Diaries of a serial nap fighter

Day 1

Technically, this really isn’t day one. It has been an outright battle of wills since I started my job. Caring for this little one who is a month younger than my daughter, who is ridiculously smart and who could go to baby jail for the crime of being serial nap fighter. Every single time her mother and I figure out a way to get her down, she figures out a way to get out of it. We have tried just about everything we can think of: swaddling, bottle right before nap, white noise, lights completely out, night light on, pajamas, open door, rocking, luvies, pacifiers, a mobile, skipping a nap to catch the next one and every single one of those things has worked, and then has failed within days. The only constant, reliable source of sleep has been her rockaroo. Since she is outgrowing her rockaroo, we are running out of time to figure out any sort of way to get her to sleep. 

Today was D-day. The day we-again- resort to the cry it out method. One that neither of us cares for. One that is guaranteed to make you have a terrible feeling in your chest. Our guideline was simple. However it fell, be there a bottle or play between, we would start with twenty minutes in the crib without entering unless there was the sound of great distress. After twenty minutes if she was still upset/awake, we replace pacifier, pat and exit without talking. Then she is on the clock again for twenty five minutes. After twenty five minutes, we get her up, change her diaper, read a book and try another ounce or two of the bottle. A reset so to speak. Try her in the crib for an additional fifteen minutes and if she is STILL awake, we use the rockaroo as a last resort. 

Nap one we went through all of the steps, she was playing in her crib after everything had been done so I got her up and moved her out to play thinking she would play a while then go down easier for nap two. Didn’t happen. Nap two followed suit with nap one, same guideline but end result was the rockaroo. Nap three… well nap three was rough. There was a lot of unhappiness going on in her room so after attempting and failing to follow our guideline, I had to move her to her rockaroo. I am not happy about it. I caved. It is not easy to listen to a cry like that. The thing is, I KNEW she was fine. I peaked a few times. But she was so upset and I didn’t want her to be that unhappy. I knew going into today that it was going to be hard, I know we have a journey ahead of us so all I can do is reset myself and try again tomorrow.