Posts Tagged ‘infant napping’

Naps can be challenging to get from your baby and sometimes it seems like he just won’t nap. Part of the reason your baby won’t nap is because day and night sleep are handled by two different parts of the brain. What your baby knows how to do at night doesn’t necessarily mean he will do the same thing during the day. Depending on how perceptive he is, the sunlight can keep him up or just playing with the smallest piece of lint in the crib. There is a whole lot of fun to miss during the day!

Another reason why your baby won’t nap is because the drive for your baby’s body to sleep at night is strongest. Our internal clocks strongly push us to sleep at night, but during the day, while our babies are sleepy and they do need to nap, the drive to sleep is not strong enough to make it easy for all babies. This is when it gets frustrating. You might try 45 minutes to get a 30 minute nap. And, you might do this 3 times a day!

When your baby won’t nap it’s most frustrating when she’s cranky because of the non-napping or when she refuses to sleep through the night because she’s so overtired come bedtime that she wakes up often at night, unable to settle. Though there are a few babies who appear to do fine without enough napping, naps are a key component of good night sleep, happy babies, and happy parents.

Most of the time, if your baby won’t nap, it can be solved by avoiding some mistakes that many parents make. Today, I begin offering a new free e-Book called 7 Common Napping Mistakes that discusses the 7 most common napping mistakes and what you can do about them. Just like my other free e-Book, 5 Ways to Help Your Child Sleep Through the Night, this e-Book is completely free, with no obligation. To get your free copy, sign up here.