Taking Naps with Toddler

When your child moves from two naps to one nap, it’s a bit of a sad time for you as a parent - you are losing some of your peace and quiet time that you had before. As your child transitions out of their second nap, basically any free time you had in the afternoon is suddenly gone. Transitioning out of a nap means your child is getting older, but it’s still a hard time for you as a parent not only because your child is cranky, but simply because you lose more free time.

While a child transitioning out of nap time is tough, you can make the transition a bit smoother with a couple of simple ideas. The first idea is to keep your child on a quiet time schedule. There’s no reason that your child can’t sit in their room and play with toys or read books for an hour in the middle of the day, even if they don’t want to sleep. If you have a camera in their room, then you can simply leave them in there and let them go wild. This at least gets you a little bit of free time.

The other option, assuming you have no other kids or responsibilities during this time, is to take a nap with your child at the same time. Sleep in the same room as your child and make it a fun time. If you can sleep directly on the floor, then just get a blanket out and put it down for yourself to sleep on - bring a pillow as well. Lay down on the floor and tell your child that it’s nap time and that you’re going to sleep. Tell them to lay down to sleep as well.

The key to making this work is that you’re actually going to fall to sleep. You can’t bring your phone into the room with you (at least you can’t have it out and looking at it). You’re actually going to try to sleep on the floor in the room with your child. There is no guarantee that they will fall to sleep, but be sure to encourage them to lay down and be quiet as you lay down to sleep. It’s fine if they play a little bit in their bed, but it needs to be quiet playing. Close your eyes, clear your mind, and fall asleep if you can.

Your goal here is two-fold. First off, you want to get a little bit of sleep for yourself. This may be the perfect opportunity for a power nap if you’re not great at doing it on your own. If your child doesn’t fall to sleep, then you’re not going to sleep for too long yourself as they will wake you up. Try to fall asleep. The other goal is that your child will fall to sleep as well. By seeing you go to sleep and being quiet, hopefully they will follow suit.

We’ve recently been using this trick with our son on the weekends with great results. He doesn’t want to sleep, but if we set a blanket out on the floor for a “sleepover” with him, then he will fall asleep. It’s not immediate, and we’re usually asleep before he even lays down to sleep, but without fail over the last month he has gone to sleep as well (and a pretty deep sleep as well). He has no issues sleeping at night, even after a long nap in the afternoon, so it’s really just a matter of getting him calmed down enough to sleep.

Your child may sleep in their bed, or they may want to sleep on the floor as well. It doesn’t really matter which it is if they fall to sleep. You’ll happily have them fall asleep on the floor for a couple of hours even though it’s not as comfortable as their bed. If you need something, bring in a sleeping pad or mattress to lay on to make it a little more comfortable. Once your child is asleep, you’re welcome to get up and leave the room and let them sleep for as long as they’re able.

Taking an afternoon nap with your child can help rejuvenate your energy store, and get your child a much needed nap. While it won’t last forever, keeping it going for a few extra months can feel like a real win.