Saturday, December 31, 2011
The Drill Sergeant
So, apparently this is my new nickname given by my husband. He says it in good humor, referring to my over-the-top scheduling ways. In all seriousness, this is something I am struggling with. I read lots of books while pregnant and I had planned to keep the boys on a schedule, but not be too rigid. But I am starting to question the "not too rigid" part. I basically follow this routine every day: they wake up at 6:30am, eat, play for 1 hour (or as long as they can tolerate), take a nap and then we start over 3 hours later with the same feed-play-nap routine (based on the book Baby Wise). For the most part, it has worked well. The boys nap in their cribs and know when we go into their room and it's dark it means sleepy time. There are a few challenges with this. 1) it creates 4 naps a day which I have to work around; and 2) they are so used to their schedule and routine that when I want to take them somewhere, they aren't quite sure what's going on. I want to be able to go visit friends 2 hours away, go to restaurants, do some of the things that I enjoyed, but it always seems like too much trouble and I feel like I'm messing them up, so I tend to kind of be a "homebody." I have tried to go places and have them sleep in their pack n' play. Most of the time it has been a huge failure (partially because I think one pack n' play is too small for them and it's such close quarters among two noisy sleepers), but mostly they look around like, "where the heck am I?" On Christmas Eve, one of my guys decided to go into a 45 minute scream fest. I have not seen him do that since he was like 2 months old. I still don't really know what caused it. I think the combination of being somewhere weird, overstimulation (a thousand gifts/decorations), tired (it was the witching hour afterall). Bottom line is that I was seriously ready to pack my bags and leave. He was miserable, I was miserable and I'm pretty sure no one wanted to listen to that screaming during Christmas Eve dinner. So what I am getting at is that for the 90% of the time when we are home, having a structured schedule/routine works well. It's the 10% I am struggling with when I actually want to go out in the world. I kind of feel like the only way to make them more "adaptable" is to get them out more, but there is a part of me that thinks it's just not worth the headache and that pretty soon they will only be having 2-3 naps a day and can tolerate staying up longer, so just wait it out and it will get easier as they get older. What do you think? Does it get easier? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
It does get easier, I promise. We started out using Baby wise, but Aiden had colic and reflux so we ended up just following his lead on things. He is 4 months now and is finally figuring his napping out. He does 3-4 naps a day still, but they are getting shorter. Babies definitely get used to a certain routine. The best advice I can give you is to hang in there and stick to your schedule. They will become better travelers as they get older.
ReplyDeleteIt is tough early on when they have so many naps. At around 5 months I had them down to 3 daily naps, and I could get in a SHORT trip in during their wakeful not eating phase. I have to say, though, that I didn't get out much either. The routine was GOOD. It meant that I got rest, they were calm and happy, and all was well with the world. Short trips to local stores/the park/play dates gave them plenty of stimulus. When they got a little older and their 3 naps condensed to 2, then I got to get out for longer trips.
ReplyDeleteI would invest in a second pack n play. I had an expensive one I used mostly at home that was a registry gift, but I picked up a cheapo one just for naps on the go. I would go to my mom's or my sister's house and set up both pack n plays in a quiet room, bring their night light, blankies, and sleepy time music and they would sleep like at home. My hubby and I were able to enjoy a few great parties that way. I even brought my son's swing along when that was all he was sleeping in. That is the BEST part about a good routine, once you have one, they slip right into it as long as conditions are good.
You are ROCKING this mom thing!
ReplyDeleteIt's certain to get easier. And, like people are saying, the solid routine is much less constraining than a catch-as-catch can pattern where you don't know when someone will be hungry or sleepy. As I read your post, I was thinking, "Wow! She's so well rested that she wants to go places!"
I hope things continue to go well and that your guys get more travel-ready soon.
Hats off to you twin moms! It sounds like, all in all, it's going really well. I'm so glad!
ReplyDelete