I don’t remember when I realized my son had difficulties getting to sleep. In fact, I thought it was perfectly normal for my newborn baby to want to sleep on my husband or myself. That newborn became an infant who co-slept with us for over 15 months. It was so much easier to have him sleep with us because I was still nursing him in the middle of the night. Once I stopped nursing, I realized that my husband and I were not sleeping well because my son was still in our bed. It took us many, many months to get my son out of our bed and into his crib because I refused to let him “cry it out.” But sleeping in the crib at night did not translate to sleeping in the crib for naps. In fact, the only way I could get my son to nap was if my husband or I layed next to him on our bed. Well, you can imagine how limiting that was for me with all of the dishes and laundry and cooking I need to do (no sarcasm there…promise!).
I recently had the opportunity to read and review Elizabeth Pantley’s “The No-Cry Nap Solution.” I have been implementing the strategies in this book for at least a month and a half, if not longer. It has been less than two weeks since my son started consistently sleeping in his crib for naps. His naps aren’t perfect…yet. He lies there in his crib, babbling away, trying to get our attention. However, he’s not crying and he’s not taking cat-naps, so for us, this has been a huge step in the right direction. Several days last week, he took 2 hour naps for the first time. Part of the problem I was having was inconsistency about how, where, and when my son was napping. Some days my husband or my mom would watch him, throwing the entire sleep schedule off. This quote from the book was one of the things that freed my husband and I from rules and stereotypes: “There are no absolute rules that you must follow when it comes to where or how your child naps.”
It wasn’t until this book that I realized how important naps are. It’s pretty obvious that naps are important, particularly when my lovable, funny, smiling son, turns into a whiny, cranky toddler. But this book will give you the scientific and biologic reasons to help you understand how your child benefits from naps, how much time your child needs to nap, and why the timing of the nap is so important. For me, it was important to journal my son’s nap and sleep patterns for a few days. What I realized was that some of the problems we were having were my fault. For example, the days when I needed to run errands and let him sleep in the car, were the days he was the most fussy. I believed that those catnaps were enough to get him through the day but the book taught me otherwise. Elizabeth Pantley has devoted an entire chapter to creating a sleep log and a nap plan for your child, and I highly recommend that everyone who is having difficulties with naps, do this as a starting point.
I wish I had this book before my son was born. There is an entire section devoted to naps and newborn babies. If I would have read it ahead of time, I would have avoided a lot of the problems we faced. Fortunately, the remainder of her book is devoted to solving those specific naptime problems. The two chapters that I found to be the most beneficial for our situation were those on catnaps and resistance to naps. For example, my son would always wake up before his naptime SHOULD be over (he is only taking one long nap a day). I knew he was still sleepy because he would wake up crying and fussy. The book suggested that I go into his room five to ten minutes before I anticipated he would wake up (hence the benefit of the sleep log I talked about above) and help him go back to sleep. This was just one of the many suggestions outlined in the book.
Getting my son to nap was actually more difficult than getting him to sleep through the night. After reading this book, I realize that things could have been different. If you’re in the midst of a naptime battle, I highly suggest you read The No-Cry Nap Solution. It’s available on Amazon.com for $10.85 with free shipping!
Profuse thanks to Elizabeth Pantley and the Family Review Network for this wonderfullly informative review opportunity.
- Discover Luxury at Sonesta Irvine: Your Ideal Staycation - August 8, 2024
- CHOC Walk Returns to the Disneyland Resort – Special Events and Ways to Support - June 28, 2023
- Beastly Ball Returns to the Los Angeles Zoo - May 8, 2023
Hi fellow co-sleeping mama! 😉
We co-slept with our daughter for the first 8 months or so in our bed. Then, we moved her to a full-size mattress on the floor in our room until she was one. At one, we moved her into her own room on a mattress on the floor (we never used a crib). I love it because I can lay down next to her and sleep if need be. Sometimes our daughter sleeps by herself all through the night; other times she wakes up in the wee morning hours and I go and sleep with her for the remainder of the night. It works wonders for us and we all sleep peacefully. Unconventional? Yes. But, as Pantley is always so quick to point out, there are no “rules” when it comes to sleep (besides standard safety rules, that is).
We weren’t/aren’t fans of the “cry-it-out” method either, by the way. We never even tried that – it’s just too much for this mama’s heart to bear. And I also have other “reservations” about that approach based on the research I have done…
Final comment: I absolutely love Pantley’s books! Her approach is so gentle and tenderhearted. She provides so many excellent solutions and doesn’t just offer “one way.” I love that about her…