Tuesday, December 6, 2011

nap? nap? wherefore art thou, nap?

Yesterday I went to the grocery store.  While bagging my groceries, the very sweet teenaged girl doing that task asked me, "how's your day going so far?"

Here is what I said: "Just fine, thanks."

Here is what I said in my head: "Well, my child - who is adorable, thanks for mentioning that - is also cranky right now because I dragged her here mostly so we could get in the car, because for some reason, she has decided that she is not going to nap today AT ALL even though we spent damn near two hours trying to get her down, so we are here because I have an insane need to get one freaking thing done with my one day off and after this we are going to drive in the car until she falls asleep and I don't care if we end up in Colorado, THIS KID IS GOING TO TAKE A NAP for me just once, since she seems to take two-hour naps for everyone else in her life but has no interest whatsoever in taking one, just one, blessed nap for her own mother."

Perhaps you can see why I did not say that out loud. 

Naps.  Why is it that she takes them for everyone else except me?  Really?  Does anyone have any tips on this?  Because I am about to lose my mind.  She goes to daycare on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, where she regularly takes a 90-120 minute nap.  Every time.  At home, she took a 90-minute nap on Sunday when her dad put her down.  Once or twice a month, she goes to my parents' house on Fridays, where she almost always takes at least a 60-90 minute nap.

For me? 40 minutes.  Maybe 45.  Once I got 90 minutes out of her but that was apparently a complete fluke.

She's getting some molars, I'm pretty sure.  She still sleeps well at night, for which I am grateful (but if one more person says to me, "well, at least she sleeps at night, my kid didn't sleep through the night until she was 24 so see how my life is so much worse than yours?" I am going to kick some as$).

But why won't she nap for me?  What is this about?  Anyone?

5 comments:

  1. Oh yeah. Yes yes yes. Henry goes to sleep for his dad at night with a bye-bye kiss & a pat on the wide-awake head. I put him down with anything less than 40 minutes of patting/rocking/singing? Wailing. Gnashing of emerging molars. Screaming. NOT SLEEPING. Sigh. I'm trying to tell myself it's because he likes my company SO VERY MUCH, but right now, post sleep-deprivation, even I don't like my company very much so that excuse isn't really cutting it. Hope the sleep starts happening soon!

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  2. We're just starting to experience this. My baby girl has been sleeping 10-11 hrs a night since 7 weeks. But no (or limited - like 20 minutes) during the day- at least for me. Daddy put her down on Sunday - she napped 3 hrs. Her aunt had her on Friday - 2 hr nap. And yeah, it's great that she sleeps at night so long at such a young age, but it's driving me nuts during the day! So I'm with you if not having any answers. :-)

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  3. No idea, but if you figure it out, let me know! My friend who had twins told me their two naps would consolidate to one 3-hour nap in the afternoon. HAHAHAHA! I'm lucky if I get one 1-hour nap most days, and often it's less. But they're not really doing better for anyone else, so the problem in my case isn't me, specifically. But I totally understand, it's ROUGH having a baby that's awake all day, no break. I hope you get a break soon!

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  4. I just posted a blog about our sleep catastrophes around here. I wish I had all the answers because I sure as hell would be getting a lot more rest at night and during naptime. Why don't these things (aka: "our kids") come with instructions?!?

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  5. My daughter does the same thing. Her twin brother goes down with a pat on the head, from anyone. She needs to be rocked, but with the nanny it's only 10 minutes, sometimes less. With me, she can take up to 40 minutes (!!!!) of rocking to get her down. I think it's because we're 'mommy'. that simple.

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