1. Be consistent. Set them down at the same time every day and avoid morning naps in order to help them reset their biological clocks and consolidate that nap.
2. BUT be flexible. The cumulative sleep debt will probably totally derail everything. So, you know, maybe it's better if you alternate one and two nap days.
3. OH AND, be rigid about the morning and consistent about the midday nap, but move bedtime around like crazy because there's nothing like an early bedtime.
4. BUT, it will probably lead to even earlier wake up times.
5. Hang in there.
6. Although, was your child really ready to drop that nap? If it's not working, man, why are you forcing this??
7. Never try a nap transition or make any changes to the schedule if your child is any of the following: teething, sick, just back form holidays or vacation, going through a developmental milestone, under 42 inches tall, warmblooded, or growing hair.
8. Do everything you can to avoid that sleep debt building up if child is (a) any of the above factors listed in number 7, or (b) making a nap transition. Oh yeah, and actually teething doesn't really disrupt sleep. Science said so. So I guess whatever. Your child is just a drama queen suckered in by old wive's tales and probably fake news propogated by 400 pound Russian trolls.
9. BUT don't fall back on any old sleep crutches under any circumstances.
10. There is ultimately one right way to do this. The other ways will just lead to months of agony. Go cold turkey. Maybe you alternate every other day or somehow otherwise wean out the morning nap. Or the afternoon nap. Or maybe you'd better gradually push the morning nap back by fifteen minutes very slowly. Or maybe you should stop trying this transition thing and try to put your child down earlier in the morning. Because you never know. In fact, just leave her/him in the crib for the entire day and the odds are that at least one nap will eventually happen.
11. Oh seriously, sleep training is basically child abuse. Co-sleep with your child according to her natural rhythms. I'm sure one of you is not at work at any given time of the day, right? Get a baby carrier that allows your child to be suckled to your breast at all times. Schedules are such an artificial trapping of modern civilization.
12. Oh yeah? Science says you're wrong! Circadian rhythms. Homeostatic sleep pressure. Peak melatonin. Delta waves... uh mumbo jumbo voodoo jujubees.
13. Science says your face looks like a gorilla and that you smell like two gorillas fornicating in a sauna.
14. Uh... you know science isn't actually an anthropomorphic being or deity right?
15. By the way, Math says your momma so fat that uh actually math isn't super quick on the badinage. But Math doesn't like you very much.
16. Well the feeling is mutual. You don't wanna hear what Anthropology has to say about you. Now back to baby sleep.
...
Anyways, so far I'm doing exactly what nobody recommends. During the week, Chaya passes out in the carseat on the drive home from some morning activity. It's one of those theoretically dreaded catnaps (meow - but no politically topical "pussy caps," because she's strongly against headgear). Usually between 15 minutes to 25. So, in theory these are supposed to be the absolute worst thing ever. Like they make it hard to fall asleep for a real nap, but they also aren't restful. Which may be true. I don't know. What I know is she zonks and I push her nap time back a bit. And she takes a longer nap around 1 to 1:30 (her old second nap time, before she started needing more and more awake time).
Some days, she doesn't fall asleep in the car. Then I put her down for a nap at 12:00 or so. And hopefully she sleeps. If not, or even if so, we hope to god there's chance for an early bedtime.
And, at least for this week, it didn't matter when I put her down or how much she slept during the day. She basically slept 10.5 hours. Except for the mysterious 10 hour Friday and Saturday mornings. Which isn't ideal. She was having a nice long spell of 11 hour nights. And when we put her down an hour early last night, it seemed to get her back to a nice meaty 11 hours (with her trademark 5:20 waking of course)
But it is what it is. She's a toddler. It's not horrible. I do think the burgeoning molars have something to do with it, but who can say how much. At least the last couple of days, she's been waking up happy and not flipping her baby shiznet.
In the meantime Chaya is blossoming up all kinds of awesome language and understanding.
Here's a makeshift list of Chaya words:
Dah - dog, or really any four legged animal
Bu(unpronouncable noise)eh - bunny and/or any stuffed animals of indeterminate classification
Bay(unpronouncable noise)eh - baby, particularly the ones on her poster
Zhuu - shoe
Ni - knee
EYE - eye (often uttered while jabbing at somebody's eye and shrieking)
Nah - banana
hooohooohooo - monkey (well, "what does a monkey say?")
SZSZSZSZSZS - Snake
BAAAAABAAAA - sheep/lamb
Puuu - puff. Snack. She hasn't used this one as much recently.
Dadda - daddy, of course. Although sometimes she says variations which seem to mean something else.
Buuuh - Boot
Baaaaauh - Bath
Ouuuuu - usually "out" I think...
occasionally maaaahmaaah, but only if she wants something or is unhappy. Maaauuh - usually means kissy noise.
Words I don't quite know yet, but which clearly mean something.
minamina
miiiimiiii
laddladdladdle
Words she especially understands and enjoys responding to:
eye/nose/mouth/knee/shoulder/ear/light/fan
mommy/gramma Pam/Grampa Ian
Dance
Jump
Shoes/socks
"take off ____"
"Put on ____"
"Sit down"
turn on/off the light
Want to go to the bathroom (which just means mommy carries her while mommy uses the bathroom, and Chaya makes the whole thing very awkward by not wanting to be put down)
"Wash your hands/the dishes"
"Where are/is..."
"Look ___ (direction)"
Outside
Walk
Let's go shopping
Would you sit down so I can put your shoes on?
...
Actually the list goes on to a pretty impressive extent. Thursday morning, I told her we were going shopping. She found socks. Then shoes. Then her coat. Then, while I was distracted, she brought me my keys, and my coat.
And she laughs when I tell her that I'm going to go to the bathroom.
**
And she is definitely starting to assert even more of her preferences, and testing boundaries. For about a week, Chaya insisted that I be the one to carry her upstairs for bedtime. This is despite her father always doing so.
And boy does she have preferences about which books she wants somebody to read to her (if she starts saying DAH, it means she wants the Dog book, of course). Which shoes. What utensil will actually induce her to decide to start eating. We've had a lot more mealtimes in which Chaya practices her throwing, bouncing, mixing, and smearing skills far more than any actual eating.
And she's growing a wee bit more independent. When we get to a slide, she can now climb up and slide down on her own. Not that she doesn't request assistance sometimes still, but often she'll take off as soon as we arrive. She's not quite gotten to reverse climbing the slides, but boy is she trying. And she's getting more proficient walking down stairs.
It's amazing to watch her grow and evolve every single day, in other words. It's interesting to watch the blend of growing independence and little twinges of separation anxiety. As if her desire to be her own person reinforces the existence of her support people.
And, it being well past 5:20 a.m., the baby is giving herself a minor tutorial on crib climbing. That terrifying transfer to toddler bed (and all the baby room-proofing that may ensue) looms on the horizon. But as a more distant likelihood. Probably something to save for that 18 month regression I keep hearing about.
As we truck on, we cross our fingers, continue removing potentially deadly and breakable objects from higher and higher ground. Anyone want any beautiful paintings or several pounds of books?
Happy Seventeen Sweet Chay-Chay. Pretty soon, I'll just be telling people you're 'a year and a half'
And then I'll be thinking you're a year or two younger than you are.
And then you'll be graduating from college. And then... well, I hope that then you'll sleep pretty well, but that will be kind of on you at that point.
No comments:
Post a Comment