A common topic that leaves parents with many doubts is the subject of naps. That's why we wanted to bring in psychologist and therapist Mafalda Navarro to explain more about this subject.
First of all, Mafalda points out a basic rule that we should bear in mind: the less your baby sleeps during the day, the less he will sleep at night. But why? The more our bodies sleep, the more they need to sleep. The more breaks our children have, the more they need to sleep and the better their quality of sleep will be at night.
Sleep disorders are often due to a lack of or too few hours of daytime sleep. So today we want to help you better guide your children's naps.
Psychologist Mafalda begins our conversation by saying that the first year of life is very important - our bodies are subject to a very high rate of growth and it's a time that we won't have again in our lives. This means that we have to sleep in order to have good development and growth at all levels. This is the year when children sleep more!
Normally, in the early days, it's normal for a child to take between 4 and 5 naps a day and still sleep through the night. However, as time goes by, these will change and decrease. But we must never forget that all these variables will depend on the needs of each baby.
How do we know that children need to sleep? We have to look at the signs - being less attentive, irritable or rubbing their eyes can all be signs of sleepiness. But how did the night go? If you're in a good mood - it could be a sign that your naps were good and enough. If not, if they can't fall asleep or wake up often - these could be indicators of camouflaged sleep, where the child is unable or incapable of resting.
The more activity children have during the day, the more they need to sleep - there's a greater waste of energy and they need to recover.
Another important point: see if the child falls asleep easily - if they fall asleep easily, it's because they were tired and it was a good time to go to bed; if, on the other hand, they don't fall asleep and become restless, it means that the child is so sleepy that they are more excited and find it very difficult to calm down and fall asleep.
In addition to all these scenarios, we should always adapt nap times to the child's needs.
On the other hand, when we have a child who is in a better mood and doesn't show signs of sleep so easily, it may turn out that the little one is extremely tired and can't calm down and get out of this state of excitement. We need to calm them down and put them to sleep.
How many naps does a child need? It depends on several factors:
- Age: the number of naps differs according to age - a 1-month-old baby won't sleep the same amount of time as a 1-year-old;
- Growth phase: if your baby is in a very big growth phase (cognitive and motor) - learning to talk or walk - they need more rest. Naps should not be skipped.
- Daily activity: a child who spends a lot of time at home and is not very stimulated will not have the same sleep needs as a child who is more physically and cognitively stimulated.
Mafalda believes that naps should be adapted to each child, but there can be a general pattern to the number of naps:
- Up to 3 months: babies usually sleep and eat all day. If this doesn't happen, they should be seen;
- From 4 months: there is a change in the number of naps - 4 naps a day;
- 4/5 months: there is a gap between naps during the day;
- 12 months: 2 naps a day, depending on the context they are in;
- 15 - 18 months: 1 longer nap ( ideally after lunch).
It's important to pay attention to the time your child takes naps. Also, nap times should last as long as the child needs them - each child is different and has their own needs.
Our therapist also mentions that routine and family dynamics are important in this regard, as there needs to be a balance between moments of rest and quality time with parents.
One note: asking children if they're sleepy is not the best option - they'll say they're not sleepy when in reality they are. We must be careful with the questions we ask, we could be disrespecting the child's answer.
In general, children can't fall asleep because they miss their parents and missing spending time with them. Naps end up representing time away from their parents. You need to explain that naps are necessary and good and that the next time they'll be able to play with that toy with their parents. But the opposite can also happen: skipping naps can often cause the child to get extremely tired and have trouble falling asleep. There has to be a balance.
The two aspects that the psychologist emphasises are: the environment in which children take naps must be suitable and that moment must, at the same time, be appropriate to the circumstances; the way they fall asleep is important and must be worked on according to the age of each child.
We would like to thank Mafalda Navarro for clarifying our doubts and for this conversation full of interesting and necessary information.
Here's a video of her sharing this interesting topic in more detail.
The video is available on Wedoble's Facebook page - https://fb.watch/lqqFymbMps/
What about you? How do you deal with this nap situation? We want to know what your tips and tricks were and your opinion.
