napping

Our single biggest challenge with Joseph is probably napping.  For two people who value sleep as much as we do, I’m surprised our child isn’t more of a natural at it.  Fortunately sleeping through the night is rarely a problem, but napping is and always has been with him.

Conventional wisdom, as far as I can tell, says that if you run the kid around a lot all day and tire him out, and stick to a good routine when putting him down for a nap, you’ll increase the chances of success.  I am starting to think that the correlation between activity and routine and nap success is not that great with Joseph. 

We have an excellent routine that we stick to pretty well:  lunch, exercise, quiet song, diaper change, milk, nap.  He knows the routine well, knows what is coming next, and knows that it is time to sleep when he goes into the crib.  But he just doesn’t sleep two or three times a week.

As far as staying active, I usually run him around a lot.  There are days when we have been outside and very active all day and I am certain he will pass out when we get home, but he often doesn’t. 

The clincher, and the reason I find myself thinking about it now, is that yesterday and today were two of the laziest days we’ve had since I started staying home, and both days he has napped extremely well.  He has been sleeping well at night, everything else has been consistent, but between the rain and having some errands to do we just haven’t been very active or done anything outside.  But to my surprise he has conked out quickly and slept soundly both days.