I am trying the wake at the same time, nap on a same schedule thing and so far its a no go.
Like its ALMOST funny how crazy her sleep habits are this week.
I have been waking her between 830-9 just depending on what we have going on that day. By 1 I have put her down and at 330, I have gotten her out of bed....after 2.5 hours of giggling, playing with her toys, telling stories and more.
THEN, we go to run errands and home girl falls asleep in the car. I cant leave her because its now 430 and she needs to be up then, but waking her has not been the best tactic either. She is WILD to the extreme. Like hyper active, bouncing, crazy, etc OR goes the opposite way of full on meltdown. Poor girl.
Then, bed time rolls around and settling down is no such thing around these parts. She has been in bed between 9-10 {we were reading in the "rock rock" for a long time prior to that} and then every night this week, she has been up til at least 1230 AM!
On days that she has gotten up at 9, not napped, played all day, been to school, gymnastics, you name it, at midnight, she is full throttle. Some of these midnight nights she has been quite cute too...last night after playing for 2 hours she wanted something to drink and cried and cried. She got herself so worked up, I went in there. She told me "she just needed a hug and a kiss." Then she wanted me to rub her back and do "squirmy wormy on her face" and gently tickle her face.
Then she wanted to do it to me. I don't play many games at night time or nap so it was short lived but was super cute. She was up again later and I held her then. Oh well.
She does NOT like to miss a party and one day when she is old and tired like me, she will wish she was getting nap time again!
Anyway, we have some stuff going on next week and there is NO way I will be able to stick to a schedule. We are just going to roll with it and reevaluate here in a few weeks. We are finding that our kid is a bit strong willed and stubborn...hmmm. Not sure where she gets those traits {ahem, me and CT3!}.
She wants to do it "all by myself" and if its not her idea, you have to help it become her idea! If she does not want to go to bed, she wont which is what we are now working through....although she is a good listener most of the time - if you tell her to lay down in bed and don't get up, she really wont. Instead she will just yell, "Mommy, can I please get up now?" or "Daddy, my music stopped. Can I get up and turn it on?" Silly girl.
I am still thinking it was pulling the whole paci thing that started this. Its not like she isn't tired. Its like the paci was her comfort and settle down tool and now that's gone. Any ideas of safe inanimate objects to put in its place?
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11 hours ago
Does she have any blanket or stuffed animal she sleeps with? Robby always had blankie, but became more attached to it after we got rid of paci... Not sure... We have a pretty standard settle down routine, too. Dog walk, then bath, then pajamas, then books, then he turns out the light. And I always say the same thing as I set him down.
ReplyDeleteIf you're REALLY interested in getting her onto a schedule I say stick to it for at least 10 days and it should be enough to break the habit. But honestly, it doesn't sound like your life is a great fit for schedules you know?
ReplyDeleteFor us, I can't imagine being off our nap and sleep schedule. And I'm sure neither can P. She goes to bed at the EXACT same time every night, no matter where we are and nap times, although variable by about an hour, are still pretty static. We used to do extremely strict nap times too but since she's been older, we push her a little here and there depending on what we're doing and it's still working well...but adjusting as a family to a scheduled routine is not easy. There are things we don't do because of naps, parties we miss, errands we don't run, etc. First and foremost is the schedule. It works for us because we feel flexible within the other hours and we know exactly what to expect but I don't think it's for everyone.
So I would definitely wait until after next week. But I also know that with a headstrong child, it may take a WHILE to convince her that THIS is the way we do things. And remember, too, that you're her parent. I know that you can't make her sleep, but you can insist that THIS is the time we get in bed and THIS is the time that we get up. You'll have to be the one that makes it work. 21 days to make or break a habit. That's going to be a tough road to haul, but WE think the schedule is WAY worth it.
ReplyDeleteThis is exactly why I am scared to death to throw away the paci. The two nights we tried it C was up every hour or two screaming and no one got any sleep. He will take it to college at this rate because I can't have two kids waking me up all night long. Sorry I don't have any advice :/ hoping things get better and little miss realizes how glorious sleep actually is!!!!
ReplyDeleteLauren! Your posts on this have had me laughing. We took the paci away about two weeks ago and have had a similar problem but on a much smaller level. I agree though, I think it was their way of settling down and relaxing and now they don't have it - Eli plays for around an hour now in his crib before he falls asleep. Unfortunately he doesn't sleep any later the next morning. :) Hopefully this is just another one of the billion "phases" they go through every few weeks...hopefully. :)
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