I can’t figure it out: When it comes to parents of young children, is sleep the number one topic of conversation, or is it food? We have these discussions all the time, with friends, family, strangers, the Internet, and they’re all the same:
Parent: My baby sleeps poorly.
Other parent: My baby sleeps well. You should try what I do.
Parent: Maybe I will. [Exits, never tries it.]
Anyway, here’s my issue, and while I don’t expect there to be any simple solution, I do expect you all to come up with clever, wise ideas for me to ignore. The problem is this: Sasha’s naptime is cutting into her social life.
That is, she sleeps, and sleeps well, every day from about 12:30 or 1 to 3. Really, that’s pretty fantastic, and on many days it gives us a welcome respite from “Yo Gabba Gabba!” and marathon drawing sessions. But on weekends, we keep wanting to go out, do playdates with other kids, explore the world, and yet Sasha will, more often than not, conk out during the most popular visiting hours. I’m happy she’s well-rested, but there’s more to toddler life than a good nap.
Speaking of which, it’s time for my midmorning snooze.
My 16-month-old daughter sleeps in late – she’s never up before 8:30am and usually more like 9:30 or 10am. Now this is an amazing gift and I’d be insane to complain about it (but here I go) – every swimming lesson, gymnastics class, or free concert for babies in L.A. starts at 9am. What about activities for the baby who’d rather sleep in, have a leisurely breakfast, and start her day at 11?
Wanna trade? Also: When does she nap?
Basically a few months back she started combining her night sleep with her morning nap so now she sleeps like 7pm-9am. She takes a brief afternoon nap around 1pm or so, but again, it has to be brief since she already slept 14+ hours at night. Usually an hour or so. Amusingly, she also wakes up in the morning starving and eats a huge breakfast.
My 15-month-old twins still take two 2-hr naps per day. It’s hardly worth the hassle of taking them out of the house, because it’s naptime again as soon as we get anywhere. Sometimes we’ll skip a nap for an event, and sometimes it doesn’t have disastrous results. But mostly I’m just thankful for the hours I have to get stuff done.
There will be plenty of time to socialize and explore the world.