THE Nap

The Nap

For the first two weeks of Nora’s life – when she was underweight from being early - I had to wake her up every 3 hours to eat. She never stayed awake much longer than it took her to eat. We don’t have any pictures with her eyes open until she is a month old. Even after that she pretty much slept all the time – or so it seemed. I remember going to my 6 week doctor’s appointment and reporting to the doctor that she had slept for six hours straight the night before.

And then something happened. I probably should never have reported to anyone that she was sleeping well. Night waking – night eating – night misery. But it ended and by 9 months I had her sleeping through the night (or at least until 5:30, when she’d join us in bed) and napping in her crib. And then something happened again – I honestly don’t even remember what it was exactly that started it. I think it might have been the three week killer ear infection at Christmas – but it could have even been before that. She would not nap in her crib. She would only nap on me.

And I thought a few times about “fixing” her – but it seemed pointless when I only had her napping here on the weekend anyway.

I resolved to begin Operation Nap in Crib in the summer – when I had time and patience to really “train” her to nap in her crib.

So I did. We started the first day I was out of school. The first day she cried for 20 minutes and then slept. Second day, 10 minutes of crying and then sleep. Third day, no crying. She was a professional crib napper – sometimes even napping close to three hours. All. By. Herself.

And I had a break.

But now, she is no longer a professional crib napper. She is a professional mommy manipulator. Or she is teething (which is what I prefer to believe. I mean, I can see the white bulges of all four cuspids and she has teething poop that even got all over the living room chair and her shoes tonight. So yes, no manipulation, just teething pain. That makes me feel better…) Yesterday no nap in crib, just nap on mom. And I felt trapped. Trapped in the chair, the bed, wherever it was we were napping at the time. I wanted to be reading – or napping by myself. Or talking to Ken. Or something. By. Myself. But she won.

Ferber says in his book that some kids are not good nappers – they are too curious or too “something” to be good nappers in their cribs. Reading that makes me feel better, but it doesn’t mean I don’t still feel trapped when I am stuck napping with her. And then The Nap takes on a life of its own and I ponder it all morning and think about what my plan of attack should be. Instead of just enjoying lunch and running around, I think of what will happen when I place her pretty little head on that pillow. The Nap.

Today she napped for 35 minutes by herself in her crib. And I was thankful for every minute of it.