When it comes to naps, Squirt still does not nap very much as compared to most babies. However, we can’t quite complain as it has to be said that Squirt has been a much better napper than Spud ever was.  

He goes down for at least half an hour, most times up to 1.5 hours, 2-3 times a day. He fights naps, but not half as bad as Spud had. Most important of all, he has gotten used to sleeping in his own bed for naps after being bounced or rocked for just a little bit – thanks to some form of nap training when he was about 6-8 weeks old.

Until just about a month ago, we used to bounce him on the yoga ball to get him to nap.  These days, however, the Nanny discovered that when it comes to Squirt napping, all she needs to do is just put him in his cot (awake!) and he would be drifting to sleep within minutes. 

While I had noticed earlier that he always seems quite upset if he is being carried or rocked and fusses a lot more while being held in my arms as I try to get him to nap, I always pinned it down to him fighting off sleep. He grumbles and grumbles and “yodels” away until he falls asleep. It did not occur to me that he did what he did mainly because he was trying to tell me that he is ready to do it on his own. As I realised, he is much happier when he is being left alone in his cot to wind himself down when he is tired and about ready to take a nap.

I am not a stickler for nap routines as opposed to bedtime routine, mainly because we tend to be out and about quite a bit over the weekend. It is, thus, hard for us to have a strict routine, preferring to keep naps a little “loose”. However, if there was one thing I was adamant about, it was to get Squirt to get used to sleeping in his own bed for naps and not be carried all the time. It was hard initially (he was used to napping in the bouncer or being held), but it pays of really well in the end.

There were no tricks – just persistence and consistency. 

He stopped crying 3 minutes later. I smiled my biggest smile – surprised that it worked so quickly. It turned out that the Nanny had picked him up without my knowledge. Grrrroooowwwwwl. I imagined that she found it difficult to hear a crying baby and probably thought that I was abusing my child by ignoring him. I wasn’t – I was just giving him 10 minutes!  

My effort had been undermined. Squirt was now happy being carried and was wide awake. Fat chance that he would go down for a nap immediately. I was livid.

Lesson learnt: always inform the Nanny/minder that you are sleep training and that she is not supposed to interfere!