When Client One was a baby I was a working mom so I did whatever I could at night to get her to go to sleep so I could sleep. I had to get up at about 5:00 in the morning. Nursing or her bottle was the fastest and most effective way to get her to go to sleep. She went down at nap every day with a bottle. Even after I stopped breastfeeding, she got a bottle at naptime and bedtime. The child took a bottle until she was two. Then, I had had enough of the bottle, so we threw them all away. She would cry and throw a fit and it took hours, literally, to get her down every night for about a week. Naps weren't much better. Then, it got a little better. Then, she would relapse. We would snuggle her and rub her back and all that good stuff and she finally got back into a good bedtime routine. Now, she is bottle-free but naptime and bedtime are still a battle. She wants snuggles and back rubs and stories and snacks. Unless she is just exhausted by her day, nap time is borderline chaos.
When Client Two was born I was determined to do it right. Client Two has a much calmer personality than Client One which, honestly, has probably made it easier. When he was a little baby I would put him down solidly asleep but that was before he started falling into his schedule. Now his nap times are much more predictable. He goes down for his morning nap about 9:30/10:00 and his afternoon nap about 12:30/1:00. When I start to sense his sleepiness I give him a good feeding to make sure his tummy will be full enough so he can sleep a good hour or two. I make sure he gives a good burp, then I change him into a dry diaper. This not only makes sure he remains comfy for his nap but it also wakes him up a little if he drifts off while eating. Finally, I lay him down in his crib with his paci and I leave the room. He occasionally fusses, but we've been doing this routine for about a week now, so he pretty much just lies there and slowly drifts off. The hardest part of morning nap is trying to keep Client One quiet so he doesn't wake up. Sometimes, I just happen to be doing dishes around his afternoon nap time, and the dishwasher puts him to sleep. So, after I feed him I let him hang out in the kitchen with me and he's out like a light. (Client One takes a nap at the same so he doesn't actually have to be in his crib behind a shut door.)
I think I probably learned more from the mistakes I made when Client One was a baby than I did from stuff I did right. (Did I do anything right? I'm sure there were some things...) And you can learn from my mistakes, too! Luckily, I get a second chance. Hopefully, there won't be as many mistakes this time around!
(But I'm not holding my breath!)
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