Just Sleeeeeeeep!!!

This is what I keep thinking when I am listening to Ben cry before his naps. I think "Just go to sleep, please, you are soooo tired!"

Until Wednesday someone had rocked Ben to sleep for every single one of his naps since he was about two weeks old. That was the time when we figured out that Benjamin hated laying on his back because the reflux hurt worse in that position. So to over come the pain, we held him upright, against our bodies, and we rocked. Rocked, and rocked, and rocked to sleep. It is wonderful, after all, to snuggle up to a baby, hold it tight and rock back and forth.

After finally getting Ben on the correct medication, his esophagus has healed and he has simultaneously outgrown most of his reflux problems. It has come time for my baby to nap in his crib.

There is no sneaking this one to the crib asleep... if he had a super-human ability it would be detecting the feel of downward motion five seconds before it occurs. No matter how 'asleep' he is when napping he wakes up crying right before you put him in the crib. It doesn't matter if he was rocked in the living room and you have to walk him forty feet to the crib or if you rocked him one step away, he always wakes up.

Benjamin is such a 'big' boy in so many ways. He has tackled milestones early and he is a very happy child. So you would think this transition could be pretty simple. But, no, simple it is not. Even if he is super duper tired, he does not want to fall asleep in that crib during the day (we finally have a good routine established at night.)

I don't know that the details are necessary, but he ends up crying a lot. At least so far this has been the case. We are on day 5 and finally seeing slight improvement. I've been told that nap 'training' is harder than night sleep training, so I'm not too worried yet. But, Ben, please go to sleep! Take your nap and you will be so much happier afterward. You are crying because you are tired, so let's solve this problem! I wish there was an easy way to explain this to him. Maybe I should show him... Lord knows I could take a long nap!