The Death of Naptime

Our two-year-old didn’t really sleep through the night until he was over one, but something I could usually count on was some sort or break while he napped.

Around age two, when our newest was only two months old, he decided naps were no longer necessary. He started banging and screaming. We went to soothe him, and then it carried into his bedtime sleep, a ferocious disdain for sleepy time. It was awful for us. Thankfully this was during a time when we were transitioning from one downstairs neighbor to another.

I did lots of reading and decided to ignore the screaming that had swallowed up every moment between soothings, and I decided to not soothe. I did the usual nap routine, making sure he had a drink and a fresh diaper and his favorite cow pillow and array of blankets… I did our secret handshake/ highfive from the Trolls movie and I put him down.

I left and shut the door behind me and the screaming was deafening and immediate, and I grabbed a cup of coffee, sat down, felt like a monster, and waited it out. Within two days he had discontinued his fight with nap time. He was my human son again. He didn’t awaken angry with him for the tears he’d cry alone either. He emerged from his room, chattered away and played with his toys…business as usual.

This week it started again and we reverted to soothing. Today we didn’t do it, and he fell asleep, probably within twenty minutes. Nap time has died a few times, but we will continue to rescusitate it, and bring it back. its my tiny moment to breathe, even if I have our now five-month-old baby in our lap, and its an opportunity for our two-year-old to get some much-needed sleep.

Reclaiming naptime has been my best parenting so far. It was difficult to hear my baby cry, but it was beneficial to both of us in the grand scheme of things.