I am a very structured person – when I want to be. I am finding that Alia is this way as well. I try and try and try to get her on the schedule that I would like for her to be on and though you can have a routine, you CANNOT force baby to be on a schedule that just does not suit them. This is especially true during a transition time such as dropping a nap. Alia is in the process of dropping her 4th nap. This has been a trying and confusing process for me. However, I believe that I have been making it more complicated than it needs to be.
She can sometimes stay awake for 2 ½ hours with no problem for her last wake time and skip her 4th nap and sometimes she cannot. It depends on how the day has gone and if she has napped well or not. When she does not take ideal naps she definitely needs that 4th nap. When she does take this fourth nap, it interferes with her bedtime which frustrates me. I am so ready to be done with the day at 8:00 p.m. that I get angry when Alia needs to stay up until 9:00 p.m. or so in order to be sleepy enough to go to sleep for the night. I really should not let this bother me, but I let it. Is it really that big of a deal if she stays up an extra hour or so in the long run? If it is every night for the next several months then yes, but if it is only for a short time while she is transitioning then it should not be a big deal and I should not let it bother me.
I am a perfectionist. If the entire day does not go the way that I want it to, I often get discouraged and even resent being a mom sometimes. And I can get that way even if only one thing goes wrong. Even if you try your hardest to do everything right, your baby or child is their own person and they are not always going to go with the flow or the routine that you have worked so hard to get them on. Don’t get angry or discouraged! Just try to relax as my wise husband would say and just go with it!
