Back when I was a nanny, I knew everything there was to know about parenting, and was happy to explain it. Naps were among my favorite topics to enlighten people on. I just could not comprehend how, in some families, toddlers and preschoolers were not napping.
“My mum made all four of us nap until kindergarten,” I would exclaim.
I knew that all those poor non-napping children needed was a better routine. A predictable schedule. Some blackout curtains.
Well, karma really does come around, and I birthed a child who hated naps from the start.
No matter how scheduled our routine was, no matter how dark the room or how comfortable the sleeping arrangements, she wasn’t interested.
I’m quite sure that, in the two years since her birth, I have napped more than she has.
And yet, we’ve survived.
Here’s what I’ve learned along the way:
1. “Sleep when the baby sleeps” is the cruelest thing you can say to a new parent.
It sounds oh-so-simple, doesn’t it? Just like my sleep advice sounded all those years ago, before I knew the harsh reality of parenting.
It’s impossible to sleep when the baby sleeps if the baby is only down for 10 minutes at a time!
In our house, the nap routine usually went something like this: Put baby down on any relatively safe surface (a crib, you say? Ha!); sneak ninja-style out of the room, expertly avoiding squeaking floorboards; pee; refresh Facebook while on the toilet; think, Oh dear lord, please no. That was a cat meowing, not a baby crying, right? Right?!
Top Comments
My 2 and a half year old hasn't napped since about 16 months and before that she dropped naps like sleep was going out of fashion.
We are also sleep school failures, 2 different schools of failing.
I accepted I just didn't have a sleeper and it made my life better.
Caring less about what she should be doing (according to every bloody one who seems to have an opinion) was Less stressful even if it wasn't any less tiring!
She is 97th percentile for height, met all her milestones and was talking in sentances by 18 months so everyone who told me my child wouldn't grow because she didn't get enough sleep was so wrong. (Maybe it was the full extra "day" of interaction a week when I would of liked to be sleeping helped!)