Being a parent means you do everything you can to give your child the best. That translates to reading a lot and being part of social media groups that help you to make the most of being a parent. I have learned so much and I’m constantly learning new things. But I feel like I missed something somewhere along the way because my mind was blown this week over a super simple tweak to our daily routine.
Let’s take a step back. Since about 8-9 months old, Henry has been only taking 1 nap a day. Around his first birthday, he dropped from a 60-90 minute nap (sometimes with a wake-up) to only 30-45 minutes (rarely longer). Any other mom with similar aged kids said their little ones napped for 2+ hours a day. HOW? Henry always woke up from his nap fussy and it made the days so long for us. My sanity was taking a huge hit. I need the reset that a nap provides.
I’ve always fed Henry to sleep (naps+bedtime). He usually had breakfast, a snack, I’d feed him to sleep and then I thought it made sense to have lunch after his nap. However, I’ve been reading lately on different sleep training techniques to work on (since we’re really struggling with night sleep as well) and one of the things I came across was about feeding schedules and sleep. Something just clicked and I decided it was worth trying to swap meal/nap time and eat lunch directly before going down for a nap.
- Day 1: 2.5 hours of sleep.
- Day 2: 3 hours of sleep (I had to wake him up!)
- Day 3: 2.5 hours of sleep.
- Day 4: 2 hours of sleep.
I don’t want to jinx anything but this has NEVER happened! I mean, Henry has never slept for more than an hour by himself for this many days in a row. And it’s not only that he’s sleeping longer, but he’s also not waking up fussy! This afternoon I heard him get up and by the time I got to his room, he was waiting by his gate with a couple of books in hand.
WHY IS THIS SOMETHING I DIDN’T KNOW?!
I feel like I should have come across this before now. Sigh. Maybe it’s something everyone else just knows and I’m just behind.
Anyways, I figured I’d share this revelation just in case there’s another parent out there as clueless as me.
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