June 8: 16 oz
June 9: 16 oz
June 10: 12.5 oz (ack, that's quite a dip! Let's hope she rebounds tomorrow.)
I despise a sleep book we have. It is such a load of crap. I despise people/books that tell you what you "have" to do and do not accommodate exceptions.
Let me take a time out and say that I do not like people who constantly think they themselves are always exceptions to a rule. I know someone like this, and it completely irritates me. Tell her a rule, and she will whine and complain until everyone acquiesces that, yes, she is an extra special exception to a rule.
But, back to the subject at hand, not every kid is a cookie cutter replica of the prototypical kid. Whoever wrote this sleep book is kind of crazy or has had the prototypical child. I don't have the prototypical child. I'm not going to raise her with the belief she is the exception to every rule, but I do think there should be some flexibility for individual differences. When I read how much and what the prototypical should eat or when and for how long the prototypical child should sleep - and mine doesn't do the same thing - then I feel completely inadequate. And I can certainly try to work on sleeping and eating with her, but it's not completely in my control how much she eats or sleeps. Then I fret about having this freak of a child, and in actuality I'm sure she's not as freakish as lactation consultants/doctors/sleep writers make her out to be.
Pet peeve list:
-Lactation consultants who say she HAS to eat 22 ounces a day as a newborn. She only ate about 14 ounces, and I thought I was starving her.
-Dieticians who say I HAVE to get 27 concentrated ounces into her a day + 3 meals at 7 months old. All I have to say is HA! followed by tears because I know that will never happen. And it never did.
-Sleep writers who say every child should take a nap from 12-2 by the time they're a year old.
The toddler room transition is going well except for eating and sleeping. She's interacting with others and playing well. Eating is going okay except for the whole milk/formula from a sippy cup. She can do 3-4 ounces of juice a day from the sippy now. This is BIG for her since she would only take water for several weeks!!! But even though it's a victory, we're still very far from the finish line. And she still struggles with tilting her cup; she likes someone to tilt it for her. (And she still won't hold her own bottle.) When she's so apathetic about eating, it's hard to get her to initiate it herself.
This nap thing is a real struggle. The goal for the toddler room is for her to nap from 12-2. This is also what the sleep book said she should have mastered by 12 months. But it's just not how she operates. She wakes between 6am-7am. She takes about a 30 minute nap at about 10am. Then she takes a 2 hour nap from 2-4. She goes to bed at 8pm. We and daycare have been trying to keep her up later in the morning. But even though they can keep her awake til 11:30am, she takes a 30 minute nap still. Then she's awake another 3-4 hours, and then she starts her long nap starting at 3pm or 4pm. That means we have to wake her up when we pick her up, she's cranky, then we put her back to bed to finish her nap when she gets home.
So you see why I'm consulting the stupid book? I'm trying to figure out how to coerce her to take her long nap from 12-2. It gets frustrating when they say what the kid SHOULD be doing. I better read the stupid book. Maybe there will be actual productive tips that I (and daycare) can use.
9 comments:
I have a suggestion! And it just might work :0) Here is Waylon's schedule. He wakes up sometime around 6-6:30 but I don't go in there until I am done getting ready at 7:00. It's just easier that way because he talks to himself while I get ready. But if I go in there when he starts making noise, he will scream when I leave to go get ready. So, I just listen to him babble(and fuss a little bit too) while I get ready. Anyway, that puts them getting up around the same time. Then, I give him a cup that he takes with him in the car and we take into daycare with us for him to finish. Jennifer feeds him breakfast and then puts him down for a nap at around 9:00. She never lets him sleep past 10:30 so that he will be ready to go back down for a nap after lunch, between 12-12:30. He also goes to bed at 8:00(same time as Julia). Soooooooooooooo....maybe you should try the morning nap EARLIER than later! That way she is not getting up from a morning nap and going right back down for the afternoon. Space them out farther apart. :0)
Hope that helps you!!!
ORRRRR....is the goal to cut the morning nap out all together?
Yep, the goal is to cut out the morning nap. The fishies nap from 12-2. That's it.
What I liked about this place is that they let the babies have their own schedules. The problem is that when they turn 1, it's structured like school. They seriously have lesson plans for every half hour. Music, art, reading, etc. While I like that, it would be good if they appreciated individual differences a little bit.
Ah, I put her to sleep at 7:45pm last night, and she was up at 5:50 this morning. There goes that theory. But I just fed her, and she fell back to sleep. Maybe an extra half hour sleep??
Oh, and her wake-up is rarely pleasant. There has been the odd occasion here and there where we've heard her playing quietly by herself. Most of the time it's a wail whenever she opens her eyes. Then it's more wailing as she stands up. At that point it becomes full-blown screaming.
Going to bed is usually a completely different story. Usually you put her in the crib, and she immediately turns over to her tummy and closes her eyes. We usually, knock on wood, only have problems at wake-up.
Well darn! There goes my theory. Oh well....sorry :( I'm with you...what's the big deal with a morning nap? If a kid's tired, let em sleep. Not ALL babies/kids are the same...
why is the daycare letting her sleep in the afternoon?
I have never read any parenting books, other than "What to expect the First Year", which I used more as an encyclepdia. I had no idea toddlers where supposed to naps from 12-2. Sophie gets up around 8am, and doesn't usually take a nap until 2pm or 3pm, sleeps until 5pm or 6pm, and goes to bed at 8pm. Though, she doesn't go to sleep for about an hour most nights. And, she hangs out in her crib in the morning too. This week she has been getting up earlier, like 7:30, and taking early naps. She does everything on her own schedule. I can't imagine her following a structered schedule. She would rebel.
i can't imagine forcing Colin to only nap from 12-2. he is 2 weeks from 1 year old (OMG!!!) and takes 2-3 naps a day on his own schedule. we've actually been thinking about the lack of a schedule since we were just staying with a family of scheduled kids. anyway, on non-school days, colin wakes up between 6 and 7, then plays/eats for an hour or so and then takes a nap for 45 mins to 2 hours. then he's up for a few hours and then another nap (45 mins to 2 hours again - depending on how long the previous nap was). he might get another afternoon nap in (probably short) depending on the days activities and how much sleep he's already had. on school days, he's up by 7:30 at the latest and is up until 10 (or as late as 11:30/12 if they go on a stroller ride) and then sleeps for 1-2 hours. if there is time, he'll take another nap in the afternoon.
my point here? a one year old should take more than one nap a day if they are tired/need it.
Thanks, Karin! Daycare was making it seem like Julia is a freak of nature for still taking 2 naps. It helps to know that other babies are still on 2+ naps.
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