The Art of Nap Time…

I haven’t mentioned this on the blog before… but my baby loves to fight naptime.  He is a terrific sleeper, generally goes down immediately after being fed each night around 7.  He never ever fights going to bed for the night.  In fact, often he fights being held after a feeding and practically begs to be put in his crib so he can sleep restfully.  Naptime, however, is different.

Now on a large scale, meaning in comparison to other babies, I’m sure Dylan is a dream in the sleeping department.  But often during the day it does take a lot of codling before our little man will go down to bed. I always say to Dave and the Nana’s – that the best place for him to nap is in his crib.  Often they tell me they tried but he just didn’t want to sleep in there.  He will fight you, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t want his crib.

Five ways to Encourage Nap Time

1.  At the first sign of exhuastion, the beginning of tears, rubbing eyes, yawning, bring baby upstairs to his nursery and treat Naptime like bedtime. Complete with swaddling, white noise and the crib.

2. Try putting the baby in the crib with the TV (Soother) on so he can try to fall asleep on his own.  I usually do this first and then stay in the room because it usually doesn’t work, but it usually does calm him down

3. When he cries out, don’t leave him there in the crib, pick him up and rock him in your glider.  Face him away from you – this helps so he doesn’t look up at you and stay awake. Keep rocking even when he is fighting you…

4.  Once he calms down, get the pacifier in and continue rocking.  Gently massage in between his eyes with your finger.  If his eyes close, you know he is really really tired.  Continue doing this while whispering “Shhhh…”

5. Repeat Steps 3 & 4 until he is fast asleep. Then gently place him in his crib.

By doing this, my little man almost always sleeps at least an hour if not more.  Ten minutes to get him down to sleep and an hour of sleeptime.