can people please post their naptime wind down routine?

[sunnysideup850]

We've got bedtime down, but I think he needs more wind down at naps.  What are others doing?  BTW, he is 6 months old.  TIA!

[Jaime]

luke is 6 months old too.  here's what we do:

- when he's ready for bed, i tell him it's time to go find his bed
- we say goodnight to jaina & go back to his room (which is darkened)
- while holding him, i turn on his night light & plug in the humidifier
- lay him down in bed, swaddle him from the waist down, give him his lovey
- tell him to have a good rest, i love him, & i'll see him in a couple hours

[tylersmommy]

Tyler's nap routine has always been a shorter version of his bedtime routine. It's been the same since 8 wks (he's 19 mo now). This is what it looks like for naps:
- go upstairs for quiet play if he seems wound up
- clean up toys (we used to do it for him, now he does it)
- go upstairs, saying "time for night-night" several times
- darken room and turn on fan
- change diaper
- swaddle (used Aussie swaddle until 8 mo or so, now we wrap his legs in a small blanket)
- give him binky
- play lullaby CD
- sit in rocking chair, either quietly singing or talking about what we've done that day
- put in crib, say "night-night, I love you" and he babbles himself to sleep

Since we've done it the same way for so long, it only takes 5 min now because he associates the routine with sleep. HTH!

[cwolff]

So far I haven't really figured out a good naptime routine.  When I notice sleepy signs, I swaddle her up, grab blankie "I'm trying to introduce a lovie", grab paci and we head upstairs.  She almost always fights me at this point, even though she's fully swaddled.  She kicks mostly, because her legs aren't that restrained.  I try to sit with her in the rocker, but she starts fighting me so I lay her down in the crib.  Today, it took almost an hour to get her to nap for 1/2 hour.

[Livingmom]

Our lo is 10 weeks old today and we haven't found a foolproof naptime routine quite yet--but we are trying to be as consistent as possible. Her first two naps of the day are way easier than trying to put her down for a nap in the late afternoon/early evening. Here is our routine:

--when we see the yawn and her legs are flailing we take her to her room.
--we read a very short story to her in our chair.
--we close the blinds
--we swaddle her
--if she is calm at this point we lay her in her crib and say "Have a good nap, sweetie. See you when you get up." She will coo her self to sleep.
--if she is cranky, we hold her and pat/shush for a few minutes and try to put her down as soon as she is calm.

It has worked enough for us to keep trying it. Although the swaddling is become less and less effective--she is always breaking free.  :?

[ozswiss]

Hi

I've just had to reintroduce a good nap time routine. My little one used to go down really easily and I kind of got out of the habit of doing it. However recently she has had a lot of change and we have gone back to a proper wind down and nap routine. I'm really going to keep going with it now - because I've seen how well her night time routine works and I want that for her day time naps. Anyhow here it is...

. when she starts to get unsettled or show tired signs I pick her up and let her sit with me (we continue this for 10 minutes or until she starts to burrow into me or rub her eyes)
. We then go into her room and shut the blinds
. I swaddle her - full swaddle - she can suck her fingers but she does this all day and so I think she sees it as play - not sleep related - so I swaddle her fully with her arms in
. we then sit in a chair in her room. I used to give her my finger to suck on at this time - but I have just recently stopped that. Sometimes she cries a bit in my arms but usually it is a mantra cry. When she starts to settle, or her eyes start to close, or after 5 minutes - I put her down in her cot and say - bye bye, have a nice sleep
. I then leave the room and let her settle herself. If she is winding up - or her cry changes to a come get me cry - I go in and try to settle her - otherwise I just let her settle.

I hope this helps! I've noticed a really dramatic change in just a week now that I've reintroduced the nap routine.

ps here is a hint some of you might like to use to help you know when to go back into the room. I hang a piece of gathered up material over her door when it is closed. This keeps most of the light and sound out of the room but means the door is a little bit open. That way if I think she is winding up - I can sneak a look at her (by pulling the material aside) without opening the door - if she is still swaddled and still, I leave it a bit longer - if she is moving a lot and not swaddled - I go in.

Good luck!

[Daniel's mummy]

Naptimes are usually quite easy with my ds.  When he starts to show signs of being tired I sit him on my knee and we 'read' a few books together.  He has 3 picture books at the moment which we always use at nap time and we always seem to finish with the same book (wasn't intentional to begin with).  Then we go upstairs into his room.  I sit him in his cot whilst I draw curtains etc...  If he's been quite wound up then we sit and have a cuddle together first to try to calm him right down.  Otherwise I just lay him straight down in his cot.  He sleeps in a gro bag so we zip him up.  Then I give him his 'sleepie sheepie' (cuddly soft toy) and put some quiet music on and leave the room.  He hugs the sheep and falls asleep within a couple of minutes.  I usually put the cd on repeat so that it just keeps on playing.  I think this helps him when he goes into light sleep after 45 mins.  Somehow it seems to help him stay asleep and now we usually get at least 1.5 hours.

[micah'smom]

my ds is 4 months old. as soon as he's tired (blank stare) i pick him up and take him to the crib - the room is darkened with black posterboard. then i say "time to sleep micah, time to sleep" over and over while holding him, then just hold him in silence for about 10 minutes, then put him down in the crib and turn on the white noise cd ("soothing shower" - he loves it, go figure). more often than not that does it!

[evanmattsmommy]

Well, I like to keep my routines very simple for a few reasons. First, I don't want to be the only one who can do it and second I don't want it to take forever and third I don't want the routine to become a prop so he can still sleep if we are not at home.  For naps when I start seeing tired signs I say something about him being ready for a nap (not always the same thing). I pick him up and hug him tight and kiss him and cuddle as we go up to his room. I close the blinds if they are not already closed, change his diaper, and swaddle him on the changing table talking very softly to him the whole time. I then give him a few more kisses, pick him up and carry him over to the crib, one last kiss and hug and put him in. I then rub his head and tell him it is time for him to go to sleep that I love him and will see him when he wakes up. I then leave the room. Nighttime is basically the same routine except we don't necessarily look for tired signs.. at 8:30 we darken the room, put on some soft music, have a bath, lotion, pj's, then nurse at 9, then a story and cuddle and then the rest of the routine... diaper, swaddle, bed. He is in bed by 9:30. The entire naptime routine takes about 5 minutes from picking him up to leaving the room.  The bedtime routine is obviously more drawn out with his bath and all.

Amanda

[Carter'sMama]

I stated using this naptime routine when ds was 9 weeks old.  He is 20 weeks old now so it really doesn't take very long.  As soon as I start he gets limp in my arms.  He recently started "talking" (loud squeels etc) during the routine, esp the singing part but I figured out it is just him winding down!!  First I lay him down on his change table to swaddle him (one arm out) and then I say "Nap time, are you ready?"  He always looks at me and then I pull the blinds down.  Then I pick him up and put him on my shoulder and walk around the kitchen/living/dining rooms in a circle.  I do this a couple of times to get him completely calmed down.  Then we go and sit in his rocking chair and sing (usually Jesus loves me or You are my Sunshine).  Then I say, "Ok Carter, Mama's going to put you in your crib for your nap, you are going to have a good nap and I will see you when you get up". I put him back on my shoulder and start patting (firmly and like a heartbeat) and shushing and I walk him to his crib.  I do this for a minute or so before I lay him in his crib.  He usually rolls his head right to the side and closes his eyes and goes to sleep.  I used to have to pat/shush for 3-7 minutes but now I just stand there with my hand on his chest until I think he is asleep and then I sneak out of the room.  We're still working on the independant sleep thing but we are getting there!