Why I Don't Nap

I'm a bad napper. I've always been a bad napper. For the most part, I would rather get a great night's sleep and then be up and enjoying the day. Short naps are awful--I wake up feeling groggy and cranky. And long naps leave me feeling like I've missed a great part of the day. Lose-lose.

When I brought baby girl home from the hospital, everyone (EVERYONE) told me, "sleep when the baby sleeps." And you know what? Babies sleep a lot! Newborns spend like 20 hours a day sleeping. There's no way any new parent should ever be sleep deprived, right? The only problem is that all that sleep is broken up into tiny little chunks throughout the day. I would lay her down for a nap and then climb into bed myself, only to be woken 30 minutes later. SUCK.

And now here I am, with little man, and I would love--LOVE--to be able to take naps during the day. Yes, he's a great nighttime sleeper so far, just like his sister was. But I'm still up for an hour at a time when he wakes at night, and I still have a toddler to love on in the mornings and evenings, and I'm still TIRED. We have the house to ourselves during the day. So why am I sitting here, blogging while little man sleeps instead of sleeping right along with him?

Because napping with a newborn is more trouble than it's worth. It's way, WAY worse to expect a nap, to hope for sleep, and to have that cut short, than it is to just expect constant tiredness and stay awake.

I tried to take a nap just now. I really did. I rocked little man to sleep. Put him down in his crib. Turned on the monitor and white noise machine. Climbed into my own bed. Closed my eyes. And about four minutes later heard a fuss. And then nothing. And then a grunt. And then silence. While I didn't automatically jump up to go get him, I can't sleep knowing that he may or may not be awake. I had to stay up to see if he'd settle into sleep on his own.

He didn't. 10 minutes later I was back in his room. He fell asleep immediately when I picked him up, his face nuzzled into my neck. Alright, let's take a nap together then. I love me some snuggly newborn naps. I settled into the chair in the nursery, little man resting peacefully on my chest. Closed my eyes. And about two minutes later, he grunted and turned his head over. And then silence. And then he sighed heavily. And then silence. And then he smacked his lips. And turned his head back over. And grunted. LORD HELP ME, JUST SLEEP PEACEFULLY, CHILD.

I tried holding him in a different position, but upon realizing that his face wasn't buried into my neck, his favorite position, he opened his eyes and stared at me. I tried shushing him. Patting him. Cajoling him. Nada.

Okay.

I hoisted him back up to my neck, stood up, rocked him back to sleep, and put him back in his crib. He was still. Praise God.

But by now there are only 40 minutes 'til he has to eat again. Which means I have to wake him up in about 30 minutes. There's absolutely no point in me trying to sleep for 30 minutes.

And now, 20 minutes after laying him in his crib, I can hear him over the monitor. Grunting. Sighing. Squirming. And now a squawk.

Eff.

At least I didn't try and nap.