Nap Hell

Just what everyone wants to read about: naps.

Here is a dark secret our family has had: Seren used pacifiers until age 4! :)

Check it: Newbie parents visit preemie daughter in NICU and boast, "We are not interested in using pacifiers for our daughter. We would really like the staff to not use them."

Fast Forward 16 months: Seren is weaned off the night time use of pacis for fear that she would get used to them or that her teeth would be wonky. No pacis at night. The transition isn't too painful. A week of crying herself to sleep and problem solved. Except for nap. She used them daily every day for nap. And sleeps every day for nap. No skipped naps. (The exception being one week when we bring Wyeth home from the hospital). The child needed 2 solid hours. She slept from 2-4pm every day. We think, "If we give up the paci, we may give up the nap."

Fast forward to April 2010; Seren STILL uses the paci. She starts skipping one nap a week. And we pay for it with an exhausted Seren the day she doesn't nap. She overcompenates the following day by sleeping three hours. Sam and I start talking it up that when she is FOUR there will be no more pacificers. She isn't worried at all. We talk this up for about 6 weeks.

The morning she turned four, at 7:30am she said, "Today I give 'em up!" She gathered each and everyone up and mailed them before we had breakfast. Gone. Done. Yeah! (she hasn't even mentioned them and I can't believe WE held on to them for that long).

But ya know what? We haven't had a consistent nap since.

It is hell. LOL! Since May 4th she takes two naps a week. The first is on Sunday when she just CRASHES after the week. The second nap is at Heathers' house (our friend who watches the kids on Monday afternoon.)

That is it.

She went from 6 or 7 naps a week to 2 and it has been PITA every since. The days she does nap, she doesn't sleep until 9 pm. But most days, she is just EXHAUSTED. And hyper. And moody. And quick to tears. Which makes me exhausted and moody and quick to tears.

We have tried to put her to bed earlier but are having trouble cutting corners to make it happen. Last night she was in her bed by 8 and out by 8:15. Which is better. But she just isn't like herself at all! We have timeouts at dinner, timeouts during bath, yelling, crying...honestly 'home' isn't that fun the last three weeks during the evenings! And it isn't like she is 'sleeping in'! The first week, she did. She would sleep until 7. Now she is back up at 6 or 6:20.

Ideas? How long will this last nap transition will take? We have to get her to bed earlier but it is hard. Maybe more 'standing tubbies' instead of sit down/splash fests.

Good grief. I know it is just a bump in the road and this too will pass but when I work all day, I'd like the nights to be ya know, at least a LITTLE fun. It is like herding grumpy cats through the motions and I'm not a fan.

Thank you for reading. This vent is now complete.