Watch Out! The 45-Minute Intruder Is Coming

Naps are a great thing! My DS gets some rest, which helps him avoid being crabby at night, and I get a much needed break. Better yet, he naps for a good two and half hours.

But sometimes things aren't so peachy in the nap world. I'm talking about the "45-minute intruder." I know it sounds scary, as it should, because it's an anxiety-producing phenomena that wakes up your child about 45-minutes into his/her nap and causes them to cry and fuss.

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I'm lucky because my DS goes back to sleep after about 5-minutes.

I found a good article that talks about the 45-minute intruder and explains it much better than I can:

Babies generally sleep in cycles during the day. Normally they fall asleep for about 45 minutes in the first cycle. When they wake from the first cycle they must put themselves back to sleep to get good, healthy sleep. A normal nap should be 1.5 -2 hours. Sounds easy, right???

Many babies, when they stir at around 45 minutes will find it difficult to fall back asleep. Sometime parents mistakenly believe when baby wakes after only 30-45 minutes of sleep that baby is no longer tired. This generally is not the case. Most babies are still very tired and need to move into the next phase of sleep to get a good nap.

Note that the article appears to emphasize this happens to young babies. I don't remember my DS doing this when he was a baby, it seems to be a more recent thing.

Also, the article states that hunger is one of the more common reasons for the 45-minute intruder. For my DS, it's a matter of him being too tired, or not tired enough.

I found the best thing for me to do is leave my DS alone when he starts crying and fussing after 45-minutes. Like I said, he usually goes back to sleep after about 5-minutes, but it has taken as long as 15 to 20 minutes for him to go back to sleep.

Every child is different though. You may not have the option to let your little one cry it out. You have to do whatever works best for you.

The 45-minute intruder is just a really strange thing. My DS will wake up within 45-minutes, give or take a few minutes. Amazing. I can usually set my watch by it.

How do you deal with the 45-minute intruder?

New Posts Are Coming, I Promise

I know, it has been a while since my last post. Don't worry though, I haven't given up on this blog. Things have been pretty hectic lately and "Brad the Dad" has fallen under the radar for a while.

I'm going to be whipping up some new posts really soon. I want to write more about male postpartum depression, because it's an issue that affects a lot of new dads, but gets little attention.

Sorry for the long delay in new posts. I promise to have this blog up and running in no time!

- Brad

Traveling With A Toddler During The Holidays (and how to make it easier)

Over the holidays the family and I traveled to Washington state to spend Christmas with the family. This was our first time flying with our little toddler (we have previously flown with him as a baby). We flew from Chicago to Seattle's Sea-Tac International Airport with no problems. My DS took a short nap, spent some time walking up and down the aisles, and playing with some new toys we brought along.

When we arrived in Seattle we faced a 5 hour layover until our next puddle jumper flight to the town of Wenatchee. How do you entertain a toddler in an international airport for 5 hours during the holiday travel season?

That's a good question. We tried to keep him occupied with toys. But we also walked him around a lot. Now that he's walking on his own, we took him out of his stroller to let him get some exercise. We had a little backpack for him that had a leash attached.

I'll be honest, it felt a little weird walking around Sea-Tac Airport with my son on a leash and me saying "Heal, heal!" I got some strange looks. Though I think most people thought it was cute. Still, walking a toddler around in a crowded airport is never easy.

I've said in a previous post that flexibility is the key for any parent, and this is especially true for air travel. Here a few tips:

1. Don't count on getting any work done. When he fell asleep for 45-minutes I was able to close my eyes and listen to some music, but that was it. Forget about doing any work, catching up on your reading or anything else.

2. Come prepared with a lot of toys. They should be fairly new toys that your child hasn't played with that much (or not at all). Don't bring regular toys that your child plays with all the time, or might be bored with. A new toy will keep him/her occupied much longer. And when traveling with a toddler, every minute counts.

3. Buy your child his/her own seat on the plane. This was invaluable to keeping our sanity. This might not be an option for everyone because you are paying the regular fare for a seat, which can get expensive. For us, the extra room was well worth it. Just keep in mind that if your toddler is 2-years or older, airlines require you to buy a seat.

There are a lot of things you can do to make traveling with a child easier. The above tips are the ones we found the most helpful.

How do you make traveling with a toddler easier?