too cool for school (naps)

Oliver's typical naps at school are 30-40 minutes. Sometimes there are two, sometimes three. Sometimes he teases us and sleeps over an hour, but that's rare. Sometimes, like today, he has a 20 minute nap.

In contrast, we have a fairly nice weekend nap routine. I can usually get a 90 minute nap early in the morning, another hour or so around noonish, and a third nap later in the afternoon. This started working even better when I began swaddling him for naps, like they do at school. Swaddling never worked for us before, not even when he was just home from the hospital. I'm not sure what is different now but it's working. I do leave his right arm free so he can have his thumb, which is frequently the key to happiness.

I have a few theories on why he naps so much better at home. First and foremost, we can let him fuss mid-nap and that's a bit difficult in the nap room at school. At home he may fuss for a minute and go back to sleep. At school though, there may be other napping kids nearby. His teachers don't have the luxury of letting him fuss and put himself back to sleep, in most cases.

Another theory is that school is interesting while home and parents are boring. I very much hope I'm wrong about this one but the first morning nap really tells the story. Oliver is frequently sleepy when we arrive at school. One look at his teachers and the toys and he's suddenly wide awake and ready to play. Sometimes it is an hour or more before he goes down for a nap.

Finally, I think he may be so exhausted from not napping well during the week that he conks out on weekends.

I sincerely hope the holiday break, and lots of good naps, become a habit he takes back to school in January.

And in related news, Oliver went seven hours without eating last night. He didn't sleep that entire time but he also wasn't starving when I fed him either. I really think he's ready to be sleeping through the night but the nighttime feedings have become a habit for him. Inspired by a recent post on dadcentric, we are going to try having CD help him get back to sleep during those night wakings. Perhaps after a few nights of scratchy beard instead of boob, he will give up and let us all sleep. Wish us luck.