7 Ways to Help Your Baby Nap for the Right Amount of Time

Naptime is easily one of the golden moments of anybody’s day, whether you’re a baby, a parent, or an adult living by yourself if your partner. Everybody loves naps. However, as a parent, your baby’s naps may be more important to you than most.

Not only can you get more chores done and have some much-needed downtime to recharge your own batteries, but naps also help to keep your baby happy and healthy. If you’re worrying that your baby’s naps aren’t long enough, meaning you can’t get everything done, or your baby is very grumpy and not well-rested, here are the seven tips to make them longer.

1.   Understand Sleep Patterns

You may not need to increase nap time if your baby is sleeping for the right amount of time. Generally speaking, short naps are under 45 minutes, whereas long ones can extend to 90 minutes. In an adult, a sleep cycle lasts around 90 minutes, whereas in babies, they’re about 50-60 minutes.

So, averagely your baby should be sleeping around 50-60 minutes, but this can depend on how tired they are and what they have been doing in the day. If your baby is sleeping around an hour, you should be fine anyway.

2.   Work on Nighttime Sleep

“Paradoxically, if you can get your baby to sleep better at night, you can get them to sleep better in the day, so always work on making the night time sleep as best as you can. If your baby isn’t sleeping well at night, it will be overtired, and training naps will be near impossible. Try to counter sleep deprivation as much as possible,” explains Darcy Whiting, a blogger at Stateofwriting and Paperfellows.

3.   Focus on Awake Times

Of course, if your baby has only been awake for two hours since night time, they’re not going to want to nap unless they didn’t sleep well at night. You need to make sure you’re considering how long your baby is awake for, so you know when the best times to nap is. Sometimes, the longer your baby is awake, the easier they’ll be able to nap!

4.   Create a Napping Space

If your house is busy and there’s a lot going on, your baby is going to be far more curious than they will want to sleep. However, if you set up a napping space that’s ideal for helping baby fall asleep, this could be one of the best moves you make.

Choose nice friendly colors for walls, not too bright or vibrant, and maybe have a mobile or sleepy sound or music playing in the background. There are a ton of fantastic baby sleeping music videos on YouTube that you’re sure to love as well!

5. Have a Snack/Meal

“We all know the feeling where you’ve just filled your belly, and now that you’re feeling nice and full, you just want to put your head for a bit and nap. Don’t worry; your baby is the same, so if you have a time planned as nap time, then make sure they eat something at least 30 minutes beforehand,” explains Emily Hardy, a lifestyle writer at Boomessays and Australianhelp.

6.   Wind Down into Nap Time

You can’t go from frantic and high-energy playing to nap time in a heartbeat, but instead, need to wind the energy levels down to help baby sleep.  This could be anything from reading together, dimming the lights, and just watching something relaxing that can help put the idea of sleep in your baby’s mind.

7.   Use a Nap Schedule

All human beings are creatures of habit, your baby included. If you have nap time at 3 pm every afternoon, over time, this will develop as a routine, and it will get to a point where you won’t be able to keep them awake at this time! Always keep nap times as consistent as possible. Incorporate them into your routine. This also gives you consistent You time!

Conclusion

As you can see, there are lots of ways you can help your baby have the best nap time experience possible, but mostly it will trial and error to see what works for you. Learn about napping, see what your baby responds to, and doesn’t respond to, and you’ll be well on your way to happy nap times!

Molly Crockett is a successful marketing writer for Academized and Ukwritings, where she shares her unique lifestyle tips and personal development advice with her audience. She also writes for Essayroo.

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