In an effort to end our horrible cycle of skipping naps for 5-10 days only to start waking up at 4 am and then crash one day, I enlisted the help of Aunt Pat again. In the fall, we worked on a very strict routine and I eventually got Kayden to take 2, sometimes 3 naps a week. That gradually slipped back to once a week and then once every 10 days or so. I decided to ask Pat if there was anything else at all I could do because I was tired of the disrupted nighttime sleep and I wanted my naps. She suggested I give Kayden benadryl at nap time to start a routine and then she would hopefully keep that routine. I thought "win win" - Kayden will sleep and her nose will dry up (we are in a horrible allergy mess right now). We started Monday. She completely fought through her dose and missed nap Monday and Tuesday. I upped the dose a little on Wednesday and she took a nap (after 45 minutes of back patting). However, she then stayed up 2.5 hours passed bedtime even after we'd given her another dose of benadryl. Thursday she skipped her nap again. Kelly commented that the only downside to this routine was that I get my hopes up for a nap, he may be right.
I wanted to try again today. I gave her the benadryl and let her have a little longer to wind down from school and then decided to lay with her and hope that she would sleep that way since she is a cuddler. She fought through that for 30 minutes and then rolled over, propped her heavy eye-lids open with her thumbs, and said, "I just want to stop taking naps." about 4 times in a very slow, drugged voice. I give up. You can't say I haven't tried. Next up: finding a solution to the disturbed sleep at night that results from over-tired Kayden....
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