Nap update
After four days in a row of me handling the naps, lots of crying, ZERO napping, we decided to have John try, and he would try the more traditional Ferber method – maybe if it’s not Mama doing the leaving, it’ll be easier on Jack.
And so? We got four days in a row of Jack quietly sitting with John while he reads a couple of books, quietly going into the crib (he ASKED to go in on the second day), lying down when John asks him to, and falling asleep within two minutes on top of John’s hand while John quietly talks to him. JUST LIKE AT NIGHT. (The 5th day was not so smooth.)
(Let’s review: this is EXACTLY what I tried to do for the first two days, and what I was doing for months with little success not that long ago. Either we wore him down and he’s too exhausted to protest, or Dada is magic and Mama should stay out of it.)
The plan is that if he doesn’t fall asleep quickly like that, John will still leave and start the cry-it-out clock, but so far that hasn’t been necessary. Does this count as being inconsistent, changing the script on him again? I have no idea, but I do know we all prefer it when Jack doesn’t think we’ve abandoned him. Fingers crossed this works consistently for at least a week, and then we’ll sub me in once Jack has this down, again JUST LIKE WE DID AT NIGHT.
Day 1: Jack only slept for about 25 minutes, but it was his first nap in more than a week (score!) and we think he pooped himself awake, so it wasn’t really a failure on anybody’s part (except Jack’s ability to poop when it’s convenient for the rest of us).
Day 2: Jack made it past 25 minutes by a substantial amount – he slept for just over an hour. Again, we think he pooped himself awake. Jack, you need to poop before naptime!
Day 3: Jack slept for an hour and 15 minutes, again going to sleep on John’s hand within a couple of minutes of lying down in the crib just because John asked him to. Let’s keep this streak going!
Day 4: John had a harder time getting Jack to sleep, but he was ultimately successful, and he slept for an hour and 10 minutes. I’ll take it.
Day 5: Jack woke up around 3:30 Sunday morning and only slept for 45 minutes between then and 5:45, when we gave up and got up, so we moved his nap a little earlier. Unfortunately, John had to leave the room and start the cry-it-out clock for the first time Sunday. He decided to do a reset on the first pop-in instead of just soothe and leave. Jack fell sleep in John’s arms and he was able to put him down. Not exactly following the plan, but we ended up with a sleeping baby (for almost an hour and a half), so it’s a win.