{"id":785,"date":"2021-04-01T11:00:25","date_gmt":"2021-04-01T11:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/whisbear.al\/a-good-nap-which-means-what-exactly\/"},"modified":"2021-05-26T10:32:16","modified_gmt":"2021-05-26T10:32:16","slug":"a-good-nap-which-means-what-exactly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whisbear.al\/en\/a-good-nap-which-means-what-exactly\/","title":{"rendered":"A Good Nap \u2013 Which Means What, Exactly?"},"content":{"rendered":"

As numerous studies show, naps are very healthy and important for baby development. How can you provide good napping conditions?<\/p>\n

A newborn baby or infant sleeps more than adults. But this does not mean they sleep more at night, quite the contrary. At night, babies wake often \u2013 they need a cuddle or are hungry. What they lose at night, they make up for by napping in the day. They know what\u2019s good for them \u2013 a nap is a perfect way to regain strength.<\/p>\n

Scientists are still studying how naps affect child development. Most conclude that they are very good for cognitive skills development. Naps improve memory and allow the brain to remember the information it stores. Importantly, it has been proved that naps are also beneficial for speech development and improve remembering words and expressions. You can read more about it here and here.<\/p>\n

What does napping mean from a practical perspective? There is only one answer to that, however irritating it is: it depends. On the age, the child\u2019s personality, the rhythm of the day. However, we can try to avoid arduous soothing rituals and make the naps really adjusted to the baby\u2019s needs. Here are a few tips.<\/p>\n

Regulate the rhythm of the day<\/strong><\/p>\n

Infants can\u2019t tell the difference between day and night. They only sleep and eat. During the first weeks after birth, the parents can also follow their needs (and nap when the children are asleep because we don\u2019t know when we get another chance to do that). Little by little, introduce a regular rhythm of the day. When you start to take your child for walks, take care to always do it around the same time. Rocked in their pram or sling, children fall asleep, and remember that this is a good time for sleeping. The same goes for bathing, massaging and other everyday rituals \u2013 every day they should occur at the same time and in the same order. This makes the child feel safe because they know what is going to happen next. Slowly, very gradually and systematically, your baby will learn about regularity, and it will be easier for them to move on to \u201canother point on the agenda.\u201d Moreover, routines can also help you realize why your baby is fussy \u2013 when you realize that it\u2019s nursing or napping time, the baby\u2019s behaviour will be easier to interpret.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Adjust light to the time of the day<\/strong><\/p>\n

Falling asleep requires changes in brain patterns, and this is triggered by hormones and neurotransmitters. The brain is programmed to associate sleep with darkness. Therefore, make sure that you provide your child with a natural day-and-night cycle. When it\u2019s night, it should be dark. When you nurse or change the baby\u2019s nappy or clothes at night, don\u2019t switch on bright light, but rather a small lamp with a dark shade.<\/p>\n

Conversely, don\u2019t keep your child in the dark during the day. When they nap, you might want to muffle the light (draw the curtains), but don\u2019t make the room completely dark. If the baby\u2019s naps are long and they wake up often at night, it\u2019s better to leave the curtains open during a nap. Let the baby\u2019s nervous system understand: it\u2019s light, we\u2019re waking up soon!<\/p>\n

In the evening, try to avoid using a ceiling lamp, and turn off screens that give offlight around the baby. A smartphone\u2019s screen makes a room very bright even though it\u2019s twilight outside and we\u2019d want the baby\u2019s brain to switch into the night mode.<\/p>\n

Observe the baby\u2019s changing needs<\/strong><\/p>\n

A newborn baby may fall asleep after each nursing session. But when they are 2-3 months old, they become more active during the day. Most children at this age switch into the 3-nap mode, with nursing, playing and eye contact with parents in between. Six-month-olds and older children may need only two naps (e.g. during the morning and afternoon walk). Older infants are more and more interested in what is going on around them and are easily distracted. When they are about one year old, they\u2019ll probably stop automatically associating a pram with sleeping \u2013 they will want to watch the world, or even leave the pram and crawl or walk near the parent. In that case, it\u2019s good to change the napping ritual and do it after an active walk and light meal, when you\u2019re back home.<\/p>\n

\"Whisbear-ndihmues<\/p>\n

Each change to the number of naps needs time for adjustment and patience. During the transition the baby may be especially anxious and fussy, or very active, especially in the evening when we\u2019d like to convince them to go to sleep. It\u2019s normal. You can\u2019t just \u201cprogramme\u201d another sleeping mode in a child. But they\u2019ll adjust after some time. Remember, though, that there are no standards listing correct nap lengths or how often they should occur. It\u2019s personal and each child has different needs.<\/p>\n

Introduce soothing rituals<\/p>\n

Newborn children usually fall asleep while nursing. It\u2019s natural. But you might want to know how else you can soothe your child to sleep. Typically, gentle rocking and stroking help, as well as a soft lullaby, pink noise, or carrying in a sling.Try to discover your baby\u2019s favourite ritual, one which will help them calm down and fall asleep. Otherwise, the breastfeeding mum will be the only one able to soothe the baby and that\u2019s unfair \u2013 fathers have the right to help the child sleep too (and mum will have time for herself). Introducing such a\u201csoothing\u201d ritual will help in organizing babysitters (e.g. it\u2019s easier then to leave the child with grandparents and be sure they\u2019ll be able to soothe them to sleep).<\/p>\n

Last issue to discuss: should we replace nursing with a pacifier? In fact, some children fall asleep easier when they have a pacifier, but others spit it out with disgust. The rule is: a newborn child who is breastfed shouldn\u2019t use apacifier in the first 4 weeks of life. Later, try to avoid them as well. Prolonged sucking may lead to malocclusion, weight gain and problems in regulating emotions. But some children have a very strong need for sucking and they, once they are at least 1 month old, can use a pacifier, but as rarely and briefly as possible.<\/p>\n

\"Whisbear-lodra<\/p>\n

Teach them to calm down<\/p>\n

Some children grow out of naps early and don\u2019t want them as early as in the second year. You can\u2019t force anyone to sleep. Especially that the more nervous the parents are, trying to force something, the more difficult it is for the child to calm down.<\/p>\n

What can you do if that\u2019s the case, especially that experts agree on the importance of naps? Your child should spend time outdoors, not in front of TV, tablet, or smartphone. Introduce the ritual of resting after lunch. Mute your phone, draw the curtains, go to bed with your child to cuddle and read books. Perhaps sleep will come? Or not. Regardless, it\u2019s a good idea to teach them to regenerate strength and energy.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As numerous studies show, naps are very healthy and important for baby development. How can you provide good napping conditions? A newborn baby or infant sleeps more than adults. But this does not mean they sleep more at night, quite the contrary. At night, babies wake often \u2013 they need a cuddle or are hungry. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":759,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"As numerous studies show, naps are very healthy and important for baby development. A newborn baby or infant sleeps more than adults.","_seopress_robots_index":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[84,81,82,79,80,88],"class_list":["post-785","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tips-and-advice","tag-baby-shower","tag-baby-sleep","tag-pink-noise","tag-sleep-aid","tag-teething","tag-whisbear-giveaway"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whisbear.al\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/785","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/whisbear.al\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/whisbear.al\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whisbear.al\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whisbear.al\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=785"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/whisbear.al\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/785\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whisbear.al\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/759"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whisbear.al\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whisbear.al\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whisbear.al\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}