Gaming with a serial catnapper has been hard, and I mean console or PC gaming, not mobile gaming (mobile being cell phone for you Americans). At present I can only really play video games without interruption when my little one is sleeping through the night or when my husband is looking after them. However this isn’t ideal, because I need to sleep during the long haul sleep period given that I’m not good at napping, and even if my husband is looking after them I need to minimise screen exposure since my little one is younger than 18 months old. Sure, I could default to mobile gaming, but considering that I had only recently quit gacha games and gacha games are mostly on mobile, I’d rather not risk falling back into that trap. Feel free to read my previous post on my gacha game journey here.

So I’m currently on a journey to improve my little one’s naps so that I can get more time to myself for not just gaming, but also doing chores, resting, and even drafting more posts like this. I’ve been attempting hands-on settling, that is, rocking bubba in my arms while gently patting the bum and humming then putting them into the cot when they’re drowsy. The vestibular sense is quite strong so they notice the downwards movement towards the cot and they may start crying if I’m not careful, in which case I have to restart the cycle. When that happens, a little bit of me inside dies…For now it’s still appropriate at the age of 3-4 months to cat nap so I’m trying to not stress myself out too much, but I have to admit that I can’t help but feel a sense of guilt. Of course I’m still trying to investigate whether improvements in the sleep environment will help and I’m trying to figure out the wake windows, which I admit I don’t have down pat, plus there are just way too many sources citing different wake window ranges. For now, as soon as I see tired signs such as the rubbing of the eyes and yawning, I start the process and pray that there’s minimal whinging.

Here’s a question for anyone who has a serial catnapping baby and is also a gamer – do you try to fit in games during the daytime naps and if so, what games? I’m just doing dailies in Final Fantasy XIV or a little bit of that game starting with H right now.