Our Schedule/Nap Update

So as you might recall, my original goal was: "I'm hoping by the time he's 6 months old, I can get him into a 3-naps-of-at-least-an-hour-at-specific-times sort of daily routine." So I wanted to give an update on how we are doing compared to when I set that goal when he was 4 months old (about 6 weeks ago) . . .

Well, we definitely have him napping at pretty specific times, which seems to work for him. This is how our day usually goes:

-Wake up around 6/6:30, nurse in bed, Daddy changes and plays with and then puts in his swing about an hour later.
-Take this first early morning nap in his swing from 7:30-8:30. Wakes up at 8:30, we get up and get dressed, nurse, play, etc.
-Second nap, we start doing the routine (change, read books, nurse, rock) around 9:30 and he falls asleep between 10-10:30.
-Third nap we start the routine at 12:30 and he falls asleep between 1-1:30.
-Fourth nap, routine and then asleep around 3-3:30. (But sometimes he skips this one and won't fall asleep).
-Fifth nap, asleep anytime between 5-6:30 (and this one is usually short, like a half hour, and he sometimes skips this one, too, on days that he doesn't skip the other one, hehe).
-Down for the night around 7:30/8.

Sooo, let's see:
-I wanted 3 naps, right now we've got 5. HOWEVER, you could sort of consider the first wakeup as sort of a false one. He nurses for a LONG time, gets changed, and then wants to play for like 10 mins and then is tired again. So we're sort of only on 4. AND he is definitely transitioning the last two naps into one big afternoon nap, I think, since sometimes he skips one or the other.
-I wanted them to be at least an hour, and I can report (nearly) relative success on this front! Typically he does nap for right around an hour--at least 45 mins and sometimes like an hour and a half. Except for that last nap, as I mentioned which can be kind of short (and if it was longer he'd be up too late anyway).
-I wanted them to be at specific times, and again, we've had great success on this front!! The only nap that can vary is the last one probably because he's going to drop it. He's definitely able to be kept awake even when he's tired, and the schedule can shift if he randomly sleeps longer or wakes up earlier, but it's basically pretty regular!

So this is my progress on the goals I'm working toward by james' 6 month birthday and I think we're doing great so far!

Regular Naps?

So since I wrote last about trying to get James' naps better arranged, I've had a lot of success!

So his naps over the last week have been like . . .

His first morning nap he goes down about an hour after he wakes up in the morning, usually between 8:30-9:30. After he first wakes up in the morning, I feed him, I pump, I get dressed, and then I start the nap routine basically right away (change diaper, read books, nurse, rock to sleep).

His second morning nap he usually gets tired between 10:30-11 and falls asleep between 11-12 (after the routine).

Then he has his one and only long awake period of the day, and goes back down between 2:30-3:30. I think part of my main problem before is that I didn't realize that there was this one part of the day where he was willing to be awake for more than an hour or an hour and a half. So I would try putting him down at like 1 or 2 and it would be like an hour of effort and he still wouldn't be asleep. Now I just keep him up at this time and he is generally happy about it, which is great.

Then his final nap is pretty late--around 5, sometimes as late as six--I'm thinking that soon we'll be able to drop this nap and just put him to bed a bit sooner. As it is now he just can't make it until 7:00--he's usually ready to lose it by 5/6--hence the last nap (which is sometimes only 20 mins but he NEEDS it, LOL!).

And finally he goes down for the night between 7 and 8.

I do the pre-nap routine pretty much every time and it seems to be helping a LOT at calming him down before his naps. So there is now relatively little pre-nap fussing (woohoo).

He's still only sleeping for a half hour, 45 mins tops, but hopefully as he transitions to fewer naps, he'll sleep longer. He doesn't seem tired so I guess 1/2 hour is enough for him (just not enough for me, LOL!).

I am increasingly able to rock him to sleep and then put him down in his cradle, instead of having to put him in his swing. It used to be that he wouldn't nap unless he was in motion, so this is an improvement! Sometimes I still resort to throwing him in the swing and letting him fall asleep there, but these naps are fewer and fewer every day!

So our nap situation is working out great, and I'm enjoying the routine and the predictability and relative freedom that comes from knowing that he needs/wants to nap at certain times and be awake at others! :D

Reconnoitering Naps

Reconnoiter is my family's language for "rearrange." My Mom is famous for her constant reconnoitering of any and all loose objects and different areas. If you put something down in my parents house, you can expect it to be moved at some point . . .

Anyway, James' nap situation has been slowly deteriorating over the last few months. Until yesterday, he basically took all his naps in his swing downstairs in the living room. When he was younger, this was awesome because he could just hang out in there while he fell asleep, he was right there if I needed to check on him, etc. But over the last month he started being increasingly fussy before his naps--he would get distracted by me being around, and he is trying to stay awake more and more because he wants to be with me all the time, now. Furthermore he only sleeps for a half hour, 45 mins tops, usually 4-5 times per day.

So we got our new couch yesterday (pics to come!), and with that came "reconnoitering" the living room, and with that I decided it was time to reconnoiter James' nap situation.

I moved his swing upstairs, and pulled out his cradle which we haven't been using much for awhile. I also started doing a "pre-nap routine" of change diaper, read books, nurse, rock to sleep (or nearly), and then put in the cradle (if possible), or else the swing. For the past two days, I've been doing this at every nap-time, and between that and the move upstairs, I'm happy to say that I've basically eliminated the pre-nap fussing. I find that by filling it up with a predictable routine, he is able to start relaxing BEFORE he's in his swing, so that helps.

For all of his naps yesterday, I was able to move him from the swing to the cradle mid-sleep. So far today, he woke up when I tried to move him for his first nap so then I just let him sleep in the swing. BUT for his second nap, I am happy to report that I was actually able to PUT HIM DOWN in his cradle (first time ever!), though I did rock him to sleep first--but I don't mind that because it only takes five mins!

Anyway, I'm hoping this reconnoitering of his nap schedule will mean longer naps in the long run. I'm hoping by the time he's 6 months old, I can get him into a 3-naps-of-at-least-an-hour-at-specific-times sort of daily routine, so I think this is a good start of transitioning to that. He sort of DOES nap at specific times, but it does depend on when he wakes up in the morning and how long he naps for, too.