We have reached a crossroads with Brooke that has left me completely clueless. Here's the situation... If she does not take a nap, she is an absolute disaster. I love her dearly but it's obvious that she still needs the afternoon period of rest because she can barely function without it. However, if she does get a nap, we pay for it at nighttime. The other night she was in her room singing until after 10. It was just awful!
I think the obvious answer is to say that if she still acts like she needs a nap then I should give her one but bedtime is so difficult. I know how frustrating it is to not be able to sleep and I don't want to cause that for her but at the same time, she needs to kind of learn to deal with it. I don't mind the singing so much but it's quite frustrating to have her come out of her room 3 times saying, "There's a bug in my room!" or "I need a drink of water." It's hard to know how firmly to discipline her in these situations.
I am a stickler for an 8:30 (at the very latest) bedtime for her because of John's schedule. Due to him working nights, John and I don't get those hours of cuddling and quality time before we drift off to sleep like most couples so I have tried VERY hard to set aside the 2 hours before he leaves for work for just us. That may sound selfish but our relationship is of utmost importance to me and I put him first here. The kids are going to grow up and leave in 18 years or so and I don't want to look over at John at that point and realize I don't know him. So yeah, all that to say that a later bedtime is just not a good option for us.
So I'm baffled on this one. I don't know what the solution is and I know that there has to be one. Do any of you experienced moms have any input? If you do, please share!!
3 comments:
My advice would be to stop the naps. You'll probably go through an adjustment period of several weeks while her body gets used to the change, and those weeks may be hard, but I bet it will settle down after that. She may go down to bed really well, which will be nice. Best of luck!
If I were in your position (which I sorta am, at times) I'd keep naps AND the bedtime. Lol. Some days Marissa doesn't actually nap, and those days she goes to sleep at bedtime pretty easily. On days she naps, she does stay awake sometimes til 10pm. But she lays in her bed and stays in her room - her imagination is enough to keep her company for hours! Lol. She knows there are consequences if she gets out of her bed too many times (loses the baby she sleeps with, loses tv time, etc) and it usually is enough to keep us sane. She's allowed to get out of her bed and play in her room quietly at naptime, but she has to stay in there til a set time, since sometimes she falls asleep towards the end of nap. Good luck!
Wake her up in the AM so that she is tired enough for nap and will still go to bed. She obviously doesn't need as much sleep anymore and cutting it off in the AM may be the solution. Plus, if Adrienne is still sleeping late that gives you 1:1 time with Brooke.
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