The 40 Minute Intruder....

 Take that 40 minute intruder!!

If you have ever had a baby you most likely already know what I am referring to by the "40 minute intruder"... In the last month or so Colin has started waking up just 40 minutes into his nap. When we picked him up though he was still tired and it made the days pretty miserable. I did some research on handy dandy Google to see if there was a reason he was waking up like this and if it was "normal". Well apparently it is pretty common... A sleep cycle lasts roughly 40 minutes and at the end of that 40 minutes we wake up a little bit. As adults we don't ever remember waking up and we quickly go back to sleep for another cycle but babies don't know how to do that at first. Babies have to be taught how to move past this cycle. I knew that something had to be done though, he was tired all the time and taking about 5-6 40 minute naps each day. It was hard to plan for anything since he only likes sleeping in his bed.

I decided to wait and see what would happen if I didn't rush in to pick him up and to my surprise he went back to sleep within 5 mintues or so. He didn't even cry really, just whimpered a little and ended up talking to himself. It was actually pretty cute! He slept for a total of an hour and a half that time - MUCH better!! The second nap I did the same thing except this time he only made a couple of noises before drifting off to sleep. Didn't cry or anything. Now he is consistently taking 1 1/2 - 2 hour naps (when we are home) without fussing at all. Sometimes I'll hear him talking to himself at the 40 minute mark but it never lasts long!! Take that 40 minute intruder!! We've got you beat!!

Here's just a little bit of cuteness :)