Aw yes, the moment you’ve been waiting for, Cry-It-Out Nap Style. As many of you know, we had wonderful success with CIO bedtime. I can’t even remember those nights. We lay him down without rocking him, turn his crib mobile on and leave the room as he talks himself to sleep. Then, he sleeps 12 hours straight! I get more sleep NOW then I ever did when I was kid-less (Well, I did work in advertising, and yes, those nights were much much harder than anything I’ve done with Marshall).
If your babies are like mine, then you know what it’s like to spend 45 minutes getting you child down for his nap, only to hear the sweet sounds of a babbling kid 20 minutes later. Forget housework, forget me time and que the endless hour or two of getting him back to sleep. This had to stop, I had to teach him to nap. Who woulda thought, you have to teach someone to sleep! Here’s what we did. Step by step.
1) Create a daytime schedule and stick to it! (I get made fun of quite often for my intense schedule, but I must be doing something right). Here’s an example schedule for our 6-Month Old:
7:00am: Wake
7-7:30am: Bottle Feed
8:30am: Breakfast (Oatmeal & Fruit)
9:00am: Nap
11:00am: Wake
11-11:30am: Bottle Feed
12:30pm: Lunch (One Veggie, One Fruit)
1:00pm: Nap
3:00pm: Wake
3:30pm: Bottle Feed
5:45pm: Dinner (Rice & Veggie)
6:00pm: Bath
6:15pm: Bottle Feed
6:30 – 7:00pm: Fast Asleep
2) He stays in his crib during naptime, no matter what. He will often wake up 20 minutes into his nap and babble. I will go in there, check his diaper and leave without making much of a fuss. Then, he cries himself back to sleep. The most he’s ever cried in the middle of naptime is 20 minutes. And he ALWAYS gets himself back to sleep.
3) I wake him up when Naptime is over. That’s right, I wake him up. My schedule is important to me and it’s important to him. When we stick to this schedule, I’ve got a very happy baby on my hands.
I don’t rock him before his nap, I change him and lay him down. For the past 3 days, for every single nap, he’s turned to his side and fallen fast asleep. If he wakes up, its for no more than 10 minutes before he puts himself back to sleep. And may I remind you, he was a swing sleeping baby (ADDICTED to that swing) and now I have a beautiful, happy, healthy and well slept little boy on my hands. So, it is possible, you just have to stay persistent. Don’t give in or you’ll be spending the majority of your day trying to get you kid to sleep.
Marshall takes up so much of my heart and he takes up a majority of my day. That’s why these naptimes are so important. You are separate from your child and you need to remember that, having time for yourself is the most important thing you can do. Your baby needs alone time too, believe it or not, they don’t need / want you glued to their side 24/7 (and if you don’t realize that now, you will in 5 years).
Hugs & Kisses! Until our next adventure.
Jacqueline Leigh 
Hi there. Thank you so much for posting this. I’m going through nap training and it’s officially week 3. I think we are making some slight progress but I’m still doubting the process. Would you please elaborate exactly how you used CIO for naps? Did you use the same checks as your night time sleep training? All naps or one nap at a time? And how long before you saw progress? Thanks again!!!!
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Hi, thank you for contacting me. Yes, I did the same checks for naps as I did for nighttime sleep. It was a lot more difficult than nighttime sleep so don’t beat yourself up.
Make sure you’re starting with only one nap, I found that the first nap in the crib was the easiest (I figured he still had memories of nighttime sleep in the crib, so putting him back there in the morning worked out well). Once I saw progress with the morning nap (a couple of days), I got rid of the swing and just forced the other two naps. It was tough for only a day or two.
The important thing is to not back track, don’t give up and use the swing. What really helped is when I saw progress with night time sleep and morning nap, thats when i got rid of the swing. It’s so important for them to get their sleep, so it may be neccessary at times to go back to the old ways. But don’t use it as a crutch for yourself, use it only if your baby is approaching sleep deprivation.
That’s what I found worked!
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Hello. Thanks for your thoughts! My son is 3 months old and I’m currently transitioning him to his crib for bed and naptime. Do you remember how old your child was when you switched from swing to crib? Did you switch to crib during the day first and then naps? Any advice? My son falls to sleep fine for naps, but often wakes midnap and is still tired. I currently let him cry for 15 minutes and then calm him without picking him up and he usually sleeps a while longer. I’m thinking I may have to let him cry longer when he’s in his crib for naptime but I’m not sure how long to try.
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