You guys. I have been quiet around here because I feel like as SOON as I put this into legitimate word writings, it will disappear. Like when Britney was all “Slave 4 U” in her matching denim outfits with Justin in public…. POOF Justin’s all, “what comes around goes around”. Whatever, you get it.
Ok I’m going to say it.
Hold your breath.
Ready?
RUBY IS NAPPING.
Wait, I need to say it again. And better.
RUBY IS NAPPING FOR A LONG TIME.
EVERY DAY.
Guys, I did it. And guess what? NO CRYING INVOLVED.
And LOOK how happy we are about it
Ok I know you’re dying to know. Remember when I wrote this post about G’s napping and how I figured it all out? And 2 years later with baby #2 I write this post saying how that post was bullshit because it didn’t work and I hate myself? Well NOW I’m writing this post saying that the last post was wrong and the post before that was right so this is a post saying how I was wrong about saying that I was wrong and I’m really right.
I mean.
yeah.
Let’s back up.
On my toddlercation, it was my MISSION to get Ruby to sleep. I tried paci, I tried no paci, I tried 2 hours of awake time, I tried 1.5 hours of awake time. I tried nursing to sleep. I tried not nursing to sleep. I tried putting her in her crib awake. I tried putting her in passed out. Nothing was working. We were on 25 minute cat naps every day.
I skyped with my sleep lady.
She’s like: Ok what’s going on?
Me: ican’tdoitanymore! Rubyneversleepsandi’mgoingtodieandGhatesmeandi’msotiredandihavetocookallthethingsandshe’sovertiredandjusttellmewhattodo?!
SL: Um
Me: TELLMEWHATTODOLADY!
And then we went over for hours and hours what could work and what may not work. And here’s the thing guys, I just wanted her to be like, do this and this and put her to bed at this time and bam, sleep. But it’s not like that. Because it’s so shitty but really? Every baby is different. I KNOW IT’S SO CRUEL. They all come from the baby store with no instructions, which is rude enough on it’s own. But now it’s like grab bag of babies. You have to figure it out. Regardless, sleep lady gave me a plan to try. But she was clear that naps are a bitch whore and that whore is nasty and just wants to be paid. Or something.
But this time? It didn’t work. It STILL DIDN’T WORK. Her plan was to try a shorter period of awake time and a long soothing period to calm her down. Sounds good but didn’t work.
So I stopped everything. I cleared my head. I reminded myself that in every major mom problem that I’ve faced, I trusted my gut. And it’s usually worked. My gut was telling me that it wasn’t how she was being put to sleep it was when. And then I remembered the G post. The first G post. I tried it again.
The idea of what worked with G was stretching his awake time. It goes against all logic and every sleep book. But I tried it.
Morning nap we did 3 hours of awake time. We were at 2. And you know what? That child slept for an hour. I got mildly excited but didn’t believe anything anymore.
Afternoon nap I did another 3 hours of awake time. SHE SLEPT FOR 2 HOURS.
Because of all the sleep we skipped the 3rd nap and she went to sleep at normal bed time. I should remind you all that we have a few night wake ups still. And if she doesn’t wake up, I set my alarm to feed her. We have some feeding issues that I’ll talk to you about another time.
But guys, this was huge.
Next day, same thing.
NEXT day SAME THING
We were now officially dropping the 3rd nap, extending awake time and she was sleeping like a champ.
The one thing the sleep lady taught me was that when a kid wakes up from a nap, after 30 minutes or really any time. They are usually up. It’s very difficult for them to go back to sleep. And she was right. So I knew this child needed to be tired enough to get through that 30 minute arousal.
Here is our routine broken down for you so you can try it. Don’t ass slap me if it doesn’t work. It didn’t work for us 2 months ago. I think she just had to be a little older. So for the record RUBY IS 6 MONTHS OLD.
Morning wake up 630-730 First nap 10/1030- Around 10:15 change diaper, get in our Baby Merlin’s Magic Sleepsuit
(LOVE that thing…it’s a swaddle transitioner), turn down lights, nurse in our chair until very sleepy. Give paci and ghosty (literally the perfect lovey
Wake up around 11- Sleep lady says don’t wake them but I’ve had to for various G outings and it’s been fine.
Second nap 2/230- Same exact routine as first nap.
Wakes 330-4 (!!!!)
Bed time 730/8. Routine is the same but with a bath thrown in the mix and NO paci. I know it seems counter intuitive. But the way their baby brains process night and day sleep is different. She doesn’t wake up 200 times crying for the paci anymore at night because it’s not there to begin with.
And that my friends is our success story.
Please slice my face open when I come back in a week and say it doesn’t work anymore and I’m kicking myself for putting this on the internet. But I know that lots of you are in the same boat. So if you have a 6 month old +, try it.
I’ll be sitting here without any kids for 30 more minutes. Because they are sleeping. THEY ARE SLEEEEEEPING
ASKDF;ALKDJSF;ALKDSJF;KALSJF;KASJDF’J
xoxo
MODG
Hi I’m MODG. But you can call me MODG. You say it like Modg, like a Grandma name. Not like M.O.D.G. That’s a lot of syllables and I don’t have that kind of time. 
