Toddler Nap Time Mayhem

Happy Monday everyone!

Oh the joys of being a stay at home parent when you no longer have Fridays and Monday's are just like any other day.

So here recently, my soon to be 2 year old, who used to always love nap time and was SO easy to put to bed has started his sleep regression. As moms this is something we fear every few months! "Is my baby going to fight sleep this month? Am I EVER going to get them down for bed?" This is me this month and I want to cry ha ha.. I've been told I'm very lucky to have a kid that loves to sleep, but let me tell you... if he doesn't get his sleep he is one cranky toddler and bedtime becomes a battle. So what do you do when your toddler fights naps and then bedtime is like World War III ? I go through all the "mom steps" as I call them. We've started doing bath time twice a day now which sometimes gets him to sleep, if I'm lucky. I've also started letting him take a toy to bed. As crazy as this may sound it works. 9 times out of 10 he ends up dropping the toy for the bottle. If this method doesn't work then there's always plan B. Let him talk it out, and no this is not crying it out. He will literally talk himself to sleep most times. If all else fails after 30 minutes of trying to get him down for nap time I'll bring him in the room with me for snuggles. I mean, at least he's(we) are getting some downtime right? Bedtimes are a whole other ball game. I try all the "mom steps" mentioned for nap time excluding snuggle time. Usually I won't know he's not asleep until like 30 minutes after I've put him down, so instead of getting upset I will get him out of bed(change of scenery I feel is good.) I change his diaper, give him some kisses, turn off the lights, put him down for bed and give him a bottle. Last night, this worked for me with no fuss. Sometimes there's a bit of fuss but he will usually settle down after a few minutes and take his bottle. Ah, the bottle battle. What if your child refuses to take a bottle and you know he won't go to sleep without it? Well, I walk out of the room, my son knows i'm serious then (or so I tell myself.) I'll go back in after a minute and he USUALLY takes it or we repeat the steps again until he gets the point that i'm serious about bedtime. By midnight I hope to have some rest, if not its a lost cause and there's coffee downstairs. Just means I can sleep in until 9 maybe..(if i'm lucky) ;]

I hope everyone has a great Monday!