but she will be mean to you if you’re her mother.
But let’s not forget, she’s cute.



My baby has had an A-T-T-I-T-U-D-E with me the last few days. I don’t know where it came from, but I’m hoping it leaves soon. She knows she’s being mean too, if a stranger sees her acting that way, she totally stops. Like she thinks “oh no, they caught me acting that way!” I’m chalking it up to teeth. I need something to explain my lack of night time, and day time sleep. I keep telling myself she’s teething. I’m not sure if I believe it because it’s been a couple of weeks and there are no new teeth. Am I just looking for something to blame?
We have been almost skipping our daytime nap 4-5 days a week now. I say we, because I like to nap too. I also think the baby inside me likes to nap with me, so I get the right of saying “we”. WE are all tired. None of us are sleeping. Then we are tired. Then we don’t sleep. You get it…….
When Harper was a 6-12 month old baby, I had a mental rule of only letting her cry for 10 minutes or so MAX when I put her down to sleep and she didn’t want to go. She would hardly EVER last that full 10 minutes. When she was a NEWBORN (like 1-5 months), she would only last 5 minutes of crying, then we would watch her give up and go into sleep mode right on our baby monitor! It was like she thought “this screaming thing sucks, I think I’ll go to the other side now”.
We are passing our 14 month marker, and SHE WILL STAY AWAKE FOR 2.5 HOURS DURING NAP TIME. She will sleep 30 minutes.
IT IS DRIVING ME INSANE.
I’ll address some questions to set up our scenario a little better:
- Is she REALLY tired, or are you just putting her down? She’s SO tired. I wait until all the signs are present. She rubs her eyes, they have dark circles underneath them and are puffy, she melts down easily, she’s been awake 4 hours. STRANGERS see her around this time and will comment on my sleepy baby!
See: tired baby! 
2. Is she wet? I change her before every nap. Then I come back if she fusses for a long time just to make sure she hasn’t pooped after I put her down.
3. Is she hungry? I always put her down with a bottle at nap time. Sometimes she drinks it, sometimes she gets mad when I try to hand it to her and tosses it aside.
4. Does she have a lovie? She has “Fake Tom” her raccoon. Sometimes she will throw him (and everything else) outside of the crib, then cry for them to come back. Doesn’t work like that sister!
5. Does she have a pacifier?Pacifier is always given. Recently, it’s always thrown out of the crib, pitching of the fit ensues.
6. Do you rock her to sleep? She gets SO MAD when I try to rock her or hold her when she’s upset. She wants none of it. She FIGHTS me to get away because when I pick her up from sleepy time, it means it’s play time.
7. Can’t you just take her to bed with you? I can’t if it’s daylight. OR if I want to have any sort of electronic or light on. Hence this doesn’t work at all for daytime naps. Only night time, and if she’s not feeling good. She just tries to get off the bed and play, and when I stop her, oh it’s on.
8. Do you have a routine? I have a rough routine. It’s not like we read a book and sing a certain song before bedtime though, it’s more like I start to watch for signs of a sleepy baby, then take her to her room and give her a bottle and tell her it’s time for a nap.
9. You mean you let her cry for HOURS? She doesn’t cry the whole time. The first hour will consist of her babbling to herself, throwing items out of the crib, or banging the things she kept against her rails. The next 30 minutes will be crying. She’s mad. She’s mad she threw all of her toys away. I only go back one time to hand her the things she threw away, out of desperation. She will usually fall asleep at this point for 30 -ish minutes. Then she’s back up talking to herself, kicking the rails, and throwing things out of the crib. I was told by a doctor to keep her down for the entire “quiet period” that I expected her to nap. She went from 3 hour naps to almost diddly squat.
I need help from internet land. I need you guys to write her a letter or something asking her to nap. 🙂 At least tell ME how to make her nap because I refuse to accept that she’s just done with naps at 14 months. Not an option. She will nap until she’s 4 because that’s when all the sleep books say she can officially throw away her nap time if she pleases. NOT A MOMENT SOONER, PEOPLE.
She’s so cute, now I need her to stop being mean to me.
I’d like to now reflect on the last day I remember her falling to sleep for her daytime nap without issue:

That was nice.
Thanks in advance for helping out a desperate fellow mother. Oh and while you’re helping me out, go ahead and VOTE for the blog on Top Baby Blogs today! 🙂 We are in the top 20 – YAHOO! This means more visitors, and I do love visitors, and comments, and emails!
XOXO
Bell
Unrelated news: I got her a baby doll today at the store and it’s pretty cute. Until she throws him into the floor. Small steps.

