How We Conquered Naptime with 2 Kids + a Smilo Baby Giveaway!
This post was brought to you in partnership with Smilo Baby. Thank-you for supporting the sponsors that help keep Momma Society going. :)
If there is one time of the day that needs to go smoothly, it is naptime. A solid nap for Brody and Isla means happier kids for the rest of the afternoon and a much happier momma! Naptime is my little break to work, eat, or fit in that long awaited shower. A good nap makes for a good day.
After four months of parenting 2 kids, we had finally tackled finding our bedtime routine. Now the tough part---wrangling two kids to nap at the same time. For months, as soon as I would set Isla down for a nap, Brody would wake up and vice-versa. It was chaos.
We have finally found our groove and now most days there is a solid two hour break for all of us. The perfect refresher. Here are three changes we made that have helped us conquer naptime.
1) Set a Timer
Brody is almost 3 years old and he is at the stage where he would much rather be playing than napping. But as we both know, if he does not nap he is cranky as can be. If I spring naptime on him, the whining immediately follows. Using a timer has been our saving grace. Come naptime, we give Brody a 5-minute warning and set a timer our phone. As soon as the timer goes off, it is go time and he bounces up to his room without complaining.
2) Make Sleep Associations
Just like our bedtime routine, our naptime routine is full of sleep associations. This has helped Brody and Isla understand that it is time to take a snooze. For Isla, I feed her before she goes down—I’ve found if I do not feed her beforehand she wakes up in less than an hour ready to eat and then does not want to go back down to sleep. If I am home, I’ll nurse her. If I am out, JD takes the reigns and gives her a bottle. We have recently started using the Smilo Bottle and it is awesome. If you are not familiar with Smilo, they are a new baby brand of soothing and feeding essentials designed by parents who double as doctors, scientists, and engineers. Basically, their products are really well constructed and high quality. The patented bottle is designed similarly to a mom’s milk duct making the transition from boob to bottle easy.
The Smilo Pacifier is another sleep association we use for Isla at naptime. The orthodontic shape of the pacifier helps prevent cross bites and as soon as the pacifier goes in Isla’s mouth she knows it is time to snooze. Over the past few months, we have started using the pacifier just for sleeping and car rides and it has really helped Isla understand when it is time to wind down.
Brody is a creature of habit and uses his stuffed puppy dog and a soft blanket when it is time to sleep. We try to keep both items in his bedroom to keep the association with sleep going. Fingers crossed we never lose that ratty stuffed animal!
3) Adjust Schedules
To get Brody and Isla to nap at the same time, we ended up having to slowly push back Brody’s naptime. Pre-Isla he napped at 10am every day. Isla is typically not ready for her long nap until somewhere between 11am-12pm. Over the past two months, we have slowly started pushing back Brody’s naptime to match. Week by week, in 15 minute increments, we finally have them both going down to sleep somewhere between 11am-12pm. It is amazing what a difference a solid naptime routine has made in all of our moods.
If there are two things that I have learned from growing our family it is the importance of a routine the value of gear that makes mom life a bit easier. To help conquer your day, the awesome team behind Smilo is giving one of you an awesome Smilo gift package packed with bottles, pacifiers, and the softest baby blanket! Hop on over to Instagram to enter before Thursday.
To learn more about Smilo, their mission and their products for the modern mom, be sure to visit SmiloBaby.com.
