April is get Jax to nap month

Everywhere I look I see sleeping babies!  Except when I’m at home looking at my baby . . . and that is why I am declaring April: Get Jax to nap month!

What do these parents do to get their babies to sleep so peacefully in a carseat in the middle of Ikea?  They must be drugged, right?  I don’t think I’m alone in having difficulty with putting my son down for a nap.  In fact I have commiserated with a few friends who have similar angst.

I read (ok, more like speed read/glance — I’ll have the time once he can nap, it’s a catch 22) through all of the baby sleep books.  The problem is they seems to contradict each other  . . . depending on what chapter, I’m doing it all right, or all wrong.  These books haven’t met my son.  He is very determined to stay awake any way he can.  He sleeps great from 9pm-8am (he wakes up once to eat and back to sleep easily) but once he’s up the fun (for him) begins.

I should preface this by noting that Jackson, or Jax as we have come to nickname him, hasn’t been the easiest baby.  Early on we noticed that he was NOT happy, he seemed in pain all the time.  After several calls to the pediatrician I finally made it clear that no amount of rubbing his back or doing bicycles was easing his pain.  He would cry most of the day.  The doctor suggested putting him on reflux medication and I stopped eating dairy.  She also suggested that it might just be colic and we were in for another 7-11 weeks of this.  We were at 5 weeks.

I’m already forgetting how bad it was, I adjusted to his crying by going for drives and keeping him in the baby carrier or rocking him.  He needed constant movement or he was writhing in pain.  Now that he has reached 3 months he seems to be less in pain and just getting exhausted.

Visibly tired . . . but won’t give in to sleep.

And so the day begins around 8am.  Jax is fed, we play a bit, he sits in his babysitter while I shower and he giggles at the objects in the bathroom.  By 9:30 he is visibly tired and I go about getting him to nap . . . I’ve tried it all (I think) rocking him with a pacifier, rocking him without a pacifier, the swing, laying with him, laying with him and nursing, the 5 S’s (only the sshhh works on him), crying it out (pediatrician suggested 20 minutes), and any combination of these tactics.  Just as his eyes are closing and I think, maybe this is it, his eyes pop open wide and he either starts smiling at me or crying . . . sigh.

Not loving the swing.  Or, maybe, he just really wants his other sock.

The only semi-surefire (is that an oxy-moron? I’m channeling Brian Fantana on “Anchorman”: 60% of the time, it works every time) way to get him to sleep, approximately every third day (don’t ask, apparently every third day he gets just tired enough) is to nurse him in our over-sized recliner until he falls asleep — and then don’t move.  I need to train our dog, if this is indeed the only way to get him to nap, to get the remote, get a glass of water, and make lunch.  She might be able to figure out the remote.  If I move him to his crib, our bed, the couch he will last no longer than 1/2 an hour until he’s awake.

This month I am determined to get him to nap successfully.  I know three things: (1) he is tired, (2) babies need naps, & (3) mom’s and dad’s need babies to take naps.

I think this is what life as a parent is, trying to do what is best for your children when they are trying to do the exact opposite.  Sorry, mom and dad!

So moms and dads, what are your best napping tips?  Leave your suggestions in the comments below!