Mama in the City

I know how easy it is to fall into that trap of being hyper aware of your child's sleep patterns. Every disturbance becomes something you fret over and sleep cycles are obsessed over. We were those parents for the first 14+ months of our baby boys life. I know that sleep rules everything and when children sleep well, the whole house is happy! When nighttime wakings and early morning starts become the norm, life is truly a little bit more difficult. Our boy Ben is currently on a hiatus from his usual sleep patterns. I say 'hiatus' because I am hopeful and positive that this is a phase. At least, that makes it easier on my mental state which is currently altered by night shift lack of sleep.

Ben has now started giving up the need for his reliable daily afternoon naps. We had a pretty good run of solid blissful sleep, so we shouldn't complain too much, but the lack of afternoon naps still hurts a little. He used to go down at 1 PM and wake after 2-3 hours of quiet sleep. We relied on that chunk of sleep so I could recover from night shifts, my husband could work from home and we all could just decompress.

I knew it was only a matter of time before he grew out of his need for a three hour afternoon marathon nap. I knew that I was incredibly fortunate to have a child that had a predictable lengthy sleep in the middle of the day. I know friends who have little ones that gave up all naps very early on, and others that will only nap if being pushed in their stroller. However, the change of sleep patterns is still a bit of a sting!

Ben is now 29 months old and goes to bed around 7 PM and wakes anywhere from 5 AM to 7 AM. He is gradually giving up his afternoon naps and we are in denial.





Playing with his robot block puzzle instead of having an afternoon nap.