Zara vs. Sleep Part Two

Why is that the harder I try to get Zara on a consistent sleep schedule, the less she actually sleeps? I'm baffled.

After reading some different things (particularly Elizabeth Pantley's The No Cry Sleep Solution) and taking great stock of my needs as the primary care giver and Zara's needs as the primary care receiver, I've made some changes to the way we approach sleep in our home. And for the most part, I'm seeing slow but steadily improving results.

For the last two weeks, Zara has been going to bed between 7:30 and 8 p.m. and for the last week, I've been able to get her to fall asleep on her own (rather than being nursed or rocked to sleep). She still typically wakes up every 2 to 3 hours wanting food or comfort, but in the last week, she has slept in longer stretches. Two nights ago, she slept for 8 hours before waking me up. So the nighttime sleeping is getting better, or at least, more manageable because I know what to expect and how to respond. (Now, I just wish she's stop waking up at 6:30 a.m. every morning.) I've got ideas in place for how to gradually improve her nighttime sleep. Success there!

I've also tried to implement two naps a day. One thing Pantley says is that babies will sleep better at night if they get the sleep they need during the day and a baby Zara's age is supposed to take 2-3 naps per day for an extra 3-4 hours of sleep. So I resolved right away to get Zara on a better nap routine. My goal is to get her to take at least an hour nap in the morning from about 8:30 to 9:30 am and a two hour nap in the afternoon, from 1 to 3 pm. But Zara? Won't sleep during the day.

Well, that's not entirely true. She sleeps for about 30 minutes in the morning and about 1 hour (1 hour and 30 minutes if I'm really lucky) in the afternoon. I think the problem is that now that I have an expectation that she will sleep at these pre-determined (by me) hours and she doesn't meet those expectations, then I get frustrated with her. Whereas before, I simply rejoiced when she'd deigned to sleep anytime, no matter what time.

Expectations....

I should never had gotten them.