Nap time Anarchy

I've always considered myself pretty lucky when it came to Liam's sleep habits. Since the day we came home from the hospital he has been a great little sleeper at night. After the first few weeks of obligatory every 2-3 hour feedings he began getting up only once a night to nurse. He never had his days and nights mixed up and it took very little effort to get him down in the evening. Now Liam is even beginning to sleep through the night. Sounds like I should be set up for the perfect sleeping newborn, but not so much. My son refuses to take a nap. He has literally declared war on nap time and it has been a constant battle for day time sleep for the last six weeks.

I have tried everything... seriously everything to get him to sleep; and the second I find something that works, it doesn't anymore. From rocking, to walking, to wearing, to special toys that light up and play music (see Albi the seahorse) to purchasing a swing with funds that should not have been spent out of sheer desperation. I know all the jargon out there says that babies will sleep when they need to but I'm telling you, Liam is a special jellybean when it comes to naps. If/when he doesn't sleep he can be fed, changed, played with and checked over a million times and still be the crankiest stinker in the world. He needs his sleep. So I'm finally going to try and do the one thing I never thought I would do as a parent, I'm going to put him on a schedule and come hell or high water I will try to make him stick to it.

You see I was of the warm fuzzy school of thought with newborns. You know the let them eat, poop, sleep, play when they want and my job as a mother is to comfort, feed and coddle. But that just doesn't work for Liam. He wants to be held, but he gets fussy being held too much. He wants to be rocked to sleep but gets squirmy and wakes himself up because he is uncomfortable. I know he is capable of sleeping in his crib and self soothing because he does it at night. But not so during the day.

So to bring order to Liam's nap time anarchy I am instigating rituals, routines and rules for nap time. I see no other way and I will not negotiate with terrorists (yes, Liam is a terror when he doesn't get adequate sleep).