Bed is straightforward: PJs and wrap up in A+A blanket (arms out due to hand obsession). We take her upstairs between 9 and 9:30pm. Feed her in the dark. Put in Rock n Play (in our room). She will grunt and move around A LOT for anywhere between five and forty five minutes. But she doesn't cry or want to be picked up.
I usually go to bed with her, but we're starting to let her fall asleep alone and listen on the monitor downstairs. As long as she in the Rock N Play and not crying, I go about my business. She's safe and will figure out how to fall asleep. If she cries, I will rock her gently for a few minutes and put her back down.
She wakes twice. Sleep after is hit or miss. But I stay in the dark to emphasize NIGHT.
Naps are haphazard. Sometimes I swaddle; mostly I don't. She hasn't really fallen into a discernable nap schedule yet so we cuddle a lot on the couch and she sleeps on me as she wishes.
I've started to wonder if my perception that DD is not a good napper is because I think she should be napping in her crib. She always falls asleep in her car seat or the wrap and she will sleep a lot on me or in the rock and play (which I try not to use since she has a preference for looking left). She just doesn't fall asleep easily in her crib. I don't know how much to push crib naps so she gets used to it, or let her sleep wherever so she gets enough sleep.
I've started to wonder if my perception that DD is not a good napper is because I think she should be napping in her crib. She always falls asleep in her car seat or the wrap and she will sleep a lot on me or in the rock and play (which I try not to use since she has a preference for looking left). She just doesn't fall asleep easily in her crib. I don't know how much to push crib naps so she gets used to it, or let her sleep wherever so she gets enough sleep.
My kid hasn't even laid in her crib. I just want her to sleep; I have no cares about where. As she gets older and we've put together a nap pattern, I'll start encouraging Rock N Play naps upstairs alone and slowly mix it up with crib naps (or something like this). My goals are encourage sleep, then encourage scheduled sleep, then start to work on where these sleeps happen. I might be wrong in my approach, but this is what feels right to me so I'm going with it. Haha.
EDIT: She will sleep in our room until at least three months. By that point, she'll probably need to transition out of the Rock N Play soon after so I'm hoping we've got scheduled naps down and a few have happened in the crib so she's at least familiar with the place before she gets moved there for bed.
Post by bocaburger on Sept 30, 2016 10:11:38 GMT -5
Add me to the nap whenever wherever club. We are not good at structured scheduling in general, and right now the babies have no discernable nap pattern so we just follow their lead. When they start doing only a couple naps a day we will work in getting them onto the same schedule.
Bedtime is in the crib. Whenever they seem hungry after 9pm we change their diapers, put them in pjs, swaddle them, turn out the lights, and feed them. They usually fall asleep nursing and stay asleep when we put them down in the crib. If they didn't fall asleep I rock them and sing before putting them down.
MOTN wake ups are a little more hit and miss... last night M woke up briefly a whole bunch of times and G was wide awake from 4:30-7. Not fun.
Post by gratefulgirl on Sept 30, 2016 13:19:31 GMT -5
DD3 has been a fairly good crib or RnP sleeper so I go with it. Naps in the wrap were awful, only OK in the car seat or Beco but they happen.
The past couple of nights she is back to sleeping more normally. I am only having issues settling her, and part of that is probably expecting her to consistently do drowsy but awake when the amount she does it already is pretty good.
joy I never thought about the sleep goals you mentioned, but I guess I feel the same way just didn't realize it. DD was a terrible crib napper, but it also allowed us to be flexible during the day. But was a great nighttime crib napper. Now at almost 2 she's a good crib napper. So while I'd like DS to be better about crib during the day, I do know it's possible to be better later. That IMO any type of sleep is better than no sleep. I'm really trying to not stress as much about sleep theories and be more flexible. And after seeing everyone's routines I guess we have one already even if it's not set times for things.
gratefulgirl at what age do you start drowsy but awake? Sooner rather than later. I never did that with DD and it worked fine, but she sometimes (1-2 nights a week) needed help with MOTN. So wasn't sure if it was something I wanted to try to "teach" DS.
joy I never thought about the sleep goals you mentioned, but I guess I feel the same way just didn't realize it. DD was a terrible crib napper, but it also allowed us to be flexible during the day. But was a great nighttime crib napper. Now at almost 2 she's a good crib napper. So while I'd like DS to be better about crib during the day, I do know it's possible to be better later. That IMO any type of sleep is better than no sleep. I'm really trying to not stress as much about sleep theories and be more flexible. And after seeing everyone's routines I guess we have one already even if it's not set times for things.
gratefulgirl at what age do you start drowsy but awake? Sooner rather than later. I never did that with DD and it worked fine, but she sometimes (1-2 nights a week) needed help with MOTN. So wasn't sure if it was something I wanted to try to "teach" DS.
I tried from day 1 with the younger two. DD2 couldn't do it until after 8 weeks. DD3 is just a better sleeper, unless gas is bugging her.
I agree that getting sleep is important no matter how it happens. When WW19 hit my big 2 developed bad sleep association issues so I'd love to avoid that this time. But if not oh well. I think joy is way wise in her plan.
Then Comes Family, LLC is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising
program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.