Mommy Fail #3! The 5-hour nap!


The Mommy Fail of the week has got to be me letting Ollie take a 5-hour nap. Actually daddy was there, so he’s going down for this shit too!

I fed Ollie and immediately went out to run a few errands.  I came home with 15 minutes to spare before his routine three hour feeding time to find Ollie and daddy taking a nap.  When his feeding time came and went I woke up the hubs to find out how long they had been asleep. He said just about an hour so I laid down next to them to wait for Ollie to stir.  3 ½ hours later I woke up next to a still sleeping Ollie!

I jumped out of bed and flip flopped between kicking the hubs ass for letting me/us sleep for so long or wake up the boy.  I opted for the boy with a promise to deal with dad later.  Holy crap nearly five bloody hours of sleep during the day!  I cannot get 4-hours at night without one hell of a tired boy coupled with a massive feeding.  No surprise the minute I had him up he realized how hungry he was and turned the cry meter up to screeching mad!

Here is where the 5-hour nap gets trumped in dammit-ness… He was so hungry he was past ravenous!  He sucked down so much booby milk so fast he spit it back up all over me, the Brestfriend pillow and himself.  I wipe us up, reattach him and he does it AGAIN! ARG! So round three, I controlled his intake by repeatedly letting him eat for a few minutes and then burping him. Thankfully he didn’t chuck all over me again. 

I was really concerned that letting him sleep for so long was going to completely screw up our routine for the rest of the day and night.  Thankfully, so far no difference.  I kept him up through the next feeding and all seems back to normal. My sister thinks he is just a big growing boy and needed the sleep.   But, still!!  5 hours is the longest he has slept straight so far and he did it during the day!

I realize now that since he is sleeping so long I need to set an alarm if I am going to nap while he does. This will ensure we both don’t sleep all day.  God help me if I put us back on the newborn sleep schedule of sleep all day party all night…

Honestly I am not sorry he slept so long.  Surely the little guy needed it if he did. Of course moving forward I am going to set an alarm to wake him up for his normal feeding. If he is tired and wants to go back to sleep after eating then so be it.  Growing up to be my big strong guy is hard work!


Two confused parents=One amused baby Hopelessly we are trying raise a baby who is clearly smarter than both of us. April is an award-winning writer and blogger. Her work has been published in over ten countries and four languages. From books to newspapers, to print/online magazines and everything in between, you can find her work. For more on April, Visit AprilMcCormick.com