I know there are those of you out there who are super strict on having your kids on a schedule. Others couldn't care less as long as they sleep through the night. I have always fell somewhere in between.
My philosophy has been for my girl to go to bed at a certain time and take naps at general times. If she is on a set schedule great, but if not I'm not going to pull my hair out over it. For example, I was fine (while I was working mind you) as long as she went to bed at 8 pm, woke up after 12 hours-ish, took 2 naps- one in the late morning and the other in the mid afternoon. Well that didn't work so hot when she started going to daycare 2 days a week because my husband had to drop her off at 3 pm so he could get to work. So she moved to this crazy schedule of sleeping in the morning, then sleeping again at 1, then taking a third nap at 5 pm... Needless to say it wasn't ideal. Yes, it worked out just fine and it did serve it's purpose but it was way too hard. She was tired and only sleeping for an hour at each of those times. So on our days off it was near impossible to get anything done. Plus some days she would go to daycare and other days she wouldn't so that would add more inconsistency to her naps.
But it did work. And we went with it. Sometimes you just got to go with it. I don't think there's anything wrong with that either. Society wants out kids to be formed into this nice little Jello mold and that just doesn't work. You do what you can, don't stress yourself out about not having the ideal schedule, and make it work for your unique family members. If that requires you to just "go with it" then great! If it requires you to have a strict and scheduled time for each and every activity- great!
But I have to say, after months on end with a crazy schedule for not only her but us as well, this new schedule is great! I'm not working so I was able to devote the effort to putting her on a more set schedule. My husband and I aren't running between work, home, and daycare and hardly seeing each other (side note- we didn't see each other from the time we went to bed Monday night until Thursday morning when we woke up and then only spent half days together the rest of the week- and we did that for months!). We are doing great as a family and I think the whole not running around like headless chickens helps. :)
She goes to sleep at 8 pm. She wakes up between 8 and 9 (I know, I'm spoiled for getting to sleep in that long!). Nap time is now at 1 pm and she sleeps for 2-3 hours! We've been doing this about 4 days and it's been wonderful. She doesn't just sleep whenever and for however long she feels like. I make sure to get her good and tired in the morning and also have her tummy full of a tasty lunch before nap time. Then she's out like a light!
Now granted she is 14 months old now and one nap is completely sufficient for her. Obviously a 2 month old isn't going to work this way. This wouldn't have worked at 9 months either. Plus, to make it even more difficult for us parents I do completely believe that you have to work with what you got (i.e. your child, their personality, their activity level, etc.) and mold a schedule that fits your needs and still gives you kiddo the rest they need.
She still doesn't wake up at an exact time but that's fine by me. I feel if we get too scheduled, we'll turn into robots or something (okay there's the sci-fi nerd in me coming out...). Nap time at 1 also ranges from between 12:45 and 1:15 so that's not set in stone either. But she has a mommy who takes care of her full-time, is able to keep her on a somewhat set schedule so she gets her play time, her eating time, and her rest time all in at reasonable times. And my husband and I get to actually see each other!!
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