Sunday, May 18, 2008

To change or not to change...

We have kindof a weird situation with Emma right now. Her sleeping schedule is a little off. The other three kids "rest" between 12:30 and 2:30 and then they're all up and playing. Emma, on the other hand, falls asleep around 2 and sleeps until 4:30... 5:30... I'd say "well, she has a huge heart defect and must be more tired" except that she adjusts. At night time when the other three go to bed at 8pm and are asleep by 8:30 or 9 at the latest, Emma lays and giggles, talks, (occasionally kicks the wall), and entertains herself until sometimes 10pm or later!

If it was one of the other kids I know I'd wake her up so she would go to bed on time. Problem being that sometimes she does go to bed on time and I don't want to deprive her of sleep that she actually needs. It's not affecting our home, schedule, etc. except that she is in bed for a longer period of time in the afternoon than everyone else because she still is put in her crib at the same time everyone else is to rest.

I'm not sure there's a 'right' answer to this one, but for the moment I suppose I'll just continue to let her sleep when she wants to, so long as it's not affecting anyone else. Hmm...


  1. If it makes you feel any better, Xander does the exact same thing. Nap time is hit or miss for him and there are days where he will then just fall over in the floor asleep around 6 or 7ish. If he does sleep during nap time, he doesn't fall asleep until about 30 minutes before it's time to get up. He's also awake on and off all through the night....and he's usually wide awake with the sun. I've given up on trying to get him on a normal sleep schedule. My thought is that as long as he stays in his bed during the scheduled times, then sleeping or not sleeping is up to least he has the opportunity to sleep if he wants to. As for waking them up or letting them sleep.....we don't wake Xander up, we just leave the door open so that it's not so quiet. In Emma's case....well, I'd probably feel guilty waking her up!

  2. I put Sawyer in bed at the same time as Ansley. Ansley falls right asleep and gets up 1.5 hours later. Sawyer will lay there and talk and giggle and kick and play. He falls asleep about the time Ansley wakes up. I put them down to bed at 8 every night. He sometimes goes right off to sleep and sometimes NOT. He's always up around 4:30 or 5 A.M.!


  3. Both of my twins go down for their nap at the same time and Will falls asleep RIGHT away, where Emma is awake for a long time, quietly playing.
    I think what you have going on is "normal" and unless she is in there with no toys and bored to death or crying out of boredom, I wouldn't feel guilty about it.
    PS You need your time too, ya know?

  4. I wouldn't worry, as long as she is happy, leave her be.. she seems to enjoy her alone time in her crib. As for waking her up or letting her sleep, I would let her sleep. She is sleeping because she needs the rest, and an awoken baby can be mighty cranky at times. Don't worry about it! :) Emma is happy, so you should be too :)

  5. If it is not broken don't try to fix it. She might need the extra time in her crib at naptiome to get a grip on her sensory over load. She is taking in so much more then she did for years. Also with her heart issues the extra resting can not hurt her.

  6. Kara sleeps 3-4 hours in the afternoon and goes to bed at 10, if she skips her naps she whines all day. I wish she would go to bed ealier, but 10-11 seems normal for her. Still I can hear her music playing and her giggling sometimes until 1 AM, no crying, just giggling and playing. I leave her alone, but I really want to go to her. I feel bad because I know she spent way too much time in her crib at the orphanage, and she actually likes it in hers here too.

    Meghan used to be a insomniac when she napped, up until 3 AM, so she stopped napping at age 3.