Yep! Guess what I am going to talk about now? Sleep! Ha!
So the sleep is going rather poorly again (still), and I find myself contemplating further action. It seems that her sleep just cycles through tough times and better times, however, so it is definitely tempting to just ride it out. I think it is very clear by now that 1)she is not an easy sleeper and 2) she does not need as much sleep as we might wish. We have to keep reminding ourselves of these things. I really don't think we can change them, at least the latter one, anyway.
Lets start with the good -- she is going to sleep at night easier, and quicker. She goes to sleep without nursing with Daddy quite often, and if we time it right (catching that window between 7-7:30 usually, when she is sleepy but not yet getting a second wind) she will fall asleep within 30 minutes. We still have to stay with her to help her fall asleep, but we are fine with that.
Nighttime sleep is sometimes okay (as in 2-3 brief wakeups) but more often not so great, with more like 6-8 or so. I think this is partly teething -- she just got her first two molars in. However, I am (again) seriously thinking of nightweaning. I am encouraged by the fact that she can fall asleep so easily for Lonnie. However, it is going to take a few hard nights, and since we still would prefer to cosleep, it means all of us will have to deal with it. More on this in the near future, perhaps.
And now, to the same old problem -- NAPS! Still a huge issue! She has now, like many of her peers, transitioned to one nap a day, instead of two. However, unlike her peers, she is not consolidating sleep, just eliminating it -- her one nap is still 40 minutes long like clockwork. She cannot make it through that one sleep cycle and on to the next, so she wakes up fully and is ready to play. I know she could use more, because if we are in the car she will stir after that 40 minutes and then go back to sleep -- sometimes 3 times! She has napped in the car for 3 hours, when it was moving. Occasionally I can get her back for another 20 or so by getting up to her quickly and nursing her back down, but that is rare.
Often her one nap is in the morning, too, so she is awake from 11 o'clock on, until her bedtime at 7:30. That is a LONG stretch for her and for me! She definitely gets pretty crabby by the end of the day, right, of course, when I am trying to fix dinner. But that seems like a pretty universal issue with young kids, napping well or not. She will often melt down, and if I nurse her then she will falls asleep at 5 or 6ish. Right before dinner. Lame! This has pretty much been the routine now for 4-5 months, which is frustrating when I hear of others who has this 2-1 nap phase pass within a week or two. Come on Emma, lets see some longer sleeping!
One thing I have not tried, but am going to starting today, is to sneak up to her room after 35 minutes and lie down with her, so that when she wakes from the first sleep cycle, she can be comforted by my presence and maybe fall back to sleep. I have read somewhere (The No Cry Sleep Solution, perhaps?) that you might initially have to nurse/comfort her back to sleep, but then just be there, and eventually she will learn to get through it herself. Not counting on it, that is for sure, but I'll give it a shot.
My only saving grace, and the reason I am still a sane person (mostly) is that Emma is becoming quite an independent player. Hallaluia! She can play with her various toys, wandering around the living room, climbing repeatedly on and off our bench and chair, pushing her carts and wagons around, moving her little poeple from here to there, for 45 minutes at a time, or longer! It is pretty impressive. Now, why haven't I gotten that to-do list completed, that is the question...
