A mom of one was completely unprepared for the unusual position she found her son in when she checked on how his nap was going.
Kelsey Pfleiderer, from Jupiter Beach, Florida, took to Instagram to share baby cam footage of her son James in his cot during what was supposed to be his naptime.
“That particular day, he had a super-active playdate and ran himself ragged,” Pfleiderer told Newsweek. “He was overtired—where he was too exhausted to fall asleep, and, apparently, too exhausted to stay horizontal.”
Naps play a key role in the early cognitive development of a child. In 2015, a study from the journal Psychological and Cognitive Sciences saw researchers conduct a trial involving 216 babies up to 12 months old, to examine the role of sleep in memory consolidation.
The infants were taught three tasks revolving around playing with hand puppets. Half the test group then slept within four hours of the tasks, while the other half either had no sleep or napped for fewer than 30 minutes.
A day later, the children were asked to repeat the tasks. Researchers found that, on average, one-and-a-half tasks could be repeated entirely by the young children, provided they had had a substantial nap. By contrast, zero tasks were repeated by those with little to no nap time.
Pfleiderer was never overly concerned about James’s sleep, describing him as usually being a “champion napper.” That particular day was different, though, and felt especially stressful to Pfleiderer who already feeling “overwhelmed” with 384 different things to do.
Instead, as the video posted to Instagram under the handle @kelsey.pfleiderer shows, she had to contend with her son doing an impromptu headstand in his cot.
Though it was a surprising and somewhat frustrating sight, Pfleiderer found it very on-brand for her “wild child” son. “He’s always off on some sort of adventure, even if it’s just in his own crib,” she said. “I was definitely shocked the first time I found him like that … That kid has been defying gravity and expectations since Day One.”
The video was filmed at a time when Pfleiderer found herself in the throes of “sleep deprivation” with her young son. Thankfully, he’s now 5, and those antics are in the past. She nevertheless felt compelled to share the footage to her Instagram, in an effort to entertain, amuse and offer empathy to any fellow moms watching.
“I threw the video together a couple years ago in a moment of ‘maybe another parent will find this funny.’ It was never meant to be anything more than a lighthearted share,” Pfleiderer said.
Two million views later, and Pfleiderer says the clip’s popularity is down to the underlying message of it all. “Laughing through the exhaustion is sometimes the only way through it,” she said. “I hope it reminds other parents of nap-skippers to do just that.”
Pfleiderer works in corporate event sales, but is also a writer and mom with a unique personal story to tell; one that has shaped her positive outlook on life.
“I live with a rare spinal tumor, a neurofibroma, which is embedded in my nerves and can’t be fully removed. I was diagnosed back in 2017, and while it continues to grow, it remains stable and benign,” Pfleiderer said.
“That diagnosis, along with an epilepsy diagnosis in 2004, changed everything about how I approach life. When the reality of our mortality is placed at the forefront, your perspective shifts in ever-growing ways.”
Those experiences “lit a fire” in Pfleiderer to stop waiting for the “right time” to do the things she wants to do, including pursuing her dream of becoming an author.
During this time of change, both in terms of her health journey and the trials and tribulations of motherhood, Pfleiderer has found social media to be a source of comfort and support. “I built a small but mighty online community that sits in ‘the suck’ together—chronic illness, grief, mental health, and beyond—and climbs the mountains of life together, one tiny step at a time,” she said.
Sharing that clip showing how her son hijacked her day with his nap-based form of interpretive dance, came out of that ethos. Though it was frustrating at the time, she can laugh about it now and focus on the positives. Pfleiderer said she hopes the video’s newfound viral popularity means it has had that same effect on at least one person.
“If my little corner of the internet can spark even one person to keep going, to not be OK with just being OK forever, but to fight for a life of JOY and health, then it’s doing its job,” Pfleiderer said.
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