Ah, naptime. Isn’t it amazing that we couldn’t stand it as kids but love it as adults? New babies take many naps during the day and end up cutting back to 2 naps a day sometime around 9-12 months. My children had given up their morning nap by the time they were 18 months old.
Naptime, and bedtime too, are usually easier if there is a routine involved. A simple routine is to read a book to your child or sing a lullaby right before putting them to bed. If you start this early on they will learn that this means naptime is next and will usually settle into it easier.
Children grow out of naps at different times and parents give up on their child napping at different stages as well. As a mom of 6 I highly value naptime because it is also my chance to nap or get something done. So even when my children seem to be growing out of the need to sleep, I will usually continue to have them have “quiet time.” That quiet time consists of them doing something quietly in their rooms for about an hour. Often they will read (or look at) books, play with quiet toys, do puzzles and sometimes they even end up falling asleep.
If you have little ones that have big beds that they can get out of, be sure that you have secured any furniture to the walls and that there are no blind cords hanging in the room for safety sake. Also be sure that there aren’t any choking hazards in the room so that you can feel comfortable letting them have quiet time by themselves in their rooms. If they share a room with an older sibling be sure to put up anything the older sibling wouldn’t want messed with.
How do you make naptime easier on you and your child? I would love to hear!
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