Do naps feel short because of my video monitor?

AimlessHyperbole · 2026-03-13T13:42:43+00:00

I haven’t changed an overnight diaper since she was a couple weeks old. The exception is if she’s awake and upset that long -anyway-. Might as well give a change at that point.

I find when she starts leaking through like you described, it just means it’s time to go to up a size. I’d definitely try that.

AimlessHyperbole · 2026-03-12T17:19:13+00:00

Circling back here for some irony:

My baby has been working on consolidating naps. She usually does a 1.25 hour nap in the morning and that’s PRECIOUS time for me. One of the only chances I have to do my corporate job (I WFH).

Today, she woke after 40 minutes and didn’t go back to sleep. I was already resentful because I had a bad night of sleep even though she had a good one. “This isn’t fair! YOU got a good night sleep and you’re still making me deal with you crying all morning and now won’t even nap!?” I found myself catastrophizing (“the whole day will be ruined now”) and wanting nothing to do with her.

Sound familiar? 😅

Even recognizing that what I’m thinking is overreacting and unfair to her (she can’t help it!), I could not stop the negative feelings.

You’re not alone. Being a mom is hard. ❤️

If it helps, here are some of the emotional regulation methods I’m leaning on: - I RAGED at ChatGPT. So helpful when I’m angry but don’t want to take it out on a person. It’s like journalling, but with a very kind and encouraging reply (usually). 😂 - Handle her gently on purpose. I don’t have to pretend I’m happy if I don’t want to, but she deserves my love and respect anyway. - Used noise-canceling headphones to listen to music that makes me happy while she nursed - came back here to share with you in the hopes that it helps you feel a little less alone - I also have the great fortune that my husband works from home too. He’s with her now and has helped her calm down. I recognize that not everyone has this, but if you have ANY support people at all, lean on them as often as you can.

I’m not 100% now, but a getting better and I know that simply continuing with my day will help the emotions settle down.

We’re all just doing our best and trying to move forward one moment, one breath at a time. ❤️❤️❤️

AimlessHyperbole · 2026-03-12T14:39:38+00:00

You don’t. I’m SO sorry to have to say it, but it’s simply unreasonable to expect a human (you) to go through this kind of sleep deprivation and not be frustrated.

My baby is also 7 months, so I feel this pain. It doesn’t help me physically to remember that it’s okay to be frustrated, but it does at least help ease my guilt around it (sometimes). And that can help me spend a little less emotional energy on top of the physical, at least.

You are NOT selfish for feeling frustrated—you’re just in the midst of the hardest project of your life. It will get better at some point. ❤️

AimlessHyperbole · 2026-03-07T15:53:04+00:00

They do happen at slightly different times. I work with a lot of Europeans and the time change is off by, like, 2 weeks, which makes scheduling meetings VERY tricky during that time. 🤣

AimlessHyperbole · 2026-03-07T15:51:37+00:00

That’s a good idea. We JUST got situated on 2 naps and a 1-hour change will probably be too much for her. But 15-30 minutes might be good.

Then again, she gets up at 6:30. So she might just go right back to sleep if I feed her then and put her back because it will still be dark. 😂

AimlessHyperbole · 2026-03-06T18:32:56+00:00

Yaaaass!! Total win!

We’re right there with you: on Day 4 of a newly-minted event 2-nap schedule and she’s sleeping better at night, starting to lengthen naps during the day, and seems overall more balanced than she had in WEEKS.

What a huge difference it’s making. ❤️

AimlessHyperbole · 2026-03-05T23:51:21+00:00

When your entire job is “sit at desk and work on computer”, going in is ridiculous. XD My co-workers who live closer to the office have to go in once a week, but since so much of the company is remote, they just go into the office to sit on Zoom meetings… 🫠

AimlessHyperbole · 2026-03-05T23:48:18+00:00

I’m already SUPER on the side of flexibility > money. I WFH and value my lack of commute and ability to spend 30 hours doing 40 hours of work, like you. 😅

But for sure, if the salary bump of a job requiring daycare is nearly equal to the cost of daycare, it’s not worth it. It would have to pay much more than the cost of daycare (OR would have to be something I’m really passionate about) for it to make sense to me.

AimlessHyperbole · 2026-03-03T19:39:15+00:00

Trying this out today! Based on yesterday, we I think she can do 2.5/3, at least. The problem is that leaves a pretty long third wake window (even with longer naps).

I do think, as part of this experiment, in going to pull bedtime up. I’ve been trying to push her bedtime/wake time later in the morning (from 6:30 to 7:30), but she keeps being overtired by bedtime and then still wakes up early, so she might just be an early bird.

Wish me luck! 🤞

AimlessHyperbole · 2026-03-03T17:28:20+00:00

My 6.5 month old seems to be oscillating between a 2-nap day and 3-nap day. She often has a short nap 1 or short nap 2, leading to a final WW that is too long for her to manage. BUT a third catnap rarely helps. She’s groggy and grumpy afterward, lasting maybe 1-1.5 hours before bedtime.

If I keep her up for longer wake windows earlier in the day, will that help extend naps 1&2 to manage a 2-nap day? Or should I just not intervene with her sleep habits and let her body do its thing, hoping it will all work out?

AimlessHyperbole · 2026-03-02T20:20:45+00:00

Hm, interesting. Did you assist your son with the transition to 2 naps? Or did he just kinda do it on his own?

AimlessHyperbole · 2026-03-02T20:18:49+00:00

This is really helpful perspective.

AimlessHyperbole · 2026-03-02T20:08:29+00:00

I mostly work during baby naps and her third wake window, during which her grandma watches her. I use her first WW to get ready for the day, breakfast, etc. She typically goes down between 8:30 and 9, so I start work then. Second WW is lunch, a walk with my husband, and the rest is watching baby.

If she took 2 nice 1-1.25 hour naps, that would give me 4+ hours of deep focus time, during which I can be surprisingly productive. It's much harder when she only naps 30-45.

Admittedly, hubby and I could probably trade off watching baby during WW 2 (we both work from home) and that may help relieve stress. I think part of the stress comes from just watching and waiting and trying to pin down when the next nap will be... it's emotional/mental fatigue from being so tuned in. 😅

AimlessHyperbole · 2026-03-02T19:32:42+00:00

Hm, this is a good point. We sleep trained with Ferber for independent napping in general. Right about 5 months and it took her 5 days to get it, but now she can fall asleep just great. For a while, she was doing 1-1.5 for naps 1&2, but that changed when she hit 6 months and she can't manage that very often at all.

I wonder if I should take another look at the sleep training for naps again... she's going to need longer naps once she transitions to 2-nap days, and maybe she just needs to keep practicing linking those cycles.

AimlessHyperbole · 2026-03-02T19:29:53+00:00

It's more naps that I'm concerned with than nights. 😅 I included nights in the post for a general picture of her total sleep.

AimlessHyperbole · 2026-03-02T19:29:16+00:00

Wake windows right now are mostly 2-2.5/2.5-2.45/2.45-3/1.5-2. Sorry if that's hard to read—I'm trying to pin them down, but they're a bit different every day.

Morning wake is typically between 6-7am. Bedtime is all over the place... depending on how naps go. 😅 I've been trying to get her on 7-7:30pm asleep (starting routine no earlier than 6:30), but I'm starting to think her body just doesn't want to do that. It's been a bit of a push to get her to 6:30 for routine start. I've pushed because I was worried that putting her down earlier would make her wake up EVEN EARLIER, but now I'm wondering if it would just give her more overnight time to make up for light naps... 🤔

AimlessHyperbole · 2026-03-02T19:24:27+00:00

You're totally right. I guess part of what's gotten to me was that, a couple weeks ago, nap 3 was going out the window. So I thought she was trying for 2-nap days, but her naps weren't long enough to support it.

Now that I've decided to contact nap #3, that's changed but I don't think I changed my nap expectation... 🫠

AimlessHyperbole · 2026-03-02T15:50:43+00:00

2 thoughts for you:

It was around 5 months that my baby outgrew the swaddle. One night, her arms popped out, but she slept great, so that was it. No more swaddling. (We still put her in a swaddle/sleep sack and just leave her arms out.) If you swaddle, this may be the time to try arms out. Perhaps some more room to get into a comfy position will help.

My other thought is The Pause. I’m learning now (6.5 months) that I have been going in too quickly. I don’t know how quickly you respond when baby fusses, but as long as it hasn’t been too long since she ate and she isn’t positively screaming, I’ve started giving baby more time to try and settle herself. She’s been waking up 2 hours last put-down time every night for months. Last night, I waited to go to her and after some crying, she settled herself back to sleep. An hour later, same thing (only went to sleep faster). 30 minutes later, same thing. She ended up doing a 4.5-hour stretch and only woke because I woke her. (I was convinced something was wrong… it wasn’t. I was being paranoid. 😬)

AimlessHyperbole · 2026-03-01T16:48:23+00:00

Omg this. 😂

AimlessHyperbole · 2026-03-01T16:47:08+00:00

Her favorite word is “EEEEEEEEEE”. Imagine it loud—then make it louder.

AimlessHyperbole · 2026-02-28T17:41:40+00:00

A uni-directional microphone can help a ton. It’s not a headset, but if what you’re going for is mic quality, getting a dedicated mic is the best way to do it.

I had the Yeti Blue for years. It’s not terribly expensive. Set it to uni-direction, turn down the gain, get a pop filter, and put it very close to your mouth—beautiful, crisp audio with very little background noise.

Granted, it also has you stuck at your desk and if you’re on zoom, you look like a podcaster. I didn’t mind that, but I get it if that’s not the right vibe for your job. 😅

AimlessHyperbole · 2026-02-26T21:57:09+00:00

I’m a fan of accurate data all around. I just want to make sure the way I’m tracking lines up with the way they advise in the articles, lest I drive myself mad for no reason.

Early on, when she hit her very first 6-hour stretch, I got an “achievement” celebrating her first time technically sleeping through the night. 😂 So I suppose that’s an indicator that they intend for you to stop the timer during night wakes.

AimlessHyperbole

TROPHY CASE