From Power Naps to Super Naps

So if you have read some of my previous posts about Norah's sleeping habits, you know that she has not been a fantastic napper. Overall, I would say she has been a good night sleeper (although we have not been without issues), but her naps have not been anything to brag about. Our feeling, which was supported by our pediatrician, was that as long as she was content we wouldn't worry about it. Afterall, what else could we do when we only have control over 2 out of 7 days? The rest was up to daycare.

As I mentioned in a previous post, since the issue has been that Norah seems to be easily distracted, the nap routine that her new room follows really seems to be helping. At daycare, she has consistently been sleeping at least an hour twice per day. At my sister's on Thursday she slept almost 2 hours for her afternoon nap. On Saturday, her afternoon nap was again 2 hours. And today, her morning nap was almost 3 hours! I feel like we have a normal sleeping child now. And she is still sleeping really well at night - down by 6:30 (at the latest), and up around 7 or 7:30. I'm pretty sure she could go to bed earlier, but on the week days even if I leave right at 5 we can't get home until around 5:40 or 5:45, so 6:15 or 6:30 is the earliest we can do.

I am convinced that her night time and day time sleep is related. This would be true according to one of the sleep books I have, as well - Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child. So since we moved her bedtime up an hour and she is sleeping well at night, she is also sleeping better during the day. Of course the fact that they are on a schedule probably helps too, particularly since they turn out the lights. I am also wondering whether the environment in her previous room (the one with crying babies) was affecting her more than we realize. How could it not?

I should also mention that while overall Norah has always been very content, she seems extremely happy now. It might not be related to sleep at all - it could just been her continued development and that her personality is coming through more and more, but either way we are really enjoying it. She smiles and laughs all the time and is having lots of fun exploring the entire house.

No matter what the reasons are, we are in a good place with sleep right now. Hopefully our upcoming trip to Goshen won't throw it all off. Indiana is an hour ahead, so we may actually be able to stay pretty close to our night time schedule.