On Memorial Day weekend and since I had 3 days off, it was the best opportunity to nap train Niko in his bedroom. Right now, he naps and sleeps overnight in the crib in our bedroom. When he masters this new challenge (which should be a few weeks), we will do night training in his bedroom.
Nina was very apprehensive about doing this and I totally understand. Every time I inquired about it, she cried; she likes having him with us and being able to hear him. I don’t have those type of emotions as I know it will be helpful to everybody. That is why I took ownership of the situation (just like I did when we moved Niko from the bed to the crib for nighttime in our bedroom). I actually told Nina she may want to leave the house for his 1st nap on Saturday (she did, but unfortunately she did hear some really loud screams).
So, I knew he would cry, but I also knew that eventually, he would figure it out and know that dad isn’t coming to rescue him.
On Saturday for nap 1, I put him in the pack and play at 9:57am and he cried for 20 minutes. A few minutes after I put him, Jehovah’s Witnesses rang our doorbell; I am serious. We don’t live in a major city or in a cookie cutter neighborhood. We live by a lake and we don’t mingle with the neighbors; and most of the people in our neighborhood have guns (it is Texas). At 10:30am, he stopped crying and sat up and started to fall asleep. I was watching him and you could see his eyes shut and he kept waking himself not to fall down…so cute! Then, it happened; he layed down and fell asleep. I am so proud of him. I will tell you that this is the 1st time he has slept in the pack and play; he did do naked tummy time when he was younger in it. He woke up at 11:50am.
For nap 2 on Saturday, I put him in the pack and play at 3pm and he cried for less than 30 seconds. Two hours later, I had to wake him up! And, for the first time in a very long time, I decided to take a nap in my bedroom instead of the air mattress in his room and it was awesome and I will do it more these days. It was extremely relaxing for me because I haven’t been feeling well since last Wednesday (I was already feeling better on Saturday). Something I ate didn’t agree with my stomach.
After further review of his naps on Saturday, I think it was the 1st time where both naps were longer than an hour. I don’t know if it was because he woke up really early or because his bedroom is a little bit darker than ours. I think was it was a combination of all.
On Sunday, he woke up at 8:30am and I put him down for a nap at 11am. I didn’t hear any crying when I left and he went to sleep immediately. At 12:30pm, he woke up. For the 2nd nap, I put him down at 3:25 and he just layed down with his eyes open (no crying) for about 50 minutes and then he fell asleep till 5pm. So, even though he probably only slept for 30 minutes, I was very pleased because he didn’t cry in his crib; he was just relaxing.
Because Saturday and Sunday went very well, I was tempted to start night training, but I didn’t. I really want to see how he does alone with mom during the week. So, nighttime may start earlier than I had planned.
I put him down Monday for nap 1 at 9:57am and again he layed down immediately with his eyes open. At 10:10am, he fell asleep. He woke up at 11:30. An 80 minute nap! Awesome! Nina put down for his 2nd nap at 2:30 and he got up at 4pm.
Overall, he did fantastic and I know that the pack and play pad isn’t as comfy as the crib mattress; so I will be starting nighttime training on Friday in the crib.
