When you’ve got multiple kids at home, that aren’t old enough for school yet, it feels like a miracle if they nap at the same time. This parenting achievement isn’t a dream and there are several things you can do to to facilitate syncing nap times! You’ll have more sanity as a stay-at-home parent and your schedule will be more streamlined. Read these tips, give them a try, and then you’ll be wondering how to fill the extra time you’ve got on your hands. We won’t tell anyone if you decide to nap too!
Motherhood can be overwhelming with one child. Add even more kids and your personal time becomes even more important for your mental health. When I was pregnant with my second, I never even thought about how nap time will change for my firstborn. It was chaotic at first and I was never getting anything done when my second was born.
Fast forward to my third baby and I knew that syncing nap times for multiple kids was worth the effort. It gives me time to work, get household chores done and some occasional no-guilt self care.
It might seem farfetched, but it’s totally doable! Once your kids give you a little extra time, even if it’s only thirty minutes of napping together, you’ll feel better about your daily schedule.
Looking for some more great parenting tips? I’ve got you covered! Check out some of my favorite articles below:
- 5 Signs You’re Ready For A Third Baby
- How To Make Kindergarten Sight Words More Fun
- Expectations For Kindergarten That Are Completely False
Syncing Nap Times When You’ve Got Several Kids
The key to changing your children’s nap time habits are to change things slowly. You never want to throw any big changes at your kids. An abrupt change to their schedule can throw off bed time and cause irritability. Slowly progress and add little changes each week. It might take a few weeks for your kids to nap at the same time, but the pay off will be big!
Set A Sleepy Environment For Syncing Nap Times
When it’s time to sleep, you want all of your kids to have an optimal environment for sleeping. That starts at home. If your kids have separate rooms, you have the luxury of creating sleepy environments that are individual to their needs. Try to mimic how your child sleeps at night.
Our family uses sound machines that our children associate with sleeping. When nap time occurs, the sound machines are turned on – just like at nighttime. Black out curtains also help. You want every child to have their individual environments that they get at night time too.
Nap Time Happens After Lunch Time
Develop a routine with your nap time as the same time every day. For our family, eating after a meal helps the kids rest better. With their full tummies, and a bottle for the baby, they have a longer nap. Our older children know that nap time happens after lunch and anticipate it as part of our daily routine.
Changing your nap time doesn’t help a schedule develop and they’ll be less likely to sync nap times. Picking a time that works with everyone is so important and your time might be after a meal too!
Nap Time Might Be Quiet Time For Older Children (Until They Fall Asleep)
Explain to older children, who are capable of understanding, that nap time means you stay in bed. That will give you the freedom to control the time to yourself too. They’re not allowed to leave the bed, even if they’re not asleep yet. You still set up their bedroom environment for nap time, but maybe they read a book or listen to lullabies until they sleep. Keep a baby monitor on and reiterate that nap time is NOT play time.
If you’re still struggling to sync kids nap times, after trying these tips, you might want to turn to a sleep expert. There are doctors who specialize exclusively children’s sleep. I love the Gentle Sleep Book: No-Tears, Sleep Solutions For Parents of Newborns to Five-Year-Olds, which is available on Amazon. Don’t give up and keep pushing towards syncing nap times because the pay off is always worth it for your sanity!