Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Schedule

Someone PLEASE tell me how to get my daughter on a schedule that works for more than just her. Someone PLEASE tell me is it better to let babies sleep when they are tired and seem to need to sleep or keep them up so they sleep when they are suppose to sleep. This is just too hard.
Right now Sam naps in the morning, then by 12:30 or 1:00 she wants to nap again for about an hour. Another nap is then wanted around 3:00 and this one can last as long as 3 hours or so. But when she takes that long nap, which she seems to want and need she doesn't go to bed until late. The long late nap also means that Chris only gets to see her while we are trying to get dinner done and she gets fussy before bed. He gets home from work around 3:30 and would like for Sam to be awake and happy so that he can spend some time with her before she goes to bed. I understand his wants and would love for him to have at least a couple of hours in the evening to see her when she is happy. Right now he only seems to get her during the sleepy, fussy times; but is that normal for the working parent? At what age do babies normally start taking the regular morning nap and afternoon nap and stop just sort of sleeping whenever they want? At what point is there a designated nap time and they just know they have to sleep at that time? Someone PLEASE tell me that this schedule thing gets easier soon cause right now it is driving me nuts!

Okay enough complaining, here is Sam after a little while in the Jumperoo. She tends to get tired after a little bit and her head rests on the cushion. Just today she started actually sucking on the cushion! Turn the volume up...the noises and determination on her little face are priceless.

1 comment:

Holly said...

The schedule thing is hard. I remember Ella took a third nap too but it worked for us at the time because Andrew didn't get home from work until 8pm. He could still see her and play with her, but then she was going to bed REALLY late and then sleeping in pretty late (7:30 or 8am). But that worked for us at the time. I think she just naturally switched.

Can you try keeping her up a bit longer before her second nap and endure the fussiness for a bit? Maybe she would then sleep longer for the second nap and maybe she'll cut out that third nap. And then you could put her to bed just a bit earlier than normal?

It could take a week or longer dealing with the fussiness before the second nap to get her to change. So it might get rougher before it gets easier.

We had a great time with Chris and everyone else last week at the Knosher! Amber and I are hoping you can come next year! :-)