As I mentioned on the podcast, my husband is a stay-at-home dad and I am the sole breadwinner of our household. Once maternity leave ended, I had little control of my son’s day-to-day schedule. And although my husband does a fantastic job as his primary caretaker during the day, there are certain things we disagree on – one of them being the importance of naps. My husband stopped putting my son down for naps around the age of 2. He claimed that Jonas no longer wanted them and that naps interfered with the flow of their day. As a lover and advocate of naps (there are many awesome benefits for kids), I completely disagreed with his assessment, but didn’t have the ability to implement a nap routine myself and so, my son fell out of the habit. But the COVID-19 quarantine has brought me back home full-time and in exchange, I was determined to bring back the nap! Not to mention, I needed to have at least an hour or two of quiet time at some point of the workday to make important calls and decompress from the chaos of our mornings.
It takes time, energy and consistency to form new habits, and napping is no exception. The first few days were ROUGH! My son cried bloody murder and despite staying with him the entire time, he refused to go to sleep for the next two hours until I finally gave up. But with each daily attempt, it got easier and quicker. Now he falls asleep in a few minutes and I am able to carry out the rest of my to-do list without interruptions. If you’re ready to bring back naptime, here are some pointers that helped me transition my son from non-napper to nap lover in the span of a week!
- Keep it consistent. This goes without saying, but if you’re planning to commit to naptime, you have to be all in! You can’t skip days or vary on the start time. Once your child is an expert napper, it will be much easier to make adjustments as needed. Much like those dreadful early days of potty training, consistence is the key! Without it, you will continue to fail miserably.
- Create a naptime routine. I recorded an entire podcast on the the importance of daily routines for children, and naptime is no different. Children need mental cues to help them transition to different parts of the day. For our naptime routine, I have Jonas change out of his play clothes to his PJ’s, we go into the bedroom and close the blinds and curtains and we tell Google Mini to play “Long Waves by the Wave Sound Group on Spotify”, his go-to sleeptime soundtrack since he was a baby.
- Set the tone for resting. There’s so many more distractions during the day, so creating a peaceful and soothing environment is necessary for napping success. As I mentioned in my last point, part of our naptime routine is to close the shades/curtains and turn on ocean waves as white noise. Diffusing some calming essential oils like lavender can also be helpful. We also make sure to use hushed voices and keep noise to a minimum during this time.
- Limit the duration of naptime. Trust me, this is for your own good, mama! Even though an extra hour of silence can be amazing and so tempting, if my son doesn’t wake up on his own within 1-1.5 hours, I will usually wake him up myself at that time. This ensures I’m not paying the price for the extra long nap come night time. I also wake him up between 7-7:30AM in the mornings (although he can usually sleep in later), to ensure he’s tired and ready to nap around 12:30PM each day.
- Set realistic expectations. Let’s face it: there’s going to be days when napping is just not in the cards. This is why in my house we refer to naptime as “Quiet Time”. I try set the expectation that at a minimum, it’s an hour of quiet time. No music, no iPads, no TV, no electronics, no toys. PERIOD. He can spend the time quietly laying in bed or browsing his books if he doesn’t feel like falling asleep (although most days he will). Since I set a realistic expectation, he actually relaxes a little more knowing the pressure is not on him to “sleep”.
I hope you find these tips helpful! It’s going to take some time, tough love and dedication on your part, but once you’ve formed the habit, you and your child will be happier and well rested. Let me know in the comments below if you’re team no-naps or nap lover. What works for you and your family? I’d love to hear more!