Reinforcing the night sleep with one or two daytime naps helps your child to assimilate learning better and to be cooler and in a better mood in the afternoon. The keys? We share with you how to get your child to nap.
AT TWO YEARS OLD, IT IS STILL VERY CONVENIENT FOR YOUR CHILD TO TAKE A NAP THROUGHOUT THE DAY.
A time of great change is coming: your child begins to go to the bathroom alone, to get dressed without the help of mom or dad and, in many cases, kindergarten begins. To face all this you need to be rested.
1. How much do you need to sleep during the nap?
Between six months and the year, nighttime sleep consolidates, and it is usual for you to start sleeping straight at night. After two years, he still needs between one and two daytime naps to complete his dream. At this age he sleeps an average of 12 hours a day, of which ten are usually nocturnal and two are daytime. As it grows, the number of hours decreases. Thus, at four years old, he sleeps ten and a half hours.
2. Why is a nap so necessary?
Napping not only helps you “recharge your batteries” in the middle of the day, but it also makes learning easier. Because being more rested, better assimilates the discoveries of the afternoon. It also helps him to get more relaxed when going to bed at night, which will undoubtedly reduce the classic fights with a little boy who is sick because he is so sleepy that he cannot sleep.
3. How long should the nap last?
If the little one takes two naps a day each one could last between 45 and 60 minutes. And if you take only one, it should not last more than two hours; however, these are approximate values. Each little one is a world and has its own needs. It is recommended that you watch your child carefully to know and determine what is best for him at all times.
4. What time to sleep it?
It is best if you take several naps and that the first one is in the middle of the morning, three or four hours after the child has got up. By then, you will have played, experimented, and may well need to regain your strength to get rested at lunchtime.
5. Always at the same time
It is advisable to establish a fixed nap time so that the child forms the habit and is always sleepy at the same time. Nothing happens if one day you don’t nap. The two years are full of changes, so you have flexibility to learn new things. Of course, as long as these variations are occasional, because if they are constant they will lose the routines that have cost you so much to achieve.