Sleep

As I mentioned before, since M and A returned to school, I have been trying to get E onto a nap routine and napping in his crib (he has slept in his crib since we came home from the hospital at nighttime). This has been met with varying degrees of success, and an attempt yesterday to take him for a study proved how difficult his schedule is to predict. Nonetheless, I was encouraged when I was able yesterday to have him take a 2 hour nap in his crib. The encouragement was for naught, however, as slept for a solid 7 hours (till 2am,) then decided to be AWAKE for 2 hours.

I've decided to be very diligent about recording his day, which can be a real PITA, but it's probably important to figuring out when he wants to nap as well as predicting his schedule.

When A was about this age, I tried a sleep training method (for naps only at this age) called "The Ferber method." It sucked, though it seems to have worked really really well for him and he's an awesome sleeper. Because it sucked, I decided to try something gentler, and have been reading a book that was recommended called The No Cry Sleep Solution. I'm not sure how well this one is working, but it's sort of manageable and I don't have to listen to my poor little baby cry all day long.

These days, naps usually consist of quiet time, with either some lullabies on or the sounds of waves or rain. I nurse him for about half an hour and then rock or pat him to sleep. I have discovered that he burrows his head into the crook of my arm, so I've been putting my shirt in there with him. The benefit is that I'm reading while we do this, so I'm going very quickly through my very long book.