All of us mothers know the importance of rest and naps for babies and how essential they are for healthy 1 development, but there are always questions or even difficulty in establishing nap routines and maintaining a healthy daily routine.

As a sleep consultant, I notice that one of the biggest challenges for mothers is getting their little ones to get enough rest during the day. Often, we can adjust nighttime sleep fairly easily, babies surprise us, but when it comes to naps… it’s a real “party.”

Today I would like to share with Famivita’s readers some tips on how to extend those naps, since nighttime sleep does not replace the rest children need during the day until about age 3. In addition, morning naps have a different function from afternoon naps, and generally babies only start taking one nap a day from around 18 months old (some a bit before that). The nap duration varies a lot from baby to baby2, but to be truly restorative, naps should ideally be at least 45 minutes. Short naps of 15 or 20 minutes can leave your baby irritable, fussy, and quite stressed throughout the day.

Let’s go to our tips

– Keep a routine for naps as well. Babies need security and to understand when it’s time to sleep. Doing a shortened nap routine (it doesn’t have to be anything elaborate) that signals to your baby it’s time to rest will lower their anxiety and help your little one become calmer and ready for sleep.

– Respect your baby’s nap time. You don’t need to completely isolate the environment or stop everything you’re doing while your baby sleeps, but many children are sensitive to noises and won’t be able to relax if the house doesn’t quiet down a little. Loud conversations, vacuum cleaners, or the TV can disrupt your baby’s nap.

– Keep a diary and note the times your baby usually gets sleepy and try to adjust their routine to those times. They usually have a pattern. Don’t wait too long to put your baby down or, if they become overtired, they might start crying and take much longer to settle down.

– Try to help your child keep sleeping. If they tend to wake up after 20 minutes, stay by their side and try to help them sleep a little longer. Find out what soothes your baby the most and use the right tool to get them back to sleep: white noise, gentle patting on the back, or a soft stroke on the head.

– The most important tip of all: if nothing helps, it could be that your baby is sleeping too many hours at night. That’s right! A baby who needs about 14 hours of sleep within a 24-hour period, and is sleeping 12 hours at night, won’t be able to nap for more than 2 hours during the entire day—and often that’s not enough. Assess how long your child sleeps at night because this is often the source of your baby’s nap issues. In these cases, it’s worth making some changes to your routine so your baby goes to bed a bit later or wakes up a bit earlier. Everything depends on how you structure the daily routine.

Naps are very important for your baby. Having good-quality daytime sleep will leave your baby calmer, more cheerful for activities, and far less irritable. Try to make nap time something pleasant. The routine can be enjoyable for both baby and parents. Lots of patience and keen observation are needed to ensure high-quality naps!

Michele Melão is a certified infant sleep consultant and baby planner by the International Academy of Baby Planner Professionals (IABPP) and the International Maternity Institute (IMI), California. She is a partner at Maternitycoach.com.br – a consultancy specializing in various services for expectant mothers and babies.

See also: Your Baby’s Naps – 6 Important Things Every Mother Should Know

Photos: Andrew Malone, sima dimitric