NITE NITE

Okay, they is more to getting your child to nap well then just a schedule.

Depending on how old he or she is, I suggest the following that worked for me.

0 to 2 months: Doesn't really matter, she will fall asleep easily and will sleep anywhere.

2 - 3 months:

• Start getting them used to their crib. Once they have fallen asleep, don't leave them where they dozed off, in the middle of your bed, surrounded by pillows. Or on the floor in the boppy. Don't carry them around in your arms. They should get used to waking up in the crib, so they are more comfortable with the surroundings and will go to sleep more easily there.

• Don't use the crib as a play pen. If the only thing he or she does in the crib is sleep, she will get the idea of what it is for and why she's in there quicker. If she plays in there as well, she may not know she is supposed to go to sleep when you put her in there.

• Music.
• Turn the CD player on to REPEAT ALL and not as softly as you think. It isn't there to make her go to asleep as much as keep her asleep. She becomes accustomed to the noise, and sleeping through it (I recommend changing CDs every week so she doesn't depend on one). This should allow you to put away the dishes, answer the phone, get some stuff done without being afraid of waking the baby.

• Have a baby that wakes up when you transfer them from your arms to the crib? Or out of your arms to anything? Before you give her the bottle that is going to put her to sleep or nurse her, wrap her in a blanket. Not necessarily swaddle, but have a blanket around her. When you go to put her down later, the warm blanket will still be around her and it eases the transition. Otherwise, you go from warm arms to cold sheets and yeah, I would probably wake up too.
  

• Feed them to sleep. I know you are trying to get onto a feeding a schedule, but topping off the tank before a nap will help them drift off and a full tummy stays asleep longer. You can work it into a feeding schedule.

3 - 6 months: (After 6 months, your napping pattern is pretty much the same)

This is where I had trouble. I finally got the schedule down and it helped me tremendously. Luckily, I was able to feed Joey to sleep, nursing worked best. If not, I think I might have become a rocker (someone who has to rock their babies to sleep - a great way to spoil them). The other good thing about giving them a bottle before nap time is it will later be replaced by snack time in a well balanced daily nutritional schedule (3 meals, 2 snacks & a bottle before bed). There is no need to break the habit.

• Schedule. See previous sleep entry for more. This is the most important thing, as they get older, to good napping.

• Find her lovey. Figure out what will be her teddy bear, security blanket... whatever. She will probably not take to the first thing you try. There is a difference between something she loves and wants to PLAY with, and something she loves and wants to cuddle to sleep with. Joey kept pulling down the soft Afghan that Mom-Mom made her that hung on the side of her crib. She would bury her face in it, stick her fingers in her mouth, and go to sleep. But a blanket that big, deep & soft could be a suffocation hazard. So Mom-Mom made another one for her, just like it, only the size of a dish towel. We now have several, and so do the grandmas. She LOVES her lovey.

• When she has decided upon a lovey, it should never leave the crib. It is a sleeping device. If you need to use it in the car, okay, but the point is it's for sleepy purposes only. LINUS WAS NOT CUTE, dragging that thing everywhere.
  

• Last, but not least. I feel almost stupid mentioning it, as it goes without saying, but I'll say it anyways. A clean diaper, please.

Now that we have the scenario set, we can talk about putting a fully awake baby down for a nap... on the next entry.