to bed right after the rubbing starts, he’ll pop
back up,” says his mom, Krista. For a child
who wakes up after, say, 15 minutes, try
waiting a bit before checking on him. “
Comfort him if you can’t stand listening to him
cry, but leave him in bed for a while instead
of letting him get up,” says Pedrick. Eventually he’ll learn to put himself back to sleep.
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SNOOZE SOLUTION Lots of kids balk at napping in their
crib—even if they give you no trouble at night. But if your child
insists on being held or rocked to sleep, you need to break her
of the habit ASAP. Otherwise, she may never nap when you’re
not around (and you’ll never have your hands free when she
does). “Sure, she’s going to protest at first, but if you stick with
it she’ll adjust eventually,” says Deborah Pedrick, founder of
the advice site Familysleep.com.
It helps to establish a pre-nap routine that mimics what you
do at bedtime, such as reading a story followed by singing a
lullaby. Your child should be drowsy (but still awake) when you
put her down. And do your best to make the room cool, dark,
quiet, and cozy, so it feels like nighttime, says Pakkay Ngai,
M.D., a pediatric pulmonologist at the Hackensack University
Medical Center, in New Jersey. When Colleen Cancio, a mom
from Washington, D.C., puts on a soothing CD, dims the lights,
and gets out a soft blanket, her 2-year-old, Mila, knows it’s time
for a nap. “Those signals really do the trick,” Cancio says.
NAP ROADBLOCK
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SNOOZE SOLUTION Making playdates and
other plans is a huge challenge when your
child is an erratic napper, and the inconsistency may affect his nighttime sleep too. The good news is that
most kids actually prefer napping on a set schedule—usually
around 9: 30 A.M. and 2: 30 P.M. for babies and 1 P.M. for toddlers and preschoolers. “Follow your child’s sleep cues, and
put him down at the same time for a couple of weeks,” says Dr.
Mindell. Wake him up at the same time every day if he doesn’t
wake up on his own.
You can also try using your child’s feeding schedule to get
him on track. Jennifer Porter, of Seattle, always breastfed her
son, Jimmy, right before naptime. “It worked like magic,” she
says. “I’d nurse him, and down he’d go.”
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SNOOZE SOLUTION When your child drops her morning nap
(usually between 15 and 24 months), it’s a milestone. But the
transition can make the day seem like one endless crankfest.
For several weeks, she may be too energetic to take two naps
yet too sleepy to function on just one. The best way to ride it
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SNOOZE SOLUTION “You can’t force
a child to fall asleep, but you do want to
look for your window of opportunity,” says
Parents advisor Jodi Mindell, Ph.D., author
of Sleeping Through the Night. Look for
cues that your child is tired, such as yawning and crankiness. Then get him down as
soon as you can, since an overtired kid can
become wired and overactive.
Eye rubbing is a sure tip-off that
11-month-old Jacob Pinter, of Matawan,
New Jersey, is wiped out. “If I don’t put him
REST OF THE DAY How much daytime sleep does your
child need? Check out these age-by-age guidelines.
Ç BIRTH TO 2 MONTHS Newborns typically don’t have a set sleep
schedule and often confuse daytime and nighttime. Expect your infant
to sleep from 30 minutes to three to four hours at a time, regardless of
what time of day it is.
Ç 3 TO 12 MONTHS Your child needs ten to 12 hours at night (with
interruptions for feeding) and three to five hours during the day, divided
between two (or three) naps.
Ç 1 TO 3 YEARS Most toddlers give up the morning nap around
18 months and sleep for 90 minutes to three hours around midday.
Ç 3 TO 5 YEARS Some kids stop napping by their third birthday, while
others stick with a one- to two-hour nap until they start kindergarten.
