Nap Nightmares

Sleep has always been a battle for us.

It was a battle with Liam.  Liam didn't nap out of my arms until he was 4 months old.  Then he didn't nap longer than 30 minutes until he was nearly 9 months old.  Then before Ben was born, sometime around Liam turing 18 months, he started to take 3 hours to fall asleep for a nap and would wake up and scream for 30-60 minutes.  He stopped napping reliably sometime shortly after Ben was born.  He'd nap for a couple weeks then would refuse a nap for 3 months straight.  He generally went into his room for a nap okay and would stay there for 1 hour or so.  I gave up trying when he turned 3 and both of us are happier now. 

Liam's nighttime sleep was no better.  When he was a newborn, sleep seemed promising.  He only woke every 2-3 hours and went right back to sleep.  Then he started to spread out his feedings.  By 2 months, he was reliably going about 7-8 hours at night.  Right before 4 months, he slept 12 hours straight twice.  Then he turned 4 months, and didn't sleep through the night again for 8 months.  Between 4 months and 12 months, we'd be inj his room as often as 12 times a night.  Usually from 8-10pm, we were in there 4-6 times.  Then from 10pm until 6am, we were in there once every 90 minutes or so.  At 12 months, he started sleeping through the night, but it was short lived.  During my pregnancy with Ben, he'd wake at night and play alone in his crib for 2-3 hours.  He didn't need us to get him back to sleep, but he was only sleeping 6-8 hours at night (and remember naps were a struggle).  Sometime around 2.5, he started sleeping through the night.  Now he gets about 10 hours of sleep a night.

If I thought Liam's sleep was bad, I was in for a rude awakening with Ben.  Ben never napped.  Until about 6 months old, his "naps" consisted of 5-15 snoozes.  By 7 months old, he was actually napping but only took one nap a day.  Since about 15 months, he'll only nap about 3 or 4 times a week and often then only for 30 to 60 minutes.  But he doesn't lay in his crib, he screams.  If Dave is home and rocks him, he falls asleep, but he simply won't sleep for me.  If you have followed my blog, you know that Ben didn't sleep at night.  Unlike Liam, he didn't want to nurse, he just wanted to scream in pain.  He was up from 1am until 3 or 4am most nights and often up for the day between 4 and 5am.  When we maxed out his Prilosec dosage, he began sleeping through the night.  He also sleeps about 10 hours a day.  If he does nap, he screams for 1-2 hours after waking up.  If he doesn't nap, he requires me to hold him non-stop from 3pm until he goes to beed, often crying and repeating "walk walk" and screaming if I don't comply.

Today he fell asleep with his white noise machine on full blast.  Sammy was on another floor of the house and meowed and Ben woke up demanded "kitty" and despite rocking, nursing, and being left alone will not fall back to sleep.  My back has been in screaming agony for a week.  I cannot stand straight.  I need Ben to rest so I can get a break from carrying  him.  I am so tired of the nap battles.  I have struggled for 3 and half years trying to find peace with my sleep situation and it hasn't happened.  If Ben doesn't nap, I am punished with listening to him randomly scream for the rest of the day, and if he does I need to spend 2-3 hour rocking, nursing, shushing to get him to sleep, and then to keep him asleep I need to make sure Liam doeesn't talk, no cats meow, no one calls the house, no one flushes a toilet, no one uses any appliances, and no one watches TV or listens to any music....and then I get 45 minutes of "peace."  There has GOT to be a better way.