Nap time blues (and a swimming lesson)

Up until a few weeks ago, Evan took most all of his naps in his swing.  We'd put him in the swing, with a thin Aden and Anais blanket and his pacifier, and he'd soothe himself to sleep pretty easily.  When we were in Australia, it took us awhile to get him to nap, but we got him used to napping in a bouncer chair (with vibration) with all of his closest furry friends (stuffed animals) looking over him.  We initially tried the crib in Australia, but he was never willing to nap there.  He cried and cried and just fought sleep so hard that he never fell asleep.

At his six-month check up the doctor asked us to start having him nap in a crib or pack n' play (a portacot) to avoid using the swing as a crutch.   We knew it was probably a bad thing to let him nap in the swing for too much longer, if anything because he probably wouldn't fit in the swing much longer!  Thus, we tried the pack n' play one day and I had flashbacks to when we tried his nap in the crib in Australia.  Thus, I decided to do a transition from the moving swing to the motionless rocking chair (again with vibration, so in many ways similar to his bouncer in Australia).  This took a day or so for him to get used to, but then it became his new nap spot.  And even though he would fuss before falling asleep those first days in the rocker chair, he finally gave in to sleep.

We probably would have kept the rocker as his new nap spot for longer than just a few weeks, but on Wednesday our daycare provider had a surprise inspection by childcare safety services.  This was just a regular yearly inspection, and it just happened to fall on the day Evan was in her care.  Though she said she didn't get in trouble for it, she was told she needed a doctor's note to let a baby Evan's age sleep anywhere other than a flat surface (crib, pack n' play, or even a safe spot on the floor). She had been letting him nap in a swing or rocker chair per our request, but in order to obey the childcare inspector's rules, she now puts him down on his floor mat for his naps.  And, of course, he has not been napping well for her at all.

I told our daycare provider that I would work with Evan this weekend to try getting him to nap in his crib, and yesterday was day one of the battle.  Now if I had written this post last night I would've had a very surprisingly positive spin on this story, refraining from even calling it a battle.  He took two naps in his crib, and for both he fussed for about 15 minutes (never cried too hard), and then fell asleep on his own.  The first one he even rolled onto his tummy and was looking at the animals on his crib sheet right before putting his head down and falling asleep.  I was pretty nervous having him sleep on his stomach, so I checked in on him several times, but he slept for an hour and a half that way!

After two good nap experiences in his crib yesterday I was optimistic about today.  However, we were running errands this morning and didn't get back before his nap time (we had to go to an extra store than planned in order to get swim diapers, since Walmart was out).  Thus, he fell asleep in his car seat, and only slept about 30 minutes.  When it came time for his early afternoon nap, I put him down in his crib and again he fussed for about 10-15 minutes, and then seemed to have fallen asleep.  However, just a few short minutes later he was crying, and this time the crying only escalated.  I could see via the video monitor he was okay, but he was definitely not happy.  I wanted to push the envelope with him and let him go for maybe another 15 minutes to see if he'd tire himself to sleep.  The short answer was no.  How long are you really supposed to let the crying go on for "sleep training" anyway?  At this point, I felt that I had to go console him a bit, and when I got there I could see my poor boy's face was all red, his eyes puffy, and his nose area was all snotty.  He was seriously unhappy, and it broke my heart.  So instead of making it a short visit (as the training methods suggest), I picked him up and cradled him and wiped his face clean.  Then I rocked him a bit and put him back.  He continued to cry (pretty hard still) for another 15 minutes.  I was about to give in and just call this nap a wash (as it was already an hour after the nap was supposed to have started and nearing his next feeding time), when he just suddenly stopped.   A quick check on the video monitor and my little fella was sleeping!  At last...at LONG last!  He slept for about 40 minutes before waking up pretty angry, but at least it was something!  Nonetheless, he had fussed and cried for nearly the same amount of time as he slept.  Is it always this hard?

At that point I had to feed him and get him ready for his first swim lessons.  I was awfully nervous taking him to something new on such little sleep, but he did alright.  He was a bit cranky at the beginning; possibly from being tired, possibly from being cold in the water.  Once he got used to the temperature and they handed out little ducky toys for him to "swim" toward and play with, he was better.  He floated really well (with help), and even though we tried to avoid it, he even drank some of the water (when he was "swimming" to get the ducky he'd drop his face down to the water with his mouth open...like he wanted to drink it!).

Evan "swimming" to get ducky.

I'm sure I'll have more swimming stories to share in the future, as this was just the first day of a six-week class every Sunday.  But for now, I'll finish this post by saying what happened after swim lessons.  We came home and I was feeding him, and low and behold my tired little guy fell asleep.  He was such an angel snuggled up in my arms, and I was just glad he was finally getting some good and relaxing sleep so I let him be.  After awhile I passed him over to John, so that I could get some dinner, and that's where he is still sleeping now (an hour and a half later).  Sure, this isn't the best place for him to nap either, but he needs the sleep and it feels good to comfort him after a day full of struggles getting him to nap.