How I Got My Baby To Nap

Let me first start by saying that my first baby boy has been a dream. I count my blessings every day that even though we have our struggles here and there, he is a pretty easy baby. With that being said, one of the biggest struggles I have had with Luke is his sleep. He was not a natural born sleeper. Before I had him, I had this preconceived thought that babies in general fall asleep when they’re tired and that’s it. I had NO idea that you actually had to put your baby to sleep. And if you just wait for your baby to fall asleep…oh man, you are in for a rude awakening.

Some parents are blessed with easy sleepers then there are the rest of us. There were days especially in the beginning where Luke needed to have at least four naps where I felt like ALL I was doing was trying to get him to nap. Those days were hard and left Luke and I pretty cranky. There were days where I was in survival mode and anyway I could get him to fall asleep even if it meant rocking him, driving in the car, nursing him to sleep–all the no-no’s that you aren’t “supposed” to do–I did anyways. Because well it meant Luke and I can get the rest we both needed. I am not a get your baby to nap professional by any means (I wish I was) but there are tips and tricks that I learned along the way that finally got Luke to be a nap champion. It was a long struggle but we got there. Of course, there are still off days (when you throw in sleep regressions, teething, and milestones) but in general I can get him to nap well.

I have a lot to say on this topic so if you are having sleep struggles like I did–stay tuned and subscribe for more detail posts on sleep below.

For right now, this is just a general list of tips that I found extremely helpful in getting Luke to nap regularly and more than thirty minutes. Keep in mind that every baby is different and what works for my baby might not work for yours but it is worth a try. You may be surprised with how effective these tips can be. If you are exhausted, running on coffee and no sleep then keep on reading. I hope these tips can get your baby napping so you can get the rest you deserve and so desperately need.

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Before we get into all the details, if you currently have a newborn then keep in mind that newborns aren’t ready to be taught to self soothe and their sleep times will be all over the place. With a newborn, you cannot spoil them or form any bad habits. You do what you have to do to make sure your baby sleeps. When your baby is about 3-4 months, then you can start to teach your baby to self soothe. However, I didn’t start with Luke until he was about 6 to 7 months because my main concern was getting him to nap and nap longer than thirty minutes.

Tip #1: Pay attention to awake times.

This is by far the best tip I could have ever received. It was a game changer. When I went in for Luke’s one month check up, his doctor asked me how his awake times were. I was confused and was like, “what are you talking about?”. He explained to me that Luke should only be awake for 45 minutes to an hour. I was in shock. Oops, there were times where he would be up for double that time. I had no idea that you had to pay attention to when your baby was awake.

Awake time is the moment that your baby’s eyes open to when they shut. This includes the process of getting your baby to sleep. This was hard for me in the beginning because Luke would nurse for forty-sixty minutes alone. Plus, I’d need to change him and I’d like to interact with him too. I couldn’t figure out how I could cram all of that in, in just a mere hour. I mentioned that to my doctor and he said that you don’t have to necessarily count nursing as the whole time just depending on if his eyes are closed or not. As long as staying within that time frame, give or take a half hour made a huge difference for me. I’d usually play with him for about twenty-thirty minutes after nursing then I would rock him to sleep. To my surprise, he fell asleep quicker and didn’t cry when I’d set him down. Major improvement.

Below is a list of awake times for each stage. This is meant to be sued as a guide. Your baby is unique and may be able to stay up a little longer or a little later.

Age	Awake Times
Birth-6 weeks	45 mins to 1 Hour
6 weeks-3 months	1 hour to 1 hour and 45 mins
3-6 months	2 hours
6 to 9 months	2-3 hours
9 to 12 months	3 hours

Tip #2: Pay attention to your baby’s individual needs.

I mentioned above that awake times are super important and is what helped me with getting Luke to nap well. However, you also may have to tweak it here and there based on your baby’s individual sleep needs. For example, Luke was more tired in the morning so he was ready for his first nap much sooner than the recommended awake time but could stay up longer in between naps after his first nap. So I tweaked it a little bit within fifteen minutes or so. When he was about three months, I’d keep him up for an hour and then work on putting him to sleep. He’d usually fall asleep around an hour and half of being awake. Then for the other two-three naps depending on the length of his naps, he’d be awake for roughly two hours in between each naps. It was a science project trying to figure out what worked for him but eventually I found the perfect recipe following the guide of awake times and adjusting it to Luke’s needs.

Tip #3: Pay attention to your baby’s sleep cues.

Luke didn’t always give me sleep cues especially in the beginning which is where following the awake times really helped. When he was about five to six months, I started to catch on to his sleep cues. He would get really fussy and start to yawn constantly. He would even rub his eyes. The main cue though was when he was fussy. Keep in mind, fussiness can also be a sign of boredom around that age. To know for sure whether he was tired or bored, I would see how long he had been up first and if it was under the recommend awake time–I’d move him to a different room and he would be fine. If he continued to cry when I put him down to play or grabbed a different toy then I knew it was time for a nap and I’d begin our nap routine. When I started paying attention to his cues, it helped drastically for his naps–mainly in his naps lengthening from his crap naps (thirty minute naps) to at least forty-five minutes to an hour.

Tip #4: Create a sleep conductive environment. 

When baby starts to become more aware, this is so important. Before I made Luke’s sleep environment ideal for sleeping, he would never nap more than thirty minutes. He couldn’t fall asleep or transfer sleep cycles.

How to create a sleep conductive environment

• Make sure the room your baby sleeps in is dark: Dark equals sleep time and daylight means play time so if it’s super light in the room, it’s going to be hard for baby to fall asleep and stay asleep. I would recommend some Blackout Shades to keep the room nice and dark.
  

  

• Make sure the room is at the optimum temperature: We keep Luke’s room at 73’F and that seems to be the perfect temperature for him during the day and night.
• Make sure there is some kind of background noise: We always lay Luke down to his Noise Machine on and it runs for about thirty minutes. We also have a fan going in the background to create noise consistently. We have found that he sleeps way better for naps with background noise going consistently.

The noise machine below is one I highly recommend. Luke loves it and even turns it on and off himself to soothe himself back to sleep.

Tip #5: Have a nap time routine.

I had no idea how important routine is for babies. Babies thrive off routines. When I finally put in place a nap routine for Luke, it was so much easier to put him down for a nap. He was tired around the same time and when we started the routine he knew it was time for sleep. It doesn’t have to be a drawn out routine, in fact I would recommend to keep it short and sweet. The main routine I had for Luke was this:

• I’d put him in his Swaddle (swaddled when he couldn’t roll then left his arms out once he could roll). While swaddling him, I would say “Luke, it’s nap time. Time to go to sleep.” Below are the swaddles we love and still use for naps!

  

• I’d turn on his noise machine and fan. Then I would turn off the lights.
• I’d nurse him so I’d make sure he was nice and full.
• I’d give him his pacifier and rock with him while singing him a lullaby for a little but NOT until he fell asleep. Then I would give him a kiss and set him down.

Sometimes he would fall right to sleep. Other times he would play for about fifteen minutes then lay down or he would cry. I would let him cry and play for a maximum of twenty minutes and if he didn’t fall asleep on his own then I would rock with him for a little bit and set him down again drowsy but awake. Eventually he would fall asleep.

Tip #6: Make sure baby is fed BEFORE nap time.

This was a huge game changer for me. I always fed Luke after he woke up from a nap and in between naps but I never thought to feed him before. I just assumed he was good. When I started offering my breast to him before nap, he would eat then I would continue with our nap routine. He slept longer than his usual thirty minutes as soon as I made that change. He probably couldn’t fall back to sleep because he was hungry.

If your baby tends to fall asleep at the breast or to a bottle, feed him in a room that is bright then move him into a dark room so that way he does not associate eating with sleeping (trust me that is a hard habit to break later on).

Tip #7: Try to avoid on the go naps.

On the go naps can lead to an overtired baby. An overtired baby will take forever to get to nap and will not nap long at all. A baby that will not nap will not sleep well at night. Before you know it, you are stuck in the overtired cycle and we all know that is just not fun. When a baby falls asleep in the car or in the stroller, baby isn’t in a deep sleep therefore not getting the restorative sleep that baby needs. It just takes the “edge” off. Obviously, if you have places to be then every once in awhile is fine. Or if that is the ONLY way you can get your baby to sleep then some kind of nap is better than none. However, if you want to see an improvement in naps then I’d recommend taking baby out between naps. 

Tip #8: Have baby nap in the same place every day.

When I put Luke down in his crib for naps, I noticed his night sleep got WAY better. After I consistently put him down every day for naps in his crib, he learned that his crib is where he sleeps. I know that this is one of the contributing factors that helped him learn to self soothe. 

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These are the tips and tricks that I learned from my ongoing nap struggle I had with Luke. Once I implemented these tips, his naps little by little improved. Keep in mind, that it takes time to figure out your baby’s individual sleep times but I promise these tips are a great way to ease that process. Luke is now a nap champion with the occasional off days but that’s normal and the same can happen for you.

Stay tuned for more on sleep…I plan on discussing why your baby won’t nap and all about how to improve night sleep. If you had a baby who wouldn’t sleep and you finally figured out what worked, share below for other struggling mamas! 🙂