Little ones can benefit greatly from making associations and having established routines. Having routines is particularly important when it comes to rest. If you are struggling with transitioning baby into a nap routine that works we put together this handy chart to give you some idea how much and how often babies and toddlers generally sleep. As you put together a pre-nap routine for your little one we wanted to share with you a few ideas.
Help Baby Gain Control
By teaching your little ones signs for bed, tired or sleep you can help her reduce the stress associated with unnecessary naps and provide her with some control, it also equips you as a parent to give baby visual queues associated with nap time.
A Nap-Friendly Place
A good way of signaling to baby that it is time for nap is to try as much as possible to always have nap-time in the same location. Make it a place that is quiet and has dimmed illumination. We have incorporated several elements to our nap room we have a lighted mobile that creates soft reflections on the walls and we also use a sound conditioner similar to the one available in yesterday’s posted giveaway.
Go From Whisper to Signs
We have three go-to storybooks for our nap routine. We begin by quietly whispering the story without the book and gently place baby on their bed, as we continue the narrative we sign some of the elements of the story. Don’t be surprised if baby begins to sign while sleeping as their brain develops language skills.
