your bub just can't do it. Don't push bub too hard unnecessarily - allow them to have those days. It doesn't mean they aren't ready for one sleep a day, they are just having a sleepy day. I would kill for one of those!
Until that day comes...sweet dreams!
Bec x
Last night I had a call from a desperate mother. She is going to read this post I'm sure of it - so lets rename her HottyMama so she doesn't get annoyed at me writing this. "Bec, I need help! My daughter is waking up in the middle of the night freaking out".. So she told me the story of how her 3 year old used to be an amazing sleeper and all of a sudden wakes up screaming. We went through the routine, the thumb sucking, the blanky, the change from cot to bed..all sounded relatively kosher to me. And then she said 2 things that made my alarm bells go off like a fire alarm in a room full of smoke...
HottyMama said "Most the time, she falls asleep by page 3 of the book, I wait a few minutes for her to go into a deep sleep and then I carry her over to her bed and walk out, brilliant right?" WRONG.
Just imagine you fall asleep watching TV on the couch and then you wake up and you're tucked in to your bed. Trippy! You would totally freak the *%$# out! That is exactly what is happening to Miss 3. She falls asleep in her chair sitting up reading with her mum and then wakes up a few hours later lying down in bed by herself. As soon as I said it aloud HottyMama realised how much that made sense.
The next thing HottyMama said to me was that sometimes she stays 2 minutes in the room with Miss 3 but then Miss 3 obviously wants more time. So here lies the problem. Miss 3 doesn't know what 2 minutes are, what 10 minutes are..What is a clock anyways? Unless you are prepared to wait there until she goes to sleep (which I don't advise!) then don't make promises that they can't understand.
I'll keep you updated with how HottyMama and Miss 3 go..
Until then,
Sweet Dreams, BEC x
For so long now I know that I have needed to start writing a blog. Seriously, anyone that wants to be anyone needs to think that other people will care about what they have to say. And that is where my problem exists. What was my blog going to be about?
Yes I could interest mothers by dishing out some sleep tips, and I could be a blogger that has a rant and rave about all things wifey.. But neither would captivate interest for more than a few entries. So this is what I came up with...
My blog is going to be like a Girls Night Out. At an average GNO girls will talk about EVERYTHING. From the ridiculous things our husbands have done to Pottery Barn, to the mystery of what has happened to our boobs, to the Kardashians (obviously) to the latest way we can sneak some more veggies into the kids food and all that is before we have even managed to look at the menus. And yes I will also hand out a sleep tip here and there just so you feel like you have learnt something.
So there it is, I am no longer a blog virgin. Many more to come..
Sweet Dreams,
Bec
