The nap conundrum: living for naps or living without them

Max asleep in the chariot under two

inches of snow in our backyard.

I'm sure every parent would agree that a baby's nap time is extremely valuable.  If you're lucky the child will sleep alone in a separate room leaving you free for an hour to follow your intellectual pursuits or work on your to-do list.

Trouble is, getting a baby to nap alone in a separate room is not as easy as one might think, even for babies like Max who are already acclimatised to sleeping alone.

Although Max is able to fall asleep alone in a separate room, he vastly prefers to sleep in a moving chariot or car seat or on the lap or chest of a parent.  He falls asleep much more easily and much earlier than he otherwise would if one of his preferred conditions is met.

Naps are a fickle thing.  Ideally, Max would nap for an hour or more.  But if he's woken up early -- even after only a few minutes of sleep -- then he will not go back to sleep again unless a preferred condition is met, such as sleeping on dad's lap.  Thus, if he manages to sneak in even the tiniest little catnap while we're not looking then we lose an entire nap's worth of free time.  So valuable to us is this free time that we find ourselves planning our entire schedule so as to ensure that Max will not fall asleep before naptime and that he will nap in his bed like he's supposed to.

Planning for Max's naps imposes incredible constraints on our schedule.  For example, this morning Greta awoke with Max, changed his diaper, and fed him.  We bundled him up at packed him into his chariot so that I could walk Greta into work with Max and the dogs.  We left the house as early as possible in the hope that Max would still be awake when I returned home with him from the walk.  No dice.  By the time I returned home with the dogs Max had already slept for a half hour.  It is physically impossible for us to walk the dogs before Max's morning nap without him falling asleep on the walk.  On the other hand, if we were to wait until his nap is done to walk the dogs then we wouldn't leave the house until noon.  Half the day is wasted just to accommodate a single nap.

Similarly, I can accomplish a few extra chores around the house if I put max in the chest-mounted sling.  However, Max loves to sleep in the sling.  I don't get five minutes of chores done with him on my chest before I suddenly realize he's dangling limp, his head buried in the sling.

Thus, we are forced to make the difficult choice between living for Max's naps or living without them.  Tough call.  After a couple weeks with our lives on hold for Max's naps we've begun to throw caution to the wind, to seize the day, to live life to the fullest -- even if it means we miss out on naptime.  Carpe diem.