update on "sleep training"

I didn't want to leave the topic of sleep training without expanding on it and bringing you up to speed. Here is what has transpired over the last weeks: some naps for Vi last longer than 45 minutes. Some naps do not. We do not leave her after she wakes up. After more research, I discovered that a small percentage of infants have shorter naps and there is nothing a parent can do to make their child sleep longer (if other sleep indicators are healthy, day and night). I think crying it out can be a useful tool when encouraging an infant older than 4 or 5 months to GO to sleep. In our case, Vi has no problem falling asleep and I don't feel like crying it out or leaving her to lengthen a nap was useful or helpful.

What has proven to be useful is sleep timing - helping Violet stay rested at the same times each day. She wakes between 5:50 and 6:40 each day. Her first nap occurs around 9, then her next nap is around 1, and then she stays awake until bedtime which we are currently working on developing. We have a great routine and right now it is at 7. For 2 nights we have made it 20 minutes earlier to see if this will help her sleep to around 6:30 everyday.

I also discovered that morning naps at this age are more important than afternoon naps. Interesting. I would have thought the opposite. Our stance is to protect naps, not become a slave to them. Some flexibility can be healthy and sets a chid up for success for the special days when routine goes out the window - like days at the beach, camping, Canada's Wonderland, etc. Rowyn was a pretty routine, okay, VERY routine kid. We didn't flex very much because it rocked her little world. Some friends didn't understand and thought we were being super anal. We can be anal about some things, it is true, like things being put away properly in their place, but why wouldn't we want our child to be flexible on special days?

Anyway, I'm chalking this experience to "live and learn".

Thanks for learning with us,
Tam