Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Peanut's Extraordinary Nap Routine

Any parent of a young child knows how important naps are to ensure quality sleep at night. Whenever Peanut gets plenty of rest throughout the day, she then bestows upon herself, and us, a long night of continuous sleep. The challenge lies in getting her to take her naps each day. Enter, nap routine.

This routine was discovered upon by accident. Last week I wore her in the moby wrap (Peanut's favorite place to be) to a new moms group one afternoon. It was time for her nap, and after eating, she screamed for about 3 minutes before conking out. I found this strange, but I kept it in mind for other days. Maybe putting her in the moby wrap would help get her to sleep when she was supposed to?

I tried it the next day, and it worked then too. I did it again, and it worked a third time. Then, over the weekend, I thought it would be fun for Peanut to listen to some music (Stevie Nicks). Little did I know, she was tired and ready for a nice long slumber. I danced around with her in the moby wrap, and in an instant, she was out! Who knew music could have such a sedative effect on newborns? Or at least, this one...

So, whenever Peanut shows signs of tiredness, I gently pick her up and plop her in the moby wrap, turn on some Stevie Nicks, and dance with her for a minute before she turns limp like a log. And strange as it may be, I'm sticking with this routine, because, hey, it works and Mommy C needs her sleep too.

What kind of nap routines (if any) do you have for your baby?

5 comments:

Emily said...

Oh, how I have a love/hate relationship with naps. For the first three or four weeks of his life, Jericho was a superb napper. He'd eat, then sleep for two, sometimes three, hours.

Then something changed. He fights naps constantly. I don't know what it is, but if he doesn't establish his own routine in the next month or so, I am going to more actively pursue "scheduling."

Today I tried wrapping him in his swaddling blanket (the kind with velcro) and turned the fan on for white noise. That seems to be working, as he's been asleep for two hours! We'll see if this proves to be successful. :-)

Rachel said...

Emily, I sure hope it works! Dallas sleeps in a swaddleme at night too, but last night it was dirty and we practically ran to Babys R Us to buy a second one so she could sleep!

Unplanned Cooking said...

Our tot twirls my hair. I think it's so sweet. Sometimes she tries to twirl hers but always ends up grabbing a handful of mine :).

cash cook said...

well, no baby, but our doggie routine is pretty simple - throw sticks for Ginger to fetch over and over until she eventually wears herself out, and subsequently, passes out. works every time.............although i don't suppose Dallas knows how to fetch - or has a particular interest in sticks, for that matter.

Linsey said...

So great when you can find a good routine, good sleep makes everyone happy!! I am so thankful my kids are good sleepers, otherwise I think I would insane! Thanks for your sweet comment today! I have a Canon 5D Mark II. Love finding new blogs to follow, your peanut is adorable!