So I am dedicating this post to Caylen and her naps. To start off, she has always been a very clingy baby, and from the time we brought her home from the hospital she has not wanted to be put in a crib or bassinet to sleep. Now, I like that she is a very loving baby and all, and I was apparently a clingy baby myself, but sometimes a person needs a little personal space! Caylen slept with me until she was 7 months old, and during that time she never ever slept in her crib. Not for a nap, not for bedtime. It is not like I didn't try though, she just refused to let me put her down. I just went along with her needs and that is still how I do things, pretty much anyway, and I feel like she will let me know when she is ready to move to the next step. Well, at 7 months Caylen started not sleeping well in our 'family bed.' That meant I didn't sleep well, or at all, either. So, I decided it was time for her to sleep by herself. After going through many stages of 'sidecar-ing' the crib to keeping the crib in our room to finally moving the crib to her room, she started sleeping in her crib, as well as drastically reducing the night-wakings for all. So, to make a long story short, we eventually got Caylen to sleep, as well as take naps, in her crib. Not without lots and lots of effort and of course, trial and error....
So, back in Texas I was very happy with Caylen's sleeping schedule. She woke up at 6, took a 1.5-2 hour nap at 8, during which I would shower and relax, then a shorter nap at 2 and bed at 7:30. However, this all changed when we moved back to GA. She took naps in her crib for a week after we got here and then came the nap strike! I would get her to sleep as usual and then when it came to putting her in her crib, she would wake up and squeal like I was trying to lower her into a vat of boiling water! This was of course very frustrating, but I eventually just surrendered my will and let her nap on me while I 'wasted' 2 hours of the day letting her nurse and nap as needed, and take a shower while singing and trying to keep Caylen occupied and out of trouble in the bathroom.
Now, with all of the background info out of the way, I will get to the current info. On our Disney trip our schedule was completely torn to pieces. However, this was great because it gave me a different perspective on how I might solve the nap problem. Well, to make a long story short again, a lightbulb came on and I got the idea to nurse her while laying down on a pallet on the floor, and then sneak away in order to get her to nap by herself. I got this idea because Caylen initially started taking naps by herself in this fashion, but on my bed surrounded by many pillows since she was not mobile yet. So, I tried it once we got back from vacation and it didn't work the first couple of times, but she was sick. I kept trying though and yesterday she slept for an hour in the morning, and today she slept for an hour and a half! So, this is success in my book and I just had to share :)
