Tuesday Jul 27, 2021
Baby Fights Naps – Naps! What To Do When Baby Wont Nap
https://youtu.be/amxo25tSAjk Does your little one fight naps? Ha ha, I hear you. You are not alone. Do you find yourself pacing around or walking around with the push chair and just, no matter what you do, you cannot get them to take that sleep. They just fight, fight, fight, even though you know that they're exhausted and really need the sleep. Well, this is all too familiar for us. We know exactly what you're going through. Many, many parents are struggling with the same thing. But the good news is, we have a solution and we know how to help you to overcome this so that your little one can get the naps they really, really need. Stick around because we're going to share the keys to getting this on track. The first thing that I'm giving you to help you to get your little one napping well is to understand and to know the ideal intervals for naps at your little one's age, because this changes with age. The older they get, the longer they are able to be awake between sleeps. If you know what that looks like, you're far more likely to attempt to get your little one down for a sleep at a time that's going to fit better for them. There's no point in trying to force your little one, or trying and trying and trying to get your little one to sleep, when it's not the ideal window for them. Maybe they're under-tired, maybe they're overtired. And you might think, "But I know my child's exhausted. Why aren't they sleeping?" Because perhaps they're so overtired, they're wired. When we go into an overtired state, the brain releases hormones that actually are chemically keeping us awake, even though we're exhausted. You could be fighting a losing battle if you're trying to get your little one to try to go to sleep at the wrong time for them. Knowing what those intervals are is like a sleep secret weapon. And the next thing to note is the ideal nap length. These two go hand in hand. By knowing how long they ought to be asleep for will also help you, because if they are catnapping and if they are grabbing 20, 30 minutes here and there, they're not getting quality rest. They're not getting the sleep they really need. If you know how long they ought to sleep for, you can help them to get that sleep. If they wake too soon, you can work on a resettling technique and to try to get them back off to sleep, rather than just accepting that that's it now. That's the end of that nap. And I say they go hand in hand because actually getting them down for the sleep at the ideal optimal window is more likely to lead to the ideal optimal length of nap as well. Just understanding those things and knowing what that looks like at every age and stage means that you're informed and you can get little one down at the right time and for the right amount of time. Now, something that is often overlooked when you're facing nap challenges is bedtime. Bedtime's important too. It plays a part in this because overtiredness is going to sabotage the naps. And if your little one is overtired because bedtime is not great or takes too long, or they're going to sleep too late, if they're overtired, then the next day, they're overtired already. Again, fighting a losing battle because they're going to find it very difficult to go to sleep when they're overtired. Of course, occasionally, they will crash and burn and they will just zonk out, but that's not what will happen regularly. Those are usually one-offs, and then not great quality. And the other thing to look at is the sleep onset. You could have these things checked off your list and go, "Yep, yep, yep. Got that. Got that." But what about the sleep onset? And by sleep onset, I mean, how your little one falls to sleep. Is there something that does it for them or is there something you n...